Today’s General  MLS meeting was led by Ske Riggs. Our Mortgage Minute was provided by Darrel Miller of US Lending (530) 351 5676. Both Darrel and Ske managed to put recent slight rises in mortgage interest rates into perspective. If you’ve been around a while, you can remember when getting 12% rate was considered an excellent deal. By contrast, today’s rates are an amazing and historic bargain.

Bob has most recently been working Welfare Fraud cases, but will begin filling the new position of Real Estate Fraud investigator enabled by the recent passage of new fees on recorded documents. Bob is hitting the ground running with information provided by the board and others.  He is asking for your support. We recorded his presentation today for you to listen to as a podcast. A couple of notes:

Even if it’s legal, it may not be ethical. Realtors are required to adhere to a higher standard of behavior as defined by our Code of Ethics. Bob answered a few questions where it seemed like the behavior was legal, but not ethical.

There are many reports of fraud enabled by Craigslist. Craigslist is not liable, and is protected by free speech safeguards. Fraudsters however, are not protected. Rather than just shrug your shoulders over a possible fraud coming from Craigslist…or anywhere…try to help with a STING. Go along with the perpetrator. Set up an appointment with them, and have Bob meet them. Now he’s got something to work with. You can be an active agent in the prevention of fraud, not a passive enabler.  

Bob needs all our help. You are the eyes and ears of the industry. It’s terrific that we will have this new local resource to help keep the fraudsters at bay, but success will require your participation. Here is the Fraud Complaint Form: 

  Real Estate Fraud Complaint Form.pdf (139.64 kb)

The link to the Podacast page is HERE. This was Podcast #4. If you enjoy listening to these sessions online or on your iPod, please leave a comment (below).

It was another interesting and informative meeting.  Local REALTORS now have a friend in the D.A.’s office, on whom we can depend to go after the few bad apples that harm our profession and our community. Skip Murphy