The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "FHA" ...
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Bad loans, No penalties
The state of Ohio leads the nation in failed loans, which the federal government corrects while the communities suffer. One of the biggest stories, which led to the investigation and this series, was when “Columbus developers walked away from an apartment-renovation project and $26 million in government-insured loans”. Further, there wasn’t anything that held these developers liable to repay the money.
Tags: Federal Housing Administration (FHA); tenants; neighbors; local officials; foreclosure; taxpayers; property; Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
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The Subprime Wolves Are Back
Consumer advocates revealed in interviews that some mortgage lenders and brokers have reinvented themselves as FHA-backed lenders to feed off of the consumer panic following the national financial bailout.
Tags: fraud; Wall Street; paper trail; bankruptcy filing; Federal Housing Administration; stimulus package;
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Foreclosing on the American Dream
More foreclosures are filed in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina than any other county in the state.
Tags: Foreclosure; real estate; depreciation; Mecklenburg county; FHA; Federal Housing Administration; home loans; mortgage
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Federal scrutiny on home deals
In an effort to deal with property flipping and mortgage problems in Baltimore, federal officials have barred a half-dozen Maryland real estate appraisers from the Federal Housing Administration program that insures home mortgages. The action is part of a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development effort to deal with a growing problem of inaccurate appraisals.
Tags: Federal Housing Administration; HUD; appraisers; home mortgages; FHA
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Public Housing as a "poorhouse"
Public housing is being demolished under a new housing policy. However, public housing still is flawed and our continued efforts to change it have failed: We've simply created news and worse slums.
Tags: housing; Pruitt-Igoe housing project in St. Louis; public housing; HUD; FHA; housing projects
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Property Flipping
An investigation by the Star-Ledger revealed a "major mortgage fraud" in New Jersey "involving an individual who made a career out of property flipping. Targeted were low-income, minority buyers who were promised fully renovated homes, made affordable by FHA-guaranteed loans."
Tags: New Jersey; mortgage fraud; property flipping; housing
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Keystone Bank Series
Messina chronicles the downfall of the First National Bank of Keystone, which was closed in early September 1999 after a federal fraud investigation. The bank, which had been listed as one of the most profitable community banks in the country, apparently listed $515 million in assets that it simply didn't have. Many depositors in impoverished McDowell County, in southern West Virginia, lost money when the bank closed. One couple lost $123,000 of their $223,000 retirement account fund (FDIC covered the remaining $100,000). Later articles revealed the possibility of insider trading by the bank's major stockholders: More than 59,000 shares of bank stock were sold between the time that investigators began a probe of the bank and its Sept. 1 shutdown. "The stockholders who sold their shares got $15 million. Those who bought the stock woke up Sept. 1 with worthless holdings."
Tags: FHA Title 1 loans; FDIC
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Cheated Out of House and Home
Phoenix Magazine tells the story of an "Arizona's "Erin Brokovich," who "represents herself without any legal training" in a still pending case. The report describes how "in a desperate struggle to reclaim her century-old bungalow, Lauren LaBarre is suing the bank she claims defrauded her into foreclosure." The story reveals that the mortgage company refused to accept LaBarre's money, thus forcing her into foreclosure. The report also details how the bank was "blaming LaBarre for its own mistakes - the typographical error and the payments they'd lost." The author draws the conclusion that this might happen to "anyone who's paying a mortgage and is late on a payment now and then."
Tags: courts; bankruptcy; law; attorneys; courts; judges; housing; GMAC mortgage Co.; FHA; loans
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Home Buyer Beware
WWOR-TV reports "'Home Buyer Beware' is the blanket title for a series of investigations that uncovered a widespread pattern of deception by real estate operators, mortgage bankers, lawyers and appraisers, preying primarily on African-Americans and Latinos in urban neighborhoods."
Tags: TAPE NO TRANSCRIPT foreclosure; mortgage; HUD; Federal Housing Administration FHA Housing and Urban Development fraud inspections appraisals loan qualifications inflated valuations Mortgage Lending of America
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The $600 House
WOOD-TV reports the "sale of federally foreclosed homes to insiders at token prices. We found the Department of Housing and Urban Development priced surplus FHA foreclosed homes from 500 to 1,000 dollars. The properties were not offered in the usual public sale. The exceptional deals went to two realtors who had worked under contract with HUD for many years as property managers. They in turn sold the properties for many times what they paid..."
Tags: TAPE TRANSCRIPT collusion cronyism flipping John Birnie