Details about this story

• Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune
• Date: July 19, 2009
• URL: Read the story
• Bylines: Michael Braga , Chris Davis , Matthew Doig
• Topics: Real Estate
• Data Types: State Data
• Description/Excerpt: Fraudulent property flipping ran rampant during this decade's housing boom, with $10 billion in suspicious deals in Florida alone, a Herald-Tribune investigation has found. The Herald-Tribune spent a year gathering and reviewing nearly 19 million Florida real estate transactions for red flags that can help identify flipping fraud. Using public records, including land deeds and mortgage filings, it found that: Since 2000, more than 50,000 Florida properties flipped under circumstances that fraud investigators identify as suspicious -- where homes, vacant land or commercial properties were bought and resold in 90 days or less and increased in value by at least 30 percent. Even during the hottest days of the housing boom, average home prices increased at half that rate. More than a dozen fraud experts interviewed by the Herald-Tribune said such large price increases within 90 days are an indicator of fraud.