40 Of 67 Mortgages Totaling $67 Million Linked To One S. California Agent Now In Default

In western Riverside County, California, an investigative report by The Californian reports:

• "A group of more than 60 upscale tract houses purchased last year with 100 percent financing is falling one by one into foreclosure, leaving lawns brown, neighbors peeved, and a handful of renters answering late-night knocks at the door. The owners ---- individual investors who are nowhere to be found ---- began to default on their mortgages in May, triggering three-month countdowns to auction. At least five defaults have been recorded this month, bringing the total to 40 of the 67 local houses linked to Elias Ochoa, a real estate agent who ran the Corona branch of a mortgage brokerage until June. Neighbors said several of the other houses have been empty and unkempt for months, leading them to conclude that those, too, will soon default and eventually be seized by lenders. Several of the remaining houses are owned by investors who have already defaulted on other mortgages."

Reportedly, from early 2006 until June 2007, Ochoa was running the Corona branch office of Solco Financial Services, at which time he suddenly closed down the branch and just as suddenly cancelled his listings for 24 of the houses which he had been trying to sell. He reportedly started this month as an agent with a Temecula-based real estate brokerage that specializes in selling bank-owned properties, including several in the same neighborhoods where he once operated.

To date, there have been no criminal charges brought, nor have there been any civil lawsuits filed, against Ochoa or any possible straw buyers that may have been part of his investment group.

Ochoa's investor group, along with the group linked to Hendrix Montecastro, a Murrieta broker whose license was revoked by state regulators last month and faces additional problems in connection with an alleged $100 million mortgage fraud, are the largest two known to have resulted in mass foreclosures in Riverside County. In addition, several smaller groups also appear to have contributed to a local real estate bubble by buying up houses and leaving them empty, according to local agents and appraisers.

For more, see Real estate group guts neighborhoods.