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 "mortgage industry" ...
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Dreams tumbling down; "Manufactured promises" two-part series: The high cost of home & No longer their choice; State will review rules on housing; Troubled homes amid prosperity; Manufactured-housing trade group favors new disclosure laws; Panel urges more regulation of manufactured homes; Panel urges more regulation of manufactured homes; Difficulty follows easy-buy homes; Manufactured home dealers, state reach agreements
An Oregonian investigative series and follow-up stories report on how the rising cost of manufactured homes has forced residents into bankruptcy and moving out. As mobile home parks compete with the site-built housing business, their have become a hardly affordable place to live anymore, the Oregonian reports. Loans for manufactured houses usually carry 3 to 5 points higher interest rates than those for stick-built houses. The stories reveal that the industry targets young families and first-time home buyers, that developers impose additional "park packages" of up to 20,000 to 30,000 per home and that manufactured-home dealers are regulated less than car dealers.
Tags: mobile homes; real estate; trailers; rental parks; poverty; low income; elderly; social issues; bankruptcy; loans; mortgages; foreclosure; Oregon Manufactured Housing Association; homeowners; land development
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Flipping
A Baltimore Sun investigation of the Baltimore real estate industry reveals that "flipping" is a common practice. "Flipping is the purchase and quick resale of a property at a substantial profit. Flipping itself isn't illegal. It becomes illegal when documents are inflated appraisals and falsified documents are used to get a mortgage for more than a house is worth for a buyer who should not get the loan."
Tags: flipping; Baltimore; housing; mortgages; real estate
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1991 IRE TV Award Winners and Finalists Tape.
The 1991 IRE TV Award Winners and Finalists Tape is a compilation of 5 investigative stories. 1.) "Televangelists," Prime Time Live, ABC News investigates the business practices of three highly successful and prominent televangelists who capitalize on the beliefs of their followers and collect millions of dollars in tax-free donations each year; reveals phony faith healings and high-pressure money-making schemes. See #8402. 2.) "The Great American Bailout," PBS Frontline and The Center for Investigative Reporting San Francisco reports on the Resolution Trust Corporation and how it is ignoring the needs of low-income families in its bailout of the savings and loans program. See # 8259, 8260, 8261 and 8262. 3.) "Signed Sealed and Suckered," WDHD Boston uncovers rampant redlining of minority neighborhoods and a pattern of discrimination by home improvement contractors and second mortgage lenders, charging inflated prices for shoddy work and loan interest rates of 24 %. See # 8334. 4.) "Down the Drain," WKRN, Nashville looks at the city's water and sewer department and finds hundreds of thousands of dollars in rate payers' money wasted and "Good Ole' Boy" connections. See # 8231. 5.) "Trash Fraud in Onodaga County," WSTM, Syracuse N.Y. finds fraud within the trash hauling industry in Onondaga County, N.Y. The hauling company places weights in its trucks in order to cheat the system. See # 8171.
Tags: TAPE; ire; car; religion; telemarketing; legal discrimination; construction; garbage.
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The New Redlining
U.S. News and World Report examined in a six-month investigation banking, lending and home-insurance coverage in poor and minority communities. The inquiry was based on an unprecedented study of nine sets of banking and insurance industry data, including more than 24 million mortgage records.
Tags: CAR; discrimination; minorities; banking; real estate; property
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No title (id: 6089)
WBBM-TV (Chicago) documents widespread abuses and fraud in the credit industry; finds finance companies charging interest rates as high as 50 percent, deceptions by credit repair clinics, con men acting as mortgage brokers scamming people out of their homes, and other problems, Feb. 2 - 6, 1988.
Tags: TAPE
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No title (id: 3602)
WTSP-TV (St. Petersburg) exposes mortgage fraud perpetuated by two businessmen who left hundreds of homeowners broke; state investigator's office is too backlogged to handle the problem; realtors do not need licenses so state control of the industry is minimal, Feb. 3 - 5, 1986.
Tags: FL Tape
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No title (id: 3573)
KATU-TV (Portland) talks about fraud in Oregon's mortgage industry; investors are misled and receive forged documents; the state does not regulate the industry, May 26 - 27, 1986.
Tags: Tape
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No title (id: 2520)
Regardie's tells the story of Equity Programs Investment Corp., a mortgage investment group associated with a Maryland savings and loan that went under when Maryland's thrift industry collapsed; shows poor regulation mixed with unrestrained greed caused the largest mortgage default in history, June 1988.