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The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Jim Avila announced on ABC, has now elevated real estate fraud to its second most important law enforcement priority, behind only counterterrorism. Avila cited an estimate by the Center for Responsible Lending that any time a fraud causes a home foreclosure, it costs that home's neighbors an average of $8,600 in eroded asset values. Avila narrated footage from San Diego of two dozen arrests in an alleged scam that caused 220 such foreclosures. He described an example: a home with a $499K purchase price would be appraised by a conspirator at a value of $600K; based on the appraisal, the buyer, also a conspirator, would apply for a no-downpayment $600K mortgage; upon receiving the loan the house would be abandoned and the $101K pocketed. "Real estate scams are more profitable than selling drugs," the alleged gang leader is said to have told the feds.
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