Thread: THE GREAT BAILOUT....and who it will help

vIllegal immigrants meet little resistance getting home loans
By Daniel Connolly from Memphis Commercial Appeal
November 12, 2006
Marleny Carranza's cell phone plays salsa music when a call comes in, and these days it rings often.
She and her sister Sandra Carranza are doing a brisk business selling homes to Hispanic immigrants, and they don't turn away people who may be in the country illegally.

The Carranza sisters work with Su Casa Realty, a Century 21 franchise with an office in Hickory Hill. They are among many real estate professionals and bankers nationwide willing to sell houses to illegal immigrants.
Giving home loans to illegal immigrants is a relatively safe bet because they usually earn steady incomes and because the federal government isn't trying hard to make them leave, some businesses executives say.
In fact, one group that criticizes the practice says the federal government makes it easy for illegal immigrants to establish a permanent home here.
Meanwhile, federal regulators permit the sale of homes to people here illegally and encourage banks to reach out to all immigrants.
Immigration enforcement has traditionally been light in non-border areas, and some business leaders believe illegal immigrants' integration in the national economy means the government won't drive them out.
"I don't think it's physically possible or fiscally possible to deport 12 million folks," said Bob Byrd, chairman and CEO of the Bank of Bartlett.
About 18 months ago, the community bank started a mortgage program for people without Social Security numbers.
While some people without Social Security numbers are here legally, many who don't have the numbers are illegal immigrants.
"We're doing this because we think it's right," Byrd said. "We're doing this because it's legal. And we're doing this because it's profitable."
Illegal immigrants represent a growing market: There are an estimated 12 million in the nation and between 100,000 and 150,000 in Tennessee, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research group.
Home sales to undocumented immigrants could be worth $60 billion, said Mary Mancera a spokeswoman for the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.
The Carranza sisters are tapping that pool. Originally from Honduras, a poor country in Central America, they landed in Memphis after doctors referred their teenage sister to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for cancer treatment. Their sister, Fanny Carranza, died in 1998.
Today, Marleny Carranza, 37, who studied law in Honduras, is part owner of Su Casa Realty.
The franchise opened in 2002 and anticipates selling its 1,500th house sometime next year, she said. It has 22 agents, most of them Spanish-speaking, and has sold homes throughout the area.
The sisters say about half their potential clients lack Social Security numbers. But they tell clients that they could sell the property if they're deported, and many clients have family members with legal status who could help pay loans if they were gone.
Many clients have substantial savings from blue collar jobs or small businesses. Some immigrants without Social Security numbers have paid as much as $100,000 up front, the sisters said.
"They save money, and that is power," said Sandra Carranza, who said she left the field she's trained in, electrical engineering, because selling houses to immigrants is more lucrative.
The sisters sometimes work with Bank of Bartlett, which accepts identification cards issued by foreign governments. The bank helps immigrants who lack Social Security cards obtain an individual tax identification number through the Internal Revenue Service, which doesn't share the information with immigration enforcement officers. The bank uses tax returns and other payment records to allow immigrants without a credit history to show their ability to pay the mortgage, Byrd said.
Byrd wouldn't say how many home loans the bank has given, but he said the total value is between $12 million and $14 million.
A private firm that Byrd wouldn't name backs the loans -- federally backed firms Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae don't support such loans.
The adjustable rate mortgages start at 7.65 percent, he said. The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate loan this week was 6.24 percent, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
He said none of the loan recipients has defaulted or been deported, and he considers it unlikely.
"For the life of me, I can't remember the report of a deportation in recent times," he said.
In recent years, federal immigration authorities have de-emphasized work site enforcement and gone after illegal immigrants who commit crimes. Work site arrests spiked this year, but the risk of deportation for illegal immigrants who stay out of trouble remains relatively small.
Temple Black, a spokesman for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that deports illegal immigrants, said the agency has no position on the mortgage loan programs.
But Steve Camarota with the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington group calling for tighter immigration restrictions, says firms like Bank of Bartlett are unethical.
"You have an institution in the community working to undermine U.S. immigration laws," he said.
But he also blames the federal government, saying it's not serious about immigration enforcement, despite dramatic moves like Congress' vote this fall to build 700 miles of fencing along the border.
"All the more mundane work of enforcing the law, like how you issue tax ID numbers, what instructions you give the bank, all those kinds of things they have no intention of doing," he said.
Byrd said the federal government gave him the idea of extending home loans to illegal immigrants. He said that in 2004 he attended a conference in Chicago at which officials from agencies, including the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., encouraged bankers to give services to illegal immigrants.
Spokesmen for the banking regulators say the agencies are urging lenders to extend services to immigrants and others likely to be outside the mainstream financial system. But they say they take no position on lending to illegal immigrants.
"We have neither encouraged or discouraged lending on the basis of immigration status," said Robert Mooney, an FDIC official in Washington.
Other businesses are entering the market.
First Tennessee Bank brokers loans for people without Social Security numbers through Banco Popular, a Puerto Rican firm. National banks, including Wells Fargo & Co. and Citibank, are testing similar programs.
The Memphis Area Teachers' Credit Union offers home loans to people without Social Security numbers, but a spokeswoman said the bank requires proof of legal immigration status.
Mortgage loans to illegal immigrants
Several local and national banks make home loans to people without Social Security numbers. While some people without Social Security numbers are here legally, many who don't have the numbers are illegal immigrants.
The Bank of Bartlett and other firms offer loans to people without Social Security numbers. First Tennessee Bank brokers similar loans through Banco Popular, a Puerto Rican bank. The Memphis Area Teachers' Credit Union offers loans to people without Social Security numbers, but a spokeswoman said they must have legal status.
Federal banking regulators encourage banks to reach out to the "unbanked," and permit home sales to illegal immigrants, officials with the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said. Sisters Marleny Carranza (left) and Sandra Carranza are affiliate brokers at Century 21 Su Casa Realty

No one is above the law. Congress should immediately demand the Department of Justice uphold the law and begin prosecuting all management level individuals in the FDIC, bank CEOs, vice presidents and managers for violation of federal immigration law and the Bank Secrecy Act of 1972. And, no fines. Banks have lots of money. It's time these people who knowingly break federal laws jail time just like anyone else. Congress should also move immediately to get the lists of all illegals who have opened bank accounts or loans with these banks, turn them over to the government and begin deporting these criminals.

CALL, FAX and EMAIL!! WE CANNOT GIVE UP AND WE CANNOT GIVE IN!!!

PUT ALL YOUR FRUSTRATION AND ANGER INTO ACTION!!

TOGETHER WE CAN DO THIS!!!

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Thank you TennesseeDaughter.

We have time to email FOX News and to contact Senators, Representatives.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-133503.html

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-779348.html#779348


Ephesians 4:32

Interesting update on our "friends" at Su Casa Realty:


Realtor stops immigrant loans

Options for obtaining controversial mortgages drying up
By Daniel Connolly (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Su Casa Realty, one of the biggest real estate agencies catering to Hispanic immigrants in Memphis, has largely stopped selling homes to people without Social Security numbers, often a sign that they are here illegally.

Juan Romo, part owner of the Century 21 franchise, said mortgage programs for people who lack Social Security numbers aren't likely to come back as banks clamp down on credit in response to the sub-prime housing crisis.


Also, it's increasingly hard for illegal immigrants to keep steady jobs, he said.

"I think (getting these loans) is going to be more difficult every time," he said.

It's against the law to enter the country without inspection or overstay a visa, but businesses have been successful in lobbying for lax enforcement.

Many people here illegally use fake documents to get jobs, and some earn enough to buy homes.

But the economic slowdown, particularly in construction labor, may mean fewer illegal immigrants can afford them. And there's anecdotal evidence that many employers are checking documents more carefully and turning illegal immigrants away.

Federal law still allows banks to offer mortgages to illegal immigrants. Banks have typically required these immigrants to present an individual tax identification number, or ITIN.

The federal government issues these numbers so that workers can file income tax forms regardless of their immigration status.

Last year, Su Casa Realty, Spanish for "Your House," sold about 300 homes in the Memphis area, including 60 through ITIN mortgages, Romo said.

But in recent months, its options for obtaining ITIN mortgages for clients have largely dried up.

Su Casa had been using an ITIN program from the Bank of Bartlett, but Romo said the bank ended the program this year after the mortgage insurer it was using made a national decision to stop insuring the loans.

Bob Byrd, chairman and chief executive officer for the Bank of Bartlett, was unavailable for comment Friday.

One of the few ITIN programs still available to Su Casa is through Banco Popular, a Puerto Rican firm. It has tightened its lending requirements to the point that none of Su Casa's 19 agents is using its program, Romo said.

Romo spoke on the eve of the grand opening of Su Casa's new offices in a two-story house in Hickory Hill.

The firm recently closed two small offices and plans to focus its efforts on serving legal immigrants, he said.

He says Hispanics from places like Chicago and Florida are coming to Memphis because homes are cheaper.

Romo said he's done with ITIN mortgages for now. "It's better to invest your time with people with bad credit now than with the ITIN number."

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/20 ... an-access/

Thank you for the article azwreath and how it relates to illegal aliens receiving mortgages in Tennessee.

Watch this video at this link -

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-133517.html

Ephesians 4:32

And it would seem that a little over a year after speaking in such glowing terms about handing illegals mortgages, the folks at Bartlett Bank found out that it might not have been such a good idea after all:

: Friday, December 14, 2007


Banks turn to auction houses to unload real estate Foreclosures create


Financial institutions seeking to sell a growing number of foreclosed properties in the wake of the subprime mortgage meltdown are increasingly turning to auction houses as an alternative avenue for real estate marketing.

The Memphis metropolitan area has one of the highest foreclosure rates among the nation's MSAs. With 6,239 foreclosure filings recorded during the third quarter, up 38.6% compared to the same period in 2006, Memphis is ranked No. 14 in the nation, according to RealtyTrac, Inc. Tennessee has the 12th highest foreclosure rate among the states, with 12,198 filings in the third quarter. Overall, foreclosures more than doubled in the U.S. during the third quarter this year to reach 635,159.

The mounting properties under foreclosure leave many financial institutions with real estate properties they wish to dispose of.

"There are an awful lot of foreclosures in the area," says Jody Hopkins, vice president of finance and administration for Roebuck Auctions. "Lenders own deeds to properties and as a result there's a tremendous influx of lending institutions that opt for auctions thanks to their speed and sense of urgency."

Professional live auctions, which involve a bidding process, are not to be confused with foreclosure auctions held on courthouse steps. Foreclosure auctions were held recently in Memphis for Matthews Brothers Builders LLC properties foreclosed by Paragon National Bank and other financial institutions. Such auctions may or may not result in a sale. They may result in handing the title over to the bank, which is then the new owner of the property.

Traditionally, banks have assigned the marketing of their real estate to a real estate broker. Now, many lending institutions find themselves owning many unwanted real estate properties, for which they need to carry insurance and other costs. With home sales being soft -- Memphis Area Association of Realtors reports year-to-date sales fell 13.8% from the same period last year -- they are looking for a quicker way to sell their newly acquired homes, which are considered non-performing assets.

"The sooner they can turn them into cash the better," Hopkins says.

In recent months, professional auctioneers have seen a flow of residential real estate auctions done on behalf of banks. Hopkins says last year 5% of the firm's business came from banks; this year the share has grown to 10%-15% and the rate "will go higher if the trend continues."

Jeff Morris, owner of Morris Auction Group, says a growing number of properties are coming in to his auction house from banks.

"Holding a piece of property can be costly over time," he says. "Time is their enemy."

The typical turnaround time for an auction sale is four to five weeks, he says. After several weeks of advertising the auction in multiple media, the property sells on a set date and closes 30 days later.

"Now, with so much on the market, they're much more eager to clean up their portfolios," Hopkins says. "They know the property will sell on a certain date."

Bob Byrd, founder and chairman of the Bank of Bartlett, says the financial institution uses auctions to sell off foreclosed properties in addition to traditional avenues such as Realtors.

"With the decline of the market, more foreclosures and liquidations have occurred," he says. "An auction is a viable strategy."

Nationally, residential real estate auctions are the fastest-growing segment of the auction industry. From 2003 to 2006, residential real estate auctions grew 39.2%, according to a study by the National Auctioneers Association. In 2006, auctioneers sold $16 billion worth of homes, up 12.5% over 2005.

Hopkins says some banks bundle several properties and put them on the auction block at the same time, accepting bids for all of them from a group of qualified bidders on the same day.

Morris believes the trend will continue "whether the market is good or bad." And, the expedited process can benefit homeowners before their house is foreclosed.

"We'd like to see people coming to us before the foreclosure, so we can sell their house and save their credit," he says. "Sell now; don't prolong the inevitable."


memphis.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2007/12/17/story1.html - 81k -




Hmmmmm.........and where are the Carranza sisters now? Is it possible that they took their ill gotten gains and ran away from the flaming wreckage they did so much to create?

Tennessedaughter we need a source link to the article.

have paid as much as $100,000 up front

How do people who are supposedly here to do the jobs we won't do that are supposedly minimum wage jobs save $100,000? Do they have a drug business on the side or what? Even if you worked three minimum wage jobs a week you couldn't save that much. Don't forget these people are also supposed to be supporting family members in Mexico with their earnings.

How do people who are supposedly here to do the jobs we won't do that are supposedly minimum wage jobs save $100,000?

Don't know about your area, but here in Waukegan, IL they live four families to a single family house. We had to report one neighbor to the city for too many unrelated adults in a home.