This House is a Steal
While we await the 10am Existing Home Sales, have a gander at this delightful article from this weekend's Chicago Tribune. Its a bizarre tale of Housing excess, corruption, and fraud:
"The new buyers of a rundown graystone on the South Side showed up Jan. 9 to look at the house they won at a foreclosure auction. They took the plywood off the front door and went inside to make sure the utilities had been shut off. Then they called the police.
Sitting upright in the corner of a bedroom off the kitchen was a human skeleton in a red tracksuit. Next to him lay a dead dog. Neighbors told police the corpse was almost certainly Randy Johnson, a middle-age man who lived alone in the North Kenwood house.
The cause of Johnson's death has not yet been determined, but it is just one of the mysteries about 4578 S. Oakenwald Ave. Somehow, Johnson's house was transferred three times to new owners without anyone noticing he was inside. It's a story involving forged deeds, a corrupt title company and a South Side family that has been under investigation for mortgage fraud."
How on earth is that possible? Three transfers, and not a single property appraisal or inspection?
Bizarre...
>
Source:
This house was a steal
Susan Chandler,
Chicago Tribune, February 24, 2008
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sun_fraud_0224feb24,1,7543625.story
Monday, February 25, 2008 | 09:45 AM | Permalink
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Comments
I read a story about something like this from the Baltimore area. The difference is they think the bones had been there since around 1981.
Posted by: X | Feb 25, 2008 10:07:04 AM
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