This is a bizarre, feel-good story of the banks, and Fannie and Freddie, getting a taste of their own medicine. Wait until you read these details. Foreclosure anarchy has arrived.
Read the original piece here from an Arizona newspaper...
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Cross-posted from 4closurefraud
Some excerpts from the report…
A Tucson mayoral candidate from a fringe political party has seized dozens of foreclosed homes in metro Phoenix, changing the locks, kicking out real-estate agents and posting “Do Not Trespass” signs.
Marshall Home, who claims many foreclosures are illegal, has filed documents in the past two weeks with the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office showing he has supposedly taken ownership of at least 21 homes belonging to government-owned mortgage giant Fannie Mae. But none of the documents shows any money has changed hands, and Fannie Mae says it has not sold the houses.
Why would he do such a thing?
“Lenders are gangsters, and they can’t prove they own these homes. So they have no right to foreclose,” said the 80-year-old self-professed billionaire from his real-estate and political office in Tucson on Tuesday. “I plan to continue to take homes from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I would buy them, but those groups can’t produce the notes showing they are the rightful owners to sell or foreclose on them.”
I think I like this guys style…
Actually, he isn’t doing anything different than Fannie’s and Freddie’s Foreclosure Mills do…
“He knows how to file a real-estate document that looks legitimate,” Ruff said, “even if it may not be.”
So how does hew do it?
Last week, Phoenix HomeSmart real-estate agents Brett Barry and Roland Cleveland got a call from their brokerage telling them Independent Rights Political Party Trust had sent a letter saying it “acquired all rights” to the house at 6032 E. Skinner Drive in Cave Creek. The agents were hired by Fannie Mae to maintain and market the property and had heard nothing about a sale of the home.
The notice told the real-estate agents they had 72 hours to remove their signs and lockboxes, so they rushed to the house wondering what was happening and why hadn’t they been informed. But they were too late. Home’s group had taken their lockboxes, installed new locks and posted signs saying the house was under video surveillance and any trespassers would be “dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.”
A special-warranty deed, stamped by the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, also was posted on the window of the home. The deed said the Federal National Mortgage Association, Fannie Mae, had conveyed the property to the Independent Rights Party. It was signed by Home and his notary, but there were no signatures from Fannie Mae on it.
Ah, so he is assigning the properties to himself. Just like the servicers do…
So, what did the Realtors think?
“We called the people who hired us and work with Fannie Mae, and they didn’t know anything about a sale,” he said. “It appeared right away the document was fraudulent.”
“It’s crazy,” he said. “How does someone just declare they own a home without paying for it or obtaining a clear title?“
So how does he get away wit it you ask?
All types of documents can be filed with the Recorder’s Office as long as they are notarized. Not all documents are scrutinized before the county agency accepts them because that’s not its job.
Home said his group also has claimed control over foreclosure houses in Tucson and other parts of the country, including Florida and Las Vegas.
Home said he took control of a 145-unit condominium project for a man in Florida.
So what does Marshall Home have to say about all this?
“We’ve seized hundreds of homes from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” Home said. “Those groups have no legal right to them.”
“I haven’t been contacted by either entity nor has either one done anything to stop me,” Home said. “I look forward to a call from one of them so I can explain why I am legally in the right to take over taxpayer-owned homes.”
You can check out the article in its entirety here…
Awesome!
And the dude is 80 years old!