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 "land flipping" ...
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Land Flips Sting Taxpayers
The Gwinett County school district is not only Georgia's largest, but arguably its most highly regarded after winning a prestigious award as the nation's top urban district. However, while the district celebrated its national acclaim, the Journal-Constitution began scrutinizing its unusually secretive land-purchasing program. After analyzing all the district's land purchases over the past 12 years, the Journal-Constitution focused on 11 mullti-million dollar transactions, many of them involving prominent and politically connected real estate developers.
Tags: Gwinett County; Georgia; School District; Land Purchasing; Sweetheart Deals
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In 2004, the Future of Affordable Housing in the Silk City was . . . SOLD!
Paterson, N.J. mayor Jose "Joey" Torres "sold liens in blighted neighborhoods to a favored developer at a cut rate." The developer (Glen Fishman) would then foreclose on the properties and "flip them for a profit." Non-profit groups like Habitat for Humanity, which had been attempting to construct affordable housing were thus priced out of the market, or had to pay marked-up prices to Fishman for land in the tough neighborhoods.
Tags: property liens; property flipping; blighted neighborhoods; Habitat for Humanity; foreclosure
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Hillsborough County School District Land Investigation
The ninth largest U.S. school district, Hillsborough County (FL), in 2006 was "growing fast enough to fill five new schools" per year. To meet the demand, Hillsborough county used the services of 4 private real estate brokers, without using bids, in violation of its own regulations. Three of the four brokers have records of criminal, legal and financial problems. Some of those brokers simultaneously represented the sellers, or flipped the land themselves, resulting in land purchases often made substantially above appraisal values. Reporters from the St. Petersburg Times documented swampland purchases, and school sites surrounded by the homes of sexual predators.
Tags: land; school board; school district superintendent; real estate brokers; realtors; swampland; bidding practices; state FOI; land flipping; rezoning applications; condemnation; assessments; appraisals; financial investigations; land records; wetland maps; FBI investigation; Florida Department of Law Enforcement; Excel; Matthew B. Cox; Chester B. Luney; Fred Edmister; National Realty Associates; school planning; Wilson-Miller; Florida Real Estate Commission; 2606 East Caracus Land Trust; Laurence E. Fuentes; Fuentes and Kreischer Title Co.; Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
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Land Lords: How a Trio of Texans Turned S&L Debacle Into Personal Fortunes
The Journals tells the story of Rene Campos, Adam Weis and Greg Smith, who were will to gamble with real estate property after Texas savings-and-loan crisis. The three bought properties from the Resolution Trust Company, "the federal agency created to clean up the mess," fixed them and started profiting from the cheap undervalued property. The profit did not come from speculative "flipping," but from clearing and managing the properties.
Tags: business; drugs; apartment complexes; investments; tenants
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Salina Worrell was Robbed--so were 1,000 others at Portland's Youth Opportunity Center
An investigation into Portland's Youth Opportunity Center, a troubled $20 million youth workforce training center in Portland, Oregon. The center is supposed to help inner-city youths land good jobs at decent wages--but was found to have squandered thousands of dollars and failed in its mission. "Out of 1,100 youths, YO claims to have served, only 63 have landed full-time, long-term positions that don't involve flipping burgers or pumping gas."
Tags: Portland; Ore.; Portland's Youth Opportunity Center; Salina Worrell; Department of Labor; youth workforce training; social services; youth
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Flipping, Fraud, and Fantastic Profits
WBAL-TV reports "an investigation that focuses on a real estate scheme in which longtime landlords and speculators "flip" deteriorating properties to unknowing buyers and investors for highly inflated prices. The extent of the scheme .. as many as 2500 properties in the city of Baltimore are involved. The scheme has caused a dramatic increase in mortgage foreclosures and personal bankruptcies and has further contributed to the demise of many struggling neighborhoods."
Tags: TAPE TRANSCRIPT CAR land property records not-for-profit charitable trusts
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No title (id: 3521)
KOCO-TV (Oklahoma City) details how land developers used a series of loan flips and warranty deeds to defraud lending institutions and individuals out of a half billion dollars; the developers are former members of the Ned Warren group, responsible for massive land fraud in Arizona, October 1986.