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108 Jose 87 percent more expensive to live in than anywhere else in the U.S. e city has the strongest rental market in the U.S. due to its booming local economy. In addition, the city experienced a moder- ate increase in median prices and housing in- ventory during the first quarter of 2014. More than 670 multifamily residential permits were issued during the first quarter of 2014. Looking ahead, it ranks fourth nationally for expected 2014 rental growth. "e market seems to have paused around this current plateau. e MAI is a good lead- ing indicator for the durability of this trend," Evans said. e report explained that the MAI answers the question "How's the Market?" by measuring the current rate of sale versus the amount of inventory. An index above 30 implies seller's market conditions. Below 30, conditions favor the buyer. "If the MAI begins to climb, prices will likely follow suit. If the MAI drops consis- tently or falls into the buyer's zone, watch for downward pressure on prices," said Evans. "e MAI has been trending down lately, while inventory and days-on-market are climb- ing. e trends imply a weakening market." In her report, Evans divides the San Jose housing market into quartiles where each quartile is 25 percent of homes ordered by price. e two most expensive quartiles break down as follows: e top quartile has a me- dian price of $1,398,000 with an average age of 20 years and the upper/second quartile has a median price of $847,000 with an average age of 46 years. Notably, even the two lowest quartiles still have hefty price tags: e lower/third quartile has a median price of $666,844 with an aver- age age of 46 years and the bottom/fourth quartile has a median price of $500,000 with an average age of 54 years. Four Indicted in Loan Modification Scam Federal authorities indicted four Cali- fornia men in connection with a bogus loan modification program that reportedly bilked hundreds of struggling homeowners out of millions of dollars nationwide at the height of the financial crisis. According to the Office of the Special In- spector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), federal agents arrested Samuel Paul Bain, 35, an owner and princi- pal of U.S. Homeowners Relief in Orange County, California; Aminullah Sarpas, aka David Sarpas, 32, another owner and princi- pal of the businesses; Damon Grant Carriger, 36, the company's principal sales manager; and Louis Saggiani, 64, the manager and chief accountant for the businesses. e men were charged in a 33-count indictment for a range of crimes, including conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. e arrests stemmed from a joint investi- gation by SIGTARP, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Internal Revenue Service's criminal investigation office. "Bain, Sarpas, Carriger, and Saggiani are charged with ripping off homeowners strug- gling to keep a roof over their heads during the depths of the housing crisis," said Christy Romero, special inspector general for TARP. According to the indictment, the quartet allegedly demanded upfront fees of up to $4,200 from homeowners in exchange for false promises of securing mortgage loan modifications on their behalf. e company touted a 97-percent success rate in securing these modifications and advertised money- back guarantees, as well as an affiliation with federal housing support programs. "As a result, the indictment alleges that homeowners nationwide were ripped off by millions of dollars," Romero said. According to SIGTARP, customer com- plaints about a purported scam led the men to change the company's name several times in an attempt to avoid attention. Originally doing business as Greenleaf Modify, the men allegedly operated a series of telemarketing "boiler rooms" that pitched loan modification services to distressed homeowners in the wake of the financial collapse in 2008 and operated multiple offices in Irvine, Santa Ana, New- port Beach, Garden Grove, and Westminster beneath a series of company names, including Waypoint Law Group and American Lend- ing Review, from late 2008 to early 2010. SIGTARP said the men would shut down each company name once the business attracted too many consumer complaints at the Better Business Bureau or attracted too much attention from state regulators, such as the California Department of Justice. According to the indictment, customers paid advance fees to obtain long-term modifications to their mortgage obligations that would lower monthly payments under federal mortgage relief programs (which, the indictment states, the men referred to as "the Obama Act"). e companies' marketing materials implied that they were affiliated with govern- ment programs, but not one of the companies was a licensed real estate broker, nor were Colorado RANK: 48 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate JUNE 2014 1.16% 0.55% 5.3 YEAR AGO 1.41% 0.86% 6.8 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -18.2% -35.5% -1.5 Top County PROWERS COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate JUNE 2014 2.85% 2.25% YEAR AGO 1.67% 0.66% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 70.7% 241.8% Top Core-Based Statistical Area CAÑON CITY, CO 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate JUNE 2014 1.49% 1.21% YEAR AGO 1.83% 1.33% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -18.2% -9.3% 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 June 2014 foreclosure rate. All fi gures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate refl ects preliminary June 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 they affiliated with any government entity. e men generally spent consumers' money on themselves or on payments to salespeople and other business expenses, rath- er than place it in trust accounts as promised. e conspiracy charge carries a maximum five-year prison sentence, while the mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering charges each could mean as much as 20 years behind bars. "SIGTARP and our law enforcement partners will aggressively investigate allega- tions of fraud that exploit TARP's housing programs, and perpetrators of such crimes will be brought to justice," Romero said. STATE OF AFFAIRS: WEST »

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