Foreclosed House Rented Out By Outsider

The foreclosure climate seems to be ideal for breeding scams. Kristen Ables is one of the foreclosure victims. She was shocked with disbelief upon coming to know that an unknown family was living in her house at Fresno. Her complaint led to the arrest of 66 year old Sam Haley. The occupants were also victims. They were under the impression of being tenants of Haley.

The house was an investment property on Saginaw Avenue. Ables was trying to sell it so as to avoid foreclosure. Haley illegally took it over and rented it out to a family that did not know he was not the owner. In 1979 Haley had forfeited his real estate license for being involved in at least 13 scam cases. In all likelihood he would have got away with it this time also if Ables had not unexpectedly dropped in.

The police department of Fresno traced all the required evidence from Haley’s home. Papers pertaining to Capital Investments showed that he had rented out 19 other properties. He had selected 126 other properties for his next nefarious schemes. He ran the firm Capital Investments from a modest office on Bullard Avenue. He also ran another company named Premier Plus Mortgage. Helping him were his two family members. For Fresno police this was the first case of this type.

Similar instances are quite common in foreclosure-ridden America. With recession on, and reo home value having plummeted to being less than loan amounts, many borrowers are just walking away from units that are not worth fighting for. Evictions and these instances of walking away have led to a phenomenal increase in vacant houses that the banks cannot manage to maintain. In California there have been 13,227 units taken over by the banks in October. In Fresno there are 329 of these.

Haley browsed through Multiple Listing Service posted by Fresno Association of Realtor to get the details of reo houses. Then with the help of an accomplice he hacked the key box codes and gained entry into the houses. The innocent renters were then asked to change their locks saying that he had misplaced the keys. He also assured the tenants hat he would assist in fixing their credit so that they could purchase a house by another two years. The renters were also told that they must be prepared to move quickly when this house would be sold but he guaranteed them another alternative accommodation! Over seven months of running this show he pocketed $26,000.