FBI, NY AG's Office Attend Buffalo Tax Foreclosure Sale; Warn "No Flipping Allowed!"

In Buffalo, New York, The Buffalo News reports:

• Buffalo’s annual foreclosure auction is attracting more than just buyers looking for bargains this year. The three-day sale of troubled properties also attracted the FBI and the state attorney general’s office. “We’re keeping track of who’s doing what,” said Kathleen Lynch, coordinator for the city’s Anti-Flipping Task Force. The task force, formed to combat the practice of real estate flipping, joined several law enforcement agencies Monday in monitoring the first day of the auction in the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center. [...] One of the tools the task force is using this year is an affidavit all buyers are required to sign. The document is designed to prohibit a buyer from selling his property for a profit of more than 20 percent during the first six months of ownership. The goal is to curtail flipping, the practice of buying low-priced housing and quickly selling it at inflated prices without making improvements to the property.

For more, see Foreclosure auction has a warning: No flipping (if link expired, try here).

See also, Flushing out flippers (WKBW-TV Channel 7, Buffalo, NY). Go here to watch WKBW-TV Channel 7 video report.