State of Arizona Targets Mortgage Fraud…
A wave of mortgage fraud in the Valley has prompted state legislation that would define it as a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

A day after The Arizona Republic's special investigation into cash-back mortgage deals, Sen. Jay Tibshraeny of Chandler introduced a bill that would make mortgage fraud a
felony.
 
"Mortgage fraud hurts everyone," said Tibshraeny, who has been working on the
legislation for months.  "Buyer, beware of a deal that seems too good.  The strings your Realtor or mortgage broker pull may be illegal."

Only two states, Colorado and Georgia, have laws specifically regulating mortgage fraud.  Most states, including Arizona, must try to prosecute the crime under general fraud laws, which make convictions difficult and less of a deterrent.

Cash-back deals are a newer form of mortgage fraud whose rapid spread in Arizona has alarmed regulators and real estate industry leaders.

The fraud involves obtaining a mortgage for more than a home is worth and pocketing the extra money in cash.  The deals inflate home values and can affect values across whole neighborhoods.  Homeowners stuck with overpriced mortgages may never
recover the difference.  Ultimately, lenders end up with bad loans.  All this can hurt the Arizona real estate market, the largest segment of the state economy.

Felecia Rotellini, superintendent of the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions, is leading a new mortgage fraud task force made up of state and federal agencies.  She said the proposed legislation would help investigators crack down on mortgage fraud.

Many homeowners expressed concerns about fraud in their neighborhoods, as dozens of people provided details on cash-back deals or sales that suggested cash-back pricing.

Several Republic readers were alerted to the schemes when they saw homes sit unsold for months and their prices reduced.  Then, as the housing market was slowing even more, those homes sold for tens of thousands of dollars more than the previous listed price. That is the No. 1 warning sign for cash-back deals, regulators say.   

Complaints or concerns about cash-back deals can be filed with the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions, azdfi.gov and the Arizona Department of Real Estate,
www.re.state.az.us. 

SOURCE:  AZRepublic, 1/23/2007

Maricopa County, Arizona.  Here we grow again! 
The story in numbers:
3,635,528:  Estimated population, July 2005.  It's the equivalent of the entire state's population in 1990.   
563,193:  The largest increase of any county in the U.S. since the 2000 census.  That's more than the combined populations of Scottsdale, Tempe and Gilbert.
136,941:  People in a year.  That's enough to fill ASU's Sun Devil Stadium twice.
375:  New people per day.  That's about like having more than six busloads of people coming into the county every day.
Where they came from:  23.3% from foreign countries, 46.1% from within the U.S., 31.6% from births minus deaths.  61.2% of the state's population lives in Maricopa County.  Soon to be, if not already, 3rd largest county in U.S. behind LA and Cook (Chicago). 

SOURCE:  AZRepublic, 3-16-06