Mortgage refinance demand is 111% higher than last year, a surge fueled by declining mortgage rates and renewed interest from homeowners looking to improve their financial position. Refinancing can certainly be a smart movea way to lower monthly payments, consolidate debt, or tap into home equity. But this sense of routine can mask the very real risks involved. Many assume a refinance is simply a streamlined, less complicated process compared to purchasing a home.
A man charged with an elaborate real estate scheme in New York City is not who he claims to be. Initially, investigators at the Queens district attorney's office charged him as Carl Avinger. But in March, they got a call from a man who had seen the case in the news saying he was the real Carl Avinger, and that the man they arrested had stolen his identity.
The fact that he met them in public [near] his place of work, which is a police station, obviously provided, I would think, some other form of assurance for our clients that this was a legitimate real estate transaction, said Alex Henderson, the plaintiffs' lawyer. He was someone whose job is to maintain public trust as a police officer; I'm sure that did play a role in our clients decision to trust him.
Prosecutors say three individuals and three companies falsified heir documents, forged signatures, and used the property to secure loans, all while the true owners were unaware of what was happening. Angela Jazmin Ramos Malpica, 35, Yuan Kuei Li, 41, Abdur Rahman, 34, and the companies Great Neck Acquisitions Inc., White Lotus Consulting Inc., and Ocean Property and Trading Inc. are accused of working together to steal a brownstone at 267 West 131st Street and using it to obtain a mortgage and construction loan.
"He stole our lives," said Clotilde "Wendy" Sawadogo, deed theft victim. "We were no longer happy in our house. We were feeling like strangers in our own homes."
"This hurt me a lot because I believed him, and I trusted him to have a home, and it didn't happen... He took me to this site to see the home, but it wasn't my home."
