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 "real-estate" ...
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Gilbert's Pricey Land Deal
In early 2009, Gilbert paid $300,000 per acre for 142.5 acres of undeveloped farmland intended for the development of two municipal parks. The transaction cause local real-estate experts to scratch their heads at the above-market price that Gilbert paid for the land. Leavitt's investigation found that the town bought the land without first seeking an appraisal to help determine its value.
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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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The Puddingstone Group
The Puddingstone Group is a real estate investment company started in 1999 by a judge, a banker, and a real estate developer, which has become involved in dozens of lawsuits arising from alleged predatory practices, breaches of legal ethics, campaign contributions, and collusion with businesses, banks, and politicians.
Tags: Real Estate; Legal Ethics
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Lost Lake, Lost Dreams
A story focused on how a Tacoma developer's bankruptcy and real estate practices at a site marketed as a luxury RV park affected ordinary buyers, some of whom were unable to get deeds for RV lots that they had purchased, even after placing large sum's of cash in the developer's hands.
Tags: Real Estate; Bankruptcy
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Prium
A report on the dramatic rise and fall of Prium, a Pierce County, Washington State real estate company which lurched into one of the largest bankruptcy filings in state history.
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Fast and Loose
Stories told how millionaire real estate developer Rusty Hyneman and partner Michael Bourne benefited from sweetheart bank loans. The stories illustrated wide-open bank practices that helped trigger the housing crisis and the Great Repression.
Tags: Recession; housing crisis; banks; loans; developer
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Short Sale Shenanigans
The story uncovers a little known practice in this post-bubble real estate world: the people who make money flipping and flopping houses in a time of crashing prices and foreclosures.
Tags: flopping houses; short sale; housing market; foreclosures
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Florida's Insurance Nightmare
Six years after eight hurricanes ripped across Florida, state residents still struggle to recover from the storms' legacy - a wrecked property insurance market. Exorbitant premiums, the highest in the world, have soured the state's struggling economy, killed real estate sales and forced families from their homes. Homeowners were told that unless they paid even more, no insurance company would take their hurricane risk. The Herald-Tribune showed that is a lie. Floridians have been lied to about why there is a crisis, where their money is going, and whether they're even protected against storm losses. Public policy has been corrupted by fiction spun by the insurance industry and its supposed regulators. Billions of dollars desperately needed for the next disaster have been siphoned offshore. And millions of homeowners are left to entrust their financial security on a system rigged to extort profit. To expose the hidden truth of Florida's insurance crisis, St. John cultivated key sources deep within every aspect of the insurance industry and sought massive amounts of financial and policy data from multiple state and national entities. When it became obvious Florida's crisis was manipulated from afar, she traveled to Bermuda and Monte Carlo to discover the hidden players truly in charge.
Tags: home insurance; property insurance; Florida; hurricane; real estate; insurance premiums; homeowners; Bermuda; Monte Carlo; state regulators; anti-trust law; State Farm
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Out of the Office
A surveillance investigation uncovered a high-ranking county official trying to sell real estate while working at his government job. The story showed how common it is for highly-paid county employees to abuse privileges.
Tags: real estate; corruption; county official; abuse;
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Sovereign Citizens Stealing Houses
The story investigated the criminal actions of anti-government extremists calling themselves sovereign citizens. Homes in foreclosure were being "stolen" by these suspects filing fake real estate paperwork at local courthouses.
Tags: sovereign citizens; anti-government; foreclosure; real estate; political movement