A former California-licensed real estate appraiser was sentenced to three years in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $46 million in restitution for her role in a massive mortgage fraud scheme that caused tens of millions of dollars in losses to federally insured banks. Lila Rizk of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. received the three-year prison term after her conviction last summer on conspiracy, bank fraud and numerous loan fraud charges.Read more

You have all been there; that is if you have been in the mortgage business for longer than two or three transactions. You are shepherding a loan along the pathway to a closing for a client. The client has a job, you have qualified the client for income, you have pulled the client’s credit report, they have the proper downpayment and everything seems hunky-dory. Then, it happens … you get a call from the underwriting department, and you hear that dreaded statement.Read more

Amidst all of the discussion of the mortgage crisis and the implementation of the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC), there has been lots of finger pointing, concerning who was at fault for the meltdown and what should and should not be done to fix the problem(s). Unless you have been in seclusion for the past year, you have heard of the attempts of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to keep appraisers separated from loan originators.Read more