| Fear & foreclosure in Las Vegas |
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Page 2 of 7 They allegedly arranged fake sales on some houses five times. Then, according to the indictment, they walked away from the mortgages, leaving lenders in the lurch.If prosecutors are right, Mazzarella and Grimm were the Bonnie and Clyde of mortgage fraud—among the greediest of a band of swindlers who took advantage of lax lending standards at profit-hungry banks, which stopped verifying income and assets for even questionable borrowers. Buyers who gave false information to mortgage lenders are technically guilty of fraud themselves. Yet authorities are mostly targeting schemes such as the one allegedly perpetrated by Mazzarella and Grimm. What happened in Vegas didn’t stay in Vegas. Similar schemes across the country helped pump up a housing bubble whose rupture has triggered a global banking crisis, prompted government intervention not seen since the Depression and helped precipitate what economists predict will be a long and painful recession. Mazzarella and Grimm have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and bank fraud in Nevada federal court in Las Vegas. They couldn’t be reached for comment on this story. Mazzarella’s attorney declined to comment; Grimm’s didn’t return phone calls. Mazzarella’s father, a real-estate lawyer in San Diego, says his daughter is innocent. “She was putting money in Las Vegas real estate like everyone else,” Mark Mazzarella says. “The targets are going to be higher up the food chain.” Mazzarella and Grimm’s alleged scheme was just one of many in Las Vegas, where, throughout much of this decade, people wagered on houses like they were numbers on a roulette wheel. The advent of no-document “liar loans” fueled the frenzy, as maids, parking attendants and casino workers borrowed big to roll the dice on subdivisions rising amid the mesquite. Like the city’s replicas of Venice’s canals and New York’s skyline, Las Vegas real estate became a caricature, rising faster and booming bigger than in the rest of the nation. Nevada added an estimated 275,000 new homes from 2000 to 2007, a 33-percent increase that was the highest in the country, according to the US Census Bureau. In the second quarter of 2004, prices for previously owned homes in Las Vegas shot up 52.4 percent from a year earlier, the biggest increase ever recorded for a metropolitan area by the realtors’ association. The next quarter, Vegas broke its own record, rising 53.7 percent. |
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Las Vegas is a unique city. As you plan your move to Las Vegas be sure to plan your routes wisely to avoid traffic and lights. Also, be sure to have your real estate agent involved so that he can guide you in your schedule and overall move. A good agent can refer you to good moving and travel companies. They have seen many people relocate and have experience in smoothing out the bumps. Moving is an exciting time. Make sure your team is in place so you can enjoy the wonderful culture Las Vegas has to offer. Welcome to Las Vegas!