STATISTICS SHOW APPRAISAL FRAUD IS ON THE RISE

By Kent Berk on October 13th, 2009 in BLOG, FRAUD, REAL ESTATE LAW

According to the Eleventh Periodic Mortgage Fraud Case Report to the Mortgage Bankers Association, Mortgage Asset Research Institute, LLC 2009, appraisal fraud was the third highest type of mortgage fraud in 2008, right behind fraud in the application and misrepresentations in tax return/financial records. Almost 25% of the mortgage fraud cases reported for 2008 involved misrepresentations in the appraisal. Appraisal/Valuation fraud was involved in 22% of the mortgage fraud cases reported for 2008, as compared to 19% for 2007 and 16% for 2006, according to the report.