Karenn and Steve Oropeza, Part II

Karenn and Steve Oropeza, Home-ATM Users, Flakes

The Oropeza's are on the move again.

Recall their case of robbery through home refinancing: Oropeza, Part I

Dr. Housing Bubble even discussed this sickening case study in sweet home equity extraction:
Schadenfreude: The Psychology of Housing Retribution and Justice

They fled their home-ATM escapade in California to move into a McMansion in Katy, TX. But the Texas dream is fading, as their McMansion is up for sale. And according to the listing site, the house is also available for rent. Something tells me that the Oropeza's aren't too concerned about losing their down payment, considering, of course, that the down payment was taxpayer dollars.

Enjoy the pictures of the Oropeza furnishings that OUR TAX DOLLARS ARE PAYING FOR.

Karenn Oropeza
1414 Baldridge Ln
Katy, TX 77494-4713
4 br, 3½ ba, 3,372 sqft

Price Paid: $283K with $28K down
List Price: $329K (Listing Website)
Days listed: 80

This nearby house might give them some trouble:
2103 Monona Dr
List Price: $280K
Days listed: 163

Lori Polin, Part II

Lori Polin, Realtor
From Realtor Hall of Fame to Housing Bubble Hall of Shame.
Part I

Our realtor sweetheart is up to some bizarre trix. (Thanks, Mav)


2009-10-28: Agent accused of real estate fraud at center of bizarre condo foreclosure
Foreclosure proceedings on Alejandro Salazar's Tampa condo had dragged on so long he finally called the bank this summer to ask why.

Because, the bank told him, your attorney has been fighting us for a year.
...
In a bizarre case, Harlan confirms that he listed himself as Salazar's lawyer even though Salazar hadn't retained him. The person who did, Harlan acknowledges, was a real estate agent who had acquired the deed to Salazar's vacant condo, moved in and wanted to stall foreclosure because she hoped to buy the unit in a short sale.

The agent? Lori Polin, named by Florida's attorney general last year as a key player in an alleged $37 million mortgage fraud scheme.

FHA + 21 =

More foreclosures.

With a loan amount of $183,000, Miss Tejada should have gross earning of...

$183,000 x 36% = $65,000

for a responsible loan that can be properly serviced.

According to Scott Jagow:
She makes $2470 a month. 54% of her income goes to service the mortgage. Here’s what she says about that:

… I’m left with $1,142 per/month, which is plenty for me.


2009-10-22: Of 21 Year Old With The Underwater FHA Loan
Denise got an FHA loan to buy her home for $155,000. She took out a second loan (called a 203-K loan) to refurbish the place. The total loan amount is about $183,000. She says, “In total, I gave the bank $5,087 + $1,500 which were all deposit and closing costs.”

So her “down payment” was no more than 4% of the value of the home when she bought it. She will get all of that back and then some with the first-time home buyer tax credit.

In other words, thanks to the various government tax breaks, Denise put absolutely no money down on her home. If she has to default on her mortgage, she'll lose nothing except her credit rating. Of course, since she's only 21 years old, there's plenty of time to recover from that.
...
Don't you feel awesome for helping Tejada achieve the American dream?

Barney Frank, Part III

Barney "I tawt I taw a putie tat" Frank, United States Rep, Mass (D)

Part I
Part II

Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said in an interview that the defaults were, in essence, worth it.

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing that the bad loans occurred,” he said. “It was an effort to keep prices from falling too fast. That’s a policy.”

Raping America... it's a policy.

Everyone wants a piece of this SOB.

Denninger:
To The States: Should We Talk About Secession?
Government Violates The Citizens (Again)

Calculated Risk:
A Policy: Supporting House Prices

How is that "Policy" working?
U.S. Homeowners Cut Asking Prices $27.8 Billion
Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. homeowners cut their asking prices by $27.8 billion with some of the biggest reductions in Nevada and Florida, states hardest hit by the property slump, Trulia Inc. said.

FHA may be setting up repeat of housing bubble
The percentage of FHA loans that are delinquent or in foreclosure climbed to nearly 8% at the end of June, from about 5.5% in early 2006, according to the Mortgage Bankers Assn. And in the weeks ahead, its reserves for loan losses are projected to slip below federally mandated limits.

FHA Shortfall Seen at $54 Billion May Lead to Bailout
Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Housing Administration, which insures mortgages with low down payments, may require a U.S. bailout because it has $54 billion more in losses than it can withstand, a former Fannie Mae executive said.

“It appears destined for a taxpayer bailout in the next 24 to 36 months,” consultant Edward Pinto said in testimony prepared for a House committee hearing in Washington today. Pinto was the chief credit officer from 1987 to 1989 for Fannie Mae, the mortgage-finance company that is now government-run.

First Failed State?

It's been very quiet on the California economic condition. Are we getting closer?

How about a 50% vacancy rate in Sunnyvale for office space?

2009-09-01: Empty office buildings dot Silicon Valley

Green Shoots, anyone?

On a side-note, but related, I'm noticing California municipal bond funds rising in price. This makes no sense to me. The risk of holding these bonds seems way to high.

Hat tip to 'Coming Economic Depression', for the link to the story.

2009-10-04: Will California become America's first failed state?
But the state that was once held up as the epitome of the boundless opportunities of America has collapsed. From its politics to its economy to its environment and way of life, California is like a patient on life support. At the start of summer the state government was so deeply in debt that it began to issue IOUs instead of wages. Its unemployment rate has soared to more than 12%, the highest figure in 70 years. Desperate to pay off a crippling budget deficit, California is slashing spending in education and healthcare, laying off vast numbers of workers and forcing others to take unpaid leave. In a state made up of sprawling suburbs the collapse of the housing bubble has impoverished millions and kicked tens of thousands of families out of their homes. Its political system is locked in paralysis and the two-term rule of former movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger is seen as a disaster – his approval ratings having sunk to levels that would make George W Bush blush. The crisis is so deep that Professor Kenneth Starr, who has written an acclaimed history of the state, recently declared: "California is on the verge of becoming the first failed state in America."

Time ARM Bomb - Silicon Valley Style

Time ARM Bomb - Silicon Valley Style
Calculated Risk picked up on this article.

What I don't understand about Mr. Amacker's story is why he would add 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom to his home when he was only living with his two sons. I wonder if the loan exceeded the cost of the addition? Inquiring minds want to know. (house details at bottom)

2009-09-20: $30 billion home loan time bomb set for 2010
Thousands of Bay Area homes have a ticking time bomb embedded in their mortgage. The homes were purchased with loans known as option ARMs, short for adjustable rate mortgages.
...
Joey Amacker of Newark, who works as an account manager for a catering company, refinanced his home with an option ARM for $624,000 so he could pull out money to build an addition. The friend who sold him the loan assured him that an option ARM was a safe and affordable product, he said.

Amacker said he initially made only the minimum monthly payment of $1,800, which covered part of his interest and none of the principal. The amount he owed grew to $660,000 by November 2008, according to loan documents.

Meanwhile, payments that would cover both interest and principal also escalated above his reach, said Amacker, a single father of twin teenage boys. Although he wanted to pay more than the minimum, "it was a struggle, borrowing from Peter to pay Paul," he said. His 21-year-old daughter moved in to help out, and he rented out the addition he'd built. But he couldn't keep up with the payments. He's been trying to get his bank to modify the loan, but says it doesn't get back to him. The bank did not respond to a request for comment.

Between the negative amortization and his missed payment and penalties, Amacker's total debt has ballooned to $725,000, while the house is probably worth about $500,000, he said.

"I feel so ashamed of how I could have gotten myself in such a bad situation," he said.

Like Amacker, most option ARM borrowers owe much more than their homes are worth, so they cannot refinance their way out of trouble.

------------------------
6589 Fountaine Ave, Newark, CA
5 beds, 3.0 baths, 2,070 sq ft
Zestimate®: $548,500

Sale History
02/16/2001: $425,000

What in the hell did he create? (click image to enlarge)

Interest-Only Insanity Part II

Moller Interest-Only Insanity

Right on queue, the interest only idiots are coming forward and admitting the world how foolish they were. Didn't they learn from the subprime crew? You don't have your foolish antics published in the mainstream press. You just don't do it!

San Diego, you have a world of hurt coming your way.

2009-09-09: As an Exotic Mortgage Resets, Payments Skyrocket
Edward and Maria Moller are worried about losing their house — not now, but in 2013.

Like millions of buyers during the boom, the Mollers leveraged their way into a house they could not otherwise afford by taking out a loan that required them to make only interest payments at first, putting off payments on the principal for several years.

It was a “buy now, pay later” strategy on a grand scale, meant for a market where home prices went only up, and now the bill is starting to come due.

“I’m praying for another boom,” said Mr. Moller, 34. “Otherwise, we’ll have to walk.”

The Mollers bought in 2005, paying $460,000 for their three-bedroom, thousand-square-foot house. A quick refinance a few months later supplied cash to pay debts. Now the house is worth perhaps $310,000. After their interest-only period is up, they expect their monthly payments to increase 20 percent if not more.
-----------------
Where do you think this house will be at bottom?

My estimate... $200K, barring total economic chaos.

8429 Dallas St, La Mesa, CA
3 beds, 1.5 baths, 1,054 sq ft
Zestimate®: $334,000

Sale History
04/29/2005: $460,000
04/11/2001: $203,000

Interest-Only Insanity

Interest-Only Insanity
Courtesy New York Times and Calculated Risk.

2009-09-08: The House Trap
“I understand I took a risk,” said [Dean Janis, a Southern California lawyer who bought a $950,000 home in 2004] “But I did not anticipate that the real estate market would go down 30 percent.” He talked with Wells Fargo about his options, and the lender said he had none.

Ok, let's check out this McMansion...

4371 Piedmont Dr San Diego CA 92107
2 beds, 1.0 baths, 1,073 sq ft
Zestimate®: $782,500

Sale History
06/14/2004: $956,500
12/27/2001: $515,000

2bed/1bath and he PAID $950K!!!
What is wrong with people?!!!

This place should go right back down to $400K at the bottom. Until then, just rent and save yourself a sh*tload of money, assuming our money retains any value by then (see A Gift from Jim Sinclair). However, it is about 1.7 miles from Point Loma Seafood, but it's getting way too crowded and expensive--that damn fish sandwich is now $8.32. I can remeber paying around $3.50 for one. More inflation we can attribute to foolish house buyers, perhaps?

Juergen and Lois Kempff

Juergen and Lois Kempff, Home ATM

It seems as though the OC Register and Calculated Risk are getting into the business of hall of shamers, and this family wrote the book on shameful housing acts. Perhaps you can take comfort in knowing that your tax dollars are going towards a college education for the Kempff kids. Without our help, how could they overcome the College Bubble?

Even in the face of hardships, a house is NOT an ATM.

25231 Del Rio, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677-1517
04/09/2002: $433,000

Current amount owed: $786,000!!

2009-09-07: One Family: Option ARM, failed Modification, Health Issues, Bankruptcy, and more

2009-09-06: Family faces loss of home amid health crisis
LAGUNA NIGUEL – When Juergen and Lois Kempff received a notice of default in the mail saying their home was now in the foreclosure process due to missed payments, they figured it was junk mail.

The notice came from a company they didn't recognize, and to be honest, they had some heavier thoughts on their minds.

...the Kempffs' option adjustable-rate mortgage payment skyrocketed to $4,300 a month from $2,500 last December. Seeing no way to afford the new payments, the Kempffs opted for a loan modification from their bank, IndyMac which was later purchased by OneWest from the FDIC in March.
...
The unpaid amount on the Kempffs' loan is $786,802.59, short of qualifying for a modification by about $60,000.

Since the Kempffs purchased their home in 2002, they took out loans and refinanced their mortgage. The equity from those transactions enabled the Kempff family to fix their cracked pool, remedy a slipping backyard slope by putting in three retaining walls, help three children pay for college and pay for the medical bills of their youngest son who had malignant melanoma.

College Bubble?

I briefly mentioned a college bubble in the Welcome to 2009 post, and on another occasion, College/University Bubble, linking to a video on the subject that was removed by YouTube. Mainstream media (and Denninger) has decided to weigh in. Welcome to debt hell, students.

2009-09-03: Denninger - Is The Light Flickering On?

2009-09-03: Students Borrow More Than Ever for College
Students are borrowing dramatically more to pay for college, accelerating a trend that has wide-ranging implications for a generation of young people.

New numbers from the U.S. Education Department show that federal student-loan disbursements—the total amount borrowed by students and received by schools—in the 2008-09 academic year grew about 25% over the previous year, to $75.1 billion. The amount of money students borrow has long been on the rise. But last year far surpassed past increases, which ranged from as low as 1.7% in the 1998-99 school year to almost 17% in 1994-95, according to figures used in President Barack Obama's proposed 2010 budget.
...
The new numbers highlight how debt has become commonplace in paying for higher education. Today, two-thirds of college students borrow to pay for college, and their average debt load is $23,186 by the time they graduate, according to an analysis of the government's National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, conducted by financial-aid expert Mark Kantrowitz. Only a dozen years earlier, according to the study, 58% of students borrowed to pay for college, and the average amount borrowed was $13,172.

Sweet Home Equity Gone Sour

In the aftermath of better living through tapping home equity, what are things like for the Home ATM users? We may not have the detailed answer to that question, but we can certainly see how they're doing on the home-front. Let's go back and look at an example from '07.

In 2007, Mr. Marshall Whittey openly admitted to better living through sweet home equity in the pages of the NY Times. Lavish wedding, trip to Tahiti, flat screen TVs (the ubiquitous home ATM purchase, I might add), shopping sprees, new cars, ... nothing was beyond financial reach if you "owned" a house during the peak bubble years.

How have the houses of Mr. Whittey fared since the article appeared in the NY Times? Let's take a look at the "investment" property and the personal residence.

Investment Property:
915 Demos Ct, Reno, NV 89512
-- 2006-01-03: $444,000 ARM with CTX mortgage
-- 2006-01-03: $111,000 2nd with CTX mortgage

Sold: $215,500 on Mar 31, 2009
4 br 3 ½ ba 2,960 sqft $73/sqft

From $555K to 215K. Wow!!!

Personal Residence:
404 Alysheba Ct, Reno, NV 89521-6274
4 beds, 2.0 baths, 2,017 sq ft
06/08/2005: purchase $283,900 with Universal American Mortgage
03/01/2006: $30,000 HELOC with Countrywide
11/20/2006: $375,000 REFI with First Magnus
06/08/2005: $355,000 (unsure about the sales history vs HELOC/Refi)

Zestimate®: $259,000

Here is a similar property in the neighborhood, currently listed for $249K, and it has been on the market for 114 days: 470 Miesque Ct

Investment Property Loss: $340K
Residence Property Loss: $100K (conservative estimate)

We're looking at total losses of approximately $440K. When/if he walks away from his current under-water situation with this residence, the number should grow. You might ask, who carries the burden of these losses. The answer is simple, it's right HERE.

Barack Hussein Obama, Part 2

Barack Hussein Obama, Commander in Chief Thief

First we had George W. Bush with his "homeownership plan". Now we have Obama with his "home rentership plan".

Having your government as the landlord is a great thing, isn't it.

Ahhh, yes, change!

2009-08-16: Rentership Society
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration, in a major shift on housing policy, is abandoning George W. Bush’s vision of creating an “ownership society’’ and instead plans to pump $4.25 billion of economic stimulus money into creating tens of thousands of federally subsidized rental units in American cities.

The idea is to pay for the construction of low-rise rental apartment buildings and town houses, as well as the purchase of foreclosed homes that can be refurbished and rented to low- and moderate-income families at affordable rates.

Alt-A Bomb II

2009-08-06: Deutsche Sees 48% of All US Mortgages Underwater in 2011
By AUSTIN KILGORE
August 6, 2009 4:18 PM CST

Deutsche Bank (DB: 66.83 +0.97%) believes continued declines in home values will increase the number of US mortgagors with negative equity from 14m in Q109 to 25m in Q111.

According to a report Deutsche released this week, the 25m represents a projected 48% of all US mortgages. While subprime and option adjustable-rate mortgages (ARM) are the biggest source of underwater borrowers in the current market, Deutsche said a larger percentage of prime conforming and prime jumbo borrowers will join the fray.
...
By 2011, Deutsche predicts 89% of option ARM borrowers will be underwater, up from 77% in 2009. The rate of underwater subprime borrowers will increase from 50% to 69%, and underwater Alt-A borrowers will increase from 49% to 66%.

Carlos Justo

Carlos Justo, Superstar Real Estate Agent
Can this guy strike a similar pose or what??

snkjorge recommended this guy for the Housing Bubble Hall of Shame. I couldn't agree more.
Cheers!

2009-08-01: A superstar real estate agent plots his comeback
Justo is $20 million in debt. He is five months into a massive bankruptcy filing. The IRS is after him for $6 million.

And yet, he dreams.
...
In 2005, Justo was worth $20 million. He and the agents who worked for him sold $200 million in real estate in a single year. He was also the owner of 12 multimillion dollar estates in the county's most exclusive enclaves; he intended to eventually flip them and make a profit. Justo and his business partner, Irving Padron, were awarded a prestigious Sotheby's franchise and opened its offices in one of the few historic mansions in downtown Miami.
...
"I knew the market was going to crash," he said. "It was irresponsible what we did, what all of us did in the United States. We took out huge loans, we bought things that people had no business buying."

For three years, Justo had tried to avoid filing Chapter 7, even borrowing $15,000 from his 85-year-old mother and $75,000 from his 83-year-old aunt to pay his monthly debts.

2009-02-06: Connected, Fabulous ... and Broke
.

Sonoma Canary

Below are the Notices of Default and Trustees Deeds for the county of Sonoma, as taken from the Sonoma County Assessor. I thought I would regularly post these as indicators of the real estate situation and "recovery" in California.

Note the drop in NODs and Trustees Deeds as the new California law (SB 1137) went into effect. It effectively delayed the foreclosure process, offering no real benefit or solution for house debtors. The numbers below appear to support its lack of effectiveness.

May '09: Notice how NODs are back to the high levels, yet Trustees Deeds are not back up to the previous levels (200-350). Give it time, however; this is still quite broken and disturbing. Do you see recovery in these number? BTW, Calculated Risk just posted an article on the Alt-A bomb exploding in Sonoma.

July '09 sets new record for NODs!!

NODs:
. . '08 . '09
Jan 451 . 394
Feb 513 . 468
Mar 498 . 553
Apr 509 . 497
May 505 . 491
Jun 492 . 562
Jul 460 . 615 New Monthly Record
Aug 482 . 425
Sep 191 . 399
Oct 178 . 379
Nov 241 . 153 - through Nov 13
Dec 500

* Sep '08: CA Law SB 1137 takes effect
* Dec '08: CA Law SB 1137 FAILS

Trustees Deeds:
. . '08 . '09
Jan 164 . 166
Feb 238 . 151
Mar 221 . 121
Apr 236 . 123
May 280 . 149
Jun 324 . 271
Jul 341 . 202
Aug 372 . 231
Sep 303 . 183
Oct 195 . 210
Nov 184 . 106 - through Nov 13
Dec 229

Sacramento Sorrow

Ok, here comes the Prime and Alt-A whiners. The bubble was obvious; if you participated you put yourself, your family, and your savings (assuming you used any for a purchase) at risk. Now we get a whole new breed of Shamers!

Ya' know, I remember a time when $500K was a LOT of money. But here's a guy that drank the kool-aid deeply. Go out and buy that $600K house on the golf course; live large; prices only go up; don't worry about the future. Well... it's time to give it all back.

Food for thought:
At the ripe old age of 55+, why would anyone want to take on crippling debt? As you approach your "golden" years you should be seeking security and zero debt.

2009-07-11: Mortgage defaults spread as even 'safe' borrowers falter
No longer is the real estate bust simply the result of exotic, subprime loans that doubled payments and blew up in homeowners' faces. As the Sacramento economy buckles, even the safest mortgages have become part of a new wave of loan defaults, experts say.

With capital-area job losses reaching 45,000 in the past year and unemployment at 11.1 percent, lenders, bankruptcy attorneys and debt counselors all say they're seeing rising delinquencies among prime borrowers with fixed-rate loans and good credit. Many of those slipping into trouble are state workers, the mainstay of Sacramento's economy.

There are 3.3 million of them in California – 56 percent of all mortgages. But nearly 4 percent were delinquent in the first quarter,

Already in the foreclosure process is Ron McClure of Roseville. He bought a $600,000 house at Sun City Roseville in 2003, using a prime, fixed-rate loan that cost him $3,200 a month.

That worked until the housing market collapsed. McClure, partner in a small home-building business, saw his income collapse with it. Six months ago, he stopped making payments on the house.
--------------

Here is the house:
7681 Rosestone Ln, Roseville, CA 95747
3 beds, 2.5 baths, 2,538 sq ft
Zestimate®: $455,000

Sold 08/15/2003: $600,000
2008 Property Tax: $6,757

Kern County - Record Foreclosures

Lets continue the Kern County NOD and Foreclosure record tracking for Bakersfield Bubble.
Record NODs HERE.

California Insolvency is Here (?)

We're insolvent, I guess. Let's see what happens.

2009-07-01: California Prepares to Issue IOU's
Sacramento (myFOXla.com) - California's controller will start paying many of the state's bills with IOUs as soon as Thursday after lawmakers failed to close the state's worsening budget deficit, adding a new measure of indignity to a state sinking deeper into dysfunction.

2009-07-01: BofA to accept California IOUs
Bank of America said Wednesday that it will accept IOUs from the State of California from its customers through July 10.

“To support our customers, while giving the government additional time to pass a budget, we will accept California state-registered warrants - or IOUs -from existing customers and clients,” the bank said. “Based on state disbursement estimates, we will accept the registered warrants through July 10.”

California Insolvency!

2009-06-30: Federal Judge Blocks Bankrupt California from Reducing Wages of State Workers
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken halted the wage cuts on June 25 in response to a lawsuit by the Service Employee International Union (SEIU) on behalf of 250,000--out of a total of 440,000--home care workers that it represents in California.

The judge ordered the state to keep paying the workers, referred to as In-Home Supportive Services Workers (IHSS), up to $12.10 in wages and benefits. [IHSS? WTF?]
...
The union argued that the IHSS program actually saves the state money because it keeps its users from going into nursing facilities that tend to be more expensive.

However, according to a California Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes report this year, the IHHS program “lacks sufficient oversight and suffers from fraud and abuse.” [How shocking!!]
----
Ok, let's do the math... (assume 1000 work hours/year; half-time)

440,000 workers x $12.10/hour x 1000 hours/year = $5.3BILLION

2009-06-30: California poised to issue IOUs to vendors
So far, no banks have committed to honoring the IOUs, said Hallye Jordan, spokeswoman for state Controller John Chiang.

She said banks are probably waiting to see how much interest the state will pay on the IOUs – a figure that won't be decided until Thursday, the same day Chiang is scheduled to issue IOUs. The notes will total $3.36 billion, with about $500 million targeted for the private sector.

2009-06-24: California set to issue IOUs
"Next Wednesday we start a fiscal year with a massively unbalanced spending plan and a cash shortfall not seen since the Great Depression," Controller John Chiang said in a statement announcing that he would be forced to use IOUs to pay the state's bills beginning on July 2.

Kendra Todd - The Lawsuit

Kendra Todd, Uber Real Estate Pumper
(see also, Part 1, Kendra Todd Meets God)

If guilty, perhaps behind bars she will convert to Islam.

* Hat tip Johnnie

2009-06-21: Kendra Todd accused of fraud in lawsuit over homesale
...
But homebuyer Diane Harris probably wished Todd had a different show - perhaps one entitled, "My Closing Costs Are Worth What?"

Harris said Todd used her Apprentice success "to lull unsuspecting victims into her scheme to defraud," according to a Palm Beach County Circuit Court lawsuit filed against Todd by Harris earlier this month.

More specifically, Harris claims Todd defrauded her by inducing her to buy a Texas home in a deal stuffed with financial extras for Todd, "including overcharges and illegal charges, none of which were disclosed." As a result of the added closing costs, plus a high interest rate mortgage Harris couldn't afford, the property is in foreclosure and Harris' credit is ruined, the lawsuit claims.

Harris is suing Todd, mortgage broker Michelle Caldwell, and Todd's company, Kendra Todd Group, a dissolved Florida corporation formerly based in Hypoluxo. The suit, which includes allegations of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty, seeks unspecified money damages.
...
In her lawsuit, Harris claims Todd called the Obra purchase "a fantastic investment opportunity" and that only a few lots still were available for sale. Swayed, Harris said she gave Todd a $7,500 deposit for the purchase of a $88,820 home, the lawsuit says.

Things went south soon after that. Harris's suit said she was told the home would be equipped with appliances. But when Harris went to see the home, she learned the appliances weren't included - but could be purchased through the mortgage loan. So another $1,000 was added to the mortgage, the lawsuit says. (Before it went bust, Obra gained a reputation for luring home buyers in with low-cost home prices and the promise of free appliances.)

In addition to the appliance snafu, other nasty surprises awaited Harris, including an extra $2,000 in deposits owed, the suit claims.

Harris claims she later learned Todd received "kickbacks" from Obra for bringing buyers to the homebuilder, the lawsuit alleges. But Harris' suit said Todd wasn't licensed as a broker in Texas, and therefore couldn't receive kickbacks - or brokerage fees, as Todd described them in closing documents, the lawsuit says.

Harris's suit said she also paid mortgage broker fees to Caldwell, even though she wasn't a licensed mortgage broker in Texas. Caldwell could not be reached for comment, and the company she worked for, Benchmark Mortgage Corp., is listed as a dissolved Florida corporation, according to state records.

Todd, who still owns a Boynton Beach home appraised at $219,276, also could not be reached for comment by presstime. Her publicist said she was in Seattle.
----
34 Baytree Cir, Boynton Beach, FL
3 beds, 2.0 baths, 1,577 sq ft
Zestimate®: $180,000

Sale History
04/23/2004: $207,000

Property Appraisal