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Housing's Golden Investment or Fairy Tale?

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92 STATE OF AFFAIRS: WEST » Investment Fraud Scheme Nets 27 Months in Prison Marvin Solis of Richmond, Califor- nia, was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution for an investment fraud scheme perpetuated against family members. According to the Office of the Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), Solis pled guilty to two counts of wire fraud as a result of the scheme. "Solis used an account at a TARP recipi- ent bank to steal over $200,000 from trusting family members who spoke little English to enrich himself and engage in risky and speculative trading," said Christy Romero, special inspector general. She continued, "Solis swindled victims out of their savings claiming he would invest in real estate ventures, and he fraudulently used credit cards opened in some of their names at different banks, including a TARP bank, causing losses to those financial institutions." According to the plea agreement, Solis admitted to defrauding his then-wife's family members out of approximately $244,000. Solis told family members he would use the money to invest in real estate, but then spent the money he received making risky commodities trades. He subsequently lost the money. Solis encouraged his victims to open cred- it card accounts to fund renovations for the homes he had promised to purchase for them. Instead, he ran up $10,000 of charges on the credit cards. Finally, he used the personal information of one of his victims without the victim's knowledge to open a credit card account in the name of Solis's company. He charged an additional $26,600 on the card, again without authorization. Solis will begin serving his sentence on August 11. Colorado RANK: 48 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate MAY 2014 1.20% 0.56% 5.5% YEAR AGO 1.40% 0.90% 6.9% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -14.1% -38.4% -1.4% Top County LAS ANIMAS COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate MAY 2014 2.03% 2.27% YEAR AGO 2.89% 3.37% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -29.7% -32.6% Top Core-Based Statistical Area MONTROSE, CO 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate MAY 2014 1.47% 1.12% YEAR AGO 1.34% 1.44% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 9.8% -22.1% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the May 2014 foreclosure rate. All fi gures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate refl ects preliminary May 2014 fi gures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. Colorado Marina Dubrova, CRS, CDPE, CIPS Broker/ Owner 333 S Allison Pkwy, #201 Lakewood, CO 80226 720-583-6010 offi ce | 720-583-2672 fax 720-936-0540 direct | 866-870-0933 e-fax www.coloradohomeswesell.com IN THE NEWS Colorado Delinquency Rates Fall in First Quarter Serious mortgage delinquencies fell in Colorado from the fourth quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014, according to the Colorado Division of Housing. Mortgage delinquencies of 90 days or more fell to 1.3 percent in the first quarter, down from 1.5 percent to close out 2013. Colorado's figure edged out the national 90-day delinquency rate of 2.39 percent in the first quarter of 2014. Short-term delinquencies fell as well, with 30-day delinquencies falling to a nine-year low in the first quarter of 2014—the low- est level recorded in any quarter since 2006. e study's author, Ryan McMaken, noted, "During the first quarter of 2014, 1.71 percent of loans in Colorado were 30 days delinquent. e rate was 2.12 percent during the fourth quarter of 2013, and it was 2.18 percent during the first quarter of 2013." e Colorado Division of Housing also found that foreclosures were another bright spot for the state, which experienced a decline along with delinquency rates in the first quarter. In total, Colorado's foreclosure inventory dropped to 0.94 percent during Q1 2014, falling slightly from Q 4 2013's rate of 0.96 percent. Year-over-year, foreclosure rates declined as well, falling from Q1 2013's rate of 1.38 percent. e U.S. foreclosure inventory was 2.65 percent during the first quarter of 2013. e study noted that both foreclosure inventory and 90-day delinquency rates are "well below the national rates." "Using the 90-day delinquency rate to compare Colorado to all other states, we find that Colorado had the sixth-lowest delinquency rate in the nation during the first quarter of 2014. e only states with lower 90-day delinquency rates were North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Alaska," McMaken commented. He continued, "e lowest 90-day delin- quency rate in the nation was found in North Dakota, where it was 0.49 percent, and the highest rate was found in Mississippi, where it was 4.2 percent." HUD Settlement Creates Housing Opportunities for People with Disabilities e U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced it has entered into a Voluntary Compliance Agreement with the Englewood Housing Authority (EHA) in Englewood, Colorado. e settlement resolves allegations that EHA violated the Fair Housing Act when it Beverly Hills' median price per square foot was $876 at the start of July 2014, according to Trulia. KNOW THIS

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