Short Sale Flip Fraud – The newest problem in real estate is not yet a law or an official policy, but it is definitely going to create issues in the market. The latest opinion released from Freddie Mac on short sales presents legal and practical issues for short sale investors.

The organization posted a new educational article on April 16, 2010 titled “Emerging Fraud Trends: Short Payoff Fraud.” Essentially, the article stated that a short payoff or a short sale can be considered fraudulent if the lender agrees to a short sale that already has a third-party buyer in place that is paying a higher amount than the agreed-upon loan payoff amount. This could mean problems for investors who have been short sale flipping, or negotiating short sales with banks and then selling the properties at a profit.

The Freddie Mac poster went on to describe scenarios and red flags for short payoff fraud. The scenario involved a facilitator, whose description matched that of a real estate short sale investor, who negotiated a deal with a lender to short sale a home worth $80,000 with a debt of $100,000 for $70,000. In the scenario, the facilitator fails to notify the bank he has a higher offer, 95,000, on the house. When the transactions close – in this case on the same day – and the facilitator pockets the difference, according to Freddie Mac he has just committed fraud because he withheld information about a higher offer and causes Freddie Mac to take a “larger than necessary” loss on the sale.

The writer encourages everyone involved in short payoffs to look out for short payoff flags. Freddie Mac considers entities buying property, borrowers who are suddenly in default and borrowers who have not reneged on all of their loans to be red flags for short payoff fraud. The article also tells readers to keep an eye out for resale options in their purchase agreement.

Everyone involved in a short payoff is encouraged by Freddie Mac to report potential short payoff fraud the second they become aware of a second purchase contract for a higher price. This may not yet be a law, but the signs are not good when Freddie Mac has posted such a direct attack on short sale investors.