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 "property loans" ...
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Pay Day Lenders Skirt Law
The story revealed how a high end race car driver who is also a convicted felon is partnering with an Indian tribe to run a multi-million dollar payday loan business. By partnering with the tribe the lenders do not have to follow any state laws. The lender is currently under multiple investigations by attorneys general.
Tags: payday loan; Better Business Bureau; property tax records
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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 Real Estate Meltdown
"Did Appraisers Juice the Market?" showed how appraisers overstated home values. Using disciplinary records and interviews, Shanklin and McClure found appraisers who exaggerated condo sizes, appraised homes without seeing them and stated that condos were worth the $240,000 sales price even though the price was padded with $40,000 of incentives. The "Subprime Mess" package was based on more than 2 million records and showed how unconventional loans moved from low-income, inner city neighborhoods to the burgeoning suburbs. "How Investors Helped Overheat the Market" explored the role of investors in Central Florida's real estate meltdown by analyzing hundreds of data records and found that sales of non owner-occupied homes grew from 25 percent of all local residential sales in 2002 to 70 percent in 2006.
Tags: real estate; investors; lenders; purchase prices; subprime loans; adjustable-rate loans; high-interest loans; housing scam; vacant housing; condo conversion; development; property values
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Lost Paradise
People who bought retirement or hunting property in north Arkansas learned too late that developer Wayne Watkins didn't record their sales at the county courthouse and that he used land he sold to them as collateral for $2.6 million in loans. When he defaulted, banks foreclosed. Because no legal record existed of the buyers' ownership interest, banks often sold the land again.
Tags: banks; lending; housing; loans; fraud; housing scams; foreclosure
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Detroit tax breaks go to the well-heeled
"An obscure, secretive city council entity, the "Hardship Committee," was charged with determining which property-owners were so poor they should be excused from paying all their taxes. But in many cases the breaks meant for the cash-strapped went to the seemingly well-off, including people who drove luxury vehicles, multiple property owners and others who got six-figure home-equity loans. These stories also looked at the members of the committee and found its members were being sued for fraud, had filed for bankruptcy, had a trail of unpaid debts and, in one case, had submitted a false resume."
Tags: city government; property; taxes; fraud
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Timeshares: No Matter How You Slice Them, Buyers Pay a Price
With major corporations now involved, timeshare buyers face "high-pressure sales tactics, expensive financing, convoluted reservation systems, volatile and steep annual fees and questionable management and a dismal resale market in which owners virtually must give away their units in order to get rid of them." Even as major lawsuits have been field in recent years on behalf of timeshare buyers, "most states do little to regulate the industry and ensure that timeshare units are accurately represented and that the reservation systems are fairly administered."
Tags: timeshares; housing market; timeshare financing; property loans; timeshare resale
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Rise and Fall
Spurred by real estate mogul Solomon Dwek bouncing a $25 million check at a drive-through bank window, the Asbury Park Press investigates Dwek's dealings, and finds that his business may not be as financially stable as it is presented to be. The Press found that Dwek committed mortgage fraud, as forensic experts analyzed signatures on land records, and said Dwek "likely signed the names of other people to $9 million in loans he obtained." His wife had mortgages on three properties she did not own. Dwek, who was arrested by the FBI in the wake of the bounced check, was also found to have received $179 million in loans and investments from banks, mortgage lenders and investors.
Tags: Solomon Dwek; mortgage fraud; false bank loans; federal bank fraud; real estate
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Barrio Land Deal
In a poorer section of San Diego, a site was set aside for a development that would help a local rebirth. But the lot "sits vacant, surrounded by a fence, filled with trash." A KGTV investigation finds that while the city continues to pay an $8 million loan from Housing and Urban Development for the development of the area, nothing has happened on the property. The land continues to increase in value, and the developer continues to do nothing.
Tags: Property; development; vacant lot; urban renewal
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A Fraud on Your House
WFAA-TV investigated mortgage fraud in North Texas, including artifically rising housing prices, using fradulent information to obtain property loans, and people charged for mortgages on property they do not own.
Tags: Loans; Fraud; Mortgage; Housing; Real estate; property
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KC Federal Housing Series
A follow-up to an Oct. 2004 series, this investigation uncovers misspent federal housing dollars intended to benefit lower income families. Among their findings was a sale in which a local developer made a $156,000 profit by flipping the property the same day; a home-repair program which took advantage of home owners; and sweet heart loans to local politicians and business owners.
Tags: housing; real estate; property taxes; property assessment; HUD; restoration; CAR