When people get desperate, all bets are off.

In my podcast interview with mortgage fraud expert Rachel Dollar we discussed whether incidences of fraud had peaked in 2005 and 2006, which have been deemed the worst vintages of mortgage loans and known for their dubious underwriting quality, or whether we were set to see a spike of fraud cases as home owners became more desperate. Ms. Dollar, author of Protect Yourself from Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud: Preserving the American Dream of Homeownership, argued that fraud levels should increase as homeowners, desperate to qualify for lower-rate mortgages do "whatever is necessary" to keep from being shut out of the market by tighter underwriting guidelines. It makes perfect sense - when people see their subprime adjustable rate mortgage payment exploding upward and find out from a mortga