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IN BUSINESS CRIME By Buck Wargo staff writer Nevada has apparently cleaned up its act when MORTGAGE FRAUD ON DECLINE IN NEVADA CLICK THIS Pick ’Em Get smart Power tweets Overheard Done Deal A Las Vegas research analyst said the elevated Power Lunch The Numbers .com it comes to cases of mortgage fraud reported, according to a new report. For the third consecutive year, Nevada has stayed Buy high Sell low VEGASINCmag Sin City Media Chatter We hear View the list of the top 10 states for mortgage fraud at lexisnexis.com/risk/fraudreport. YOUR AD HERE Executive class Read this! The Pitch is back NOW SERVING LAS VEGAS out of the top 10 states in cases of mortgage fraud and misrepresentation. The report by the LexisNexis Mortgage Asset Research Institute releases a top 10 list Nevada’s exclusion is an indication that mortgage fraud has significantly lessened in the state and may be lower than it should be based on volume of loans, said Jennifer Butts, the institute’s manager of data processing and co-author of the report. Butts said that’s usually a reflection that state regulators, lending institutions and other relevant parties are doing a good job of monitoring and preventing fraud. “It looks like the regulators and others are doing their jobs and paying attention,” Butts said. Despite the improvement over the past two years, Nevada remains No. 2 in the nation in the LexisNexis fraud index that looks at cases between 2006 and 2010. Mortgage fraud contributed to the run-up in values in the Southern Nevada housing market that led to its nation-leading foreclosure rate and price collapse. The index is determined by reports from 95 Vegas then ? ? ? ? ? ! The innovator mortgage companies, lending institutions, brokerages and insurers. Florida was ranked No. 1 in fraud cases from VEGASinc2021 Gate keeper American dream $ FortuneCookie Grilled The Survivor loans originated in 2010. It was closely followed by two states, New York and California. Florida is the state that is ranked No. 1 in the cumulative list of 2006 to 2010. Following Nevada are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, California, Illinois, Minnesota, Maryland and Virginia. Nationally, reports of fraud and misrepresentation decreased 41 percent between 2009 and 2010, the first time there has been a decrease in the past several years, Butts said. The decrease doesn’t necessarily relate to occurrences of mortgage fraud, which industry sources say are still rising, the decline brings the number of cases reported to 2006 levels, she said. The decrease in reports is believed to be attributed to a decrease in loan originations, fewer resources available to investigate and report incidents and a stronger network that encourages professionals to report fraud, Butts said. Moonlighting number of homeowners who are delinquent in their mortgage payments suggests the region is only halfway through its housing crisis. A report released by California-based research firm CoreLogic said that the 90-day delinquency rate for homeowners improved in February to 18.83 percent. It fell from 19.09 percent in January and from 21 percent in February 2010. That’s the lowest rate since August 2009. But Larry Murphy, president of SalesTraq, said it is still too high and doesn’t bode well for the housing market. Since January 2007, 86,736 homes have been foreclosed upon in Las Vegas, Murphy said. That’s one of every seven homes. Murphy said he’s concerned the high number of delinquencies could result in a similar number of foreclosures or short sales, in which owners owe more on mortgages than homes are worth. “Another 80,000 distressed sales will undoubtedly keep downward pressure on sales prices, even those properties which are not distressed,” Murphy said in a report. “If this scenario is valid, it means we are approximately halfway through the most severe housing crisis in Nevada.” Statewide, the delinquency rate fell to 16.63 percent in February. Nationally, the delinquency rate was 7.7 percent in February.v — Buck Wargo HOUSING CRISIS LONG WAY FROM BEING RESOLVED, ANALYST SAYS | 16 MAY 2011 | 13