Читать книгу Flipping Houses For Dummies - Ralph R. Roberts - Страница 18

Criminal minds have invented countless ways to milk the real estate industry, and one way is to flip houses. This sinister type of house flipping typically relies on some form of fraud — lying or misrepresenting information. In some cases, the con artists team up with crooked appraisers who artificially inflate home values and then sell overpriced homes to ill-informed buyers.

Another way con artists scam the system via flipping is to build a team of buyers, none of whom intends to own the property for any length of time. They buy homes from one another, increasing the price with each sale. False appraisals or crooked appraisers make the price hikes look legitimate, and corrupt loan officers often expedite the loan approval process. As the value of the property increases on paper, the amount of equity in the property increases. The final buyer takes out a whopping loan to pay the previous owner and then defaults on the loan. The team splits the proceeds, sticking the lender with the bill and leaving a legacy of foreclosures and vacancies.

The dark side of flipping destroys credit ratings, raises interest rates, and ruins neighborhoods. Over the long haul, it threatens to squash the American dream of homeownership. It’s unethical, immoral, and illegal. And it’s not what this book is about.