75 Of 122 Sales By One Realty Agent Fall Into Foreclosure

In Vista, California, the North County Times reports:

• Working as a real estate agent, insurance dealer, income tax preparer and credit repair specialist, Miguel Romero has helped Latinos buy 122 homes since 2004, becoming one of his firm's best salesmen. But his customers have not been so fortunate ---- at least 75 of the homes Romero sold have fallen into foreclosure. The company caters almost exclusively to Spanish-speaking customers.

• Romero's sales practices, and the stories of some clients, provide a window into industry excesses that analysts say contributed to the region's foreclosure crisis: (1) Latino families who signed documents they say they didn't understand; (2) mortgage brokers who may have reaped excessive fees exploiting the language barrier; and (3) homeowners who used high-risk loans to chase riches in a booming real estate market. There are no public allegations that Romero, who through an attorney declined to comment, broke the law.

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• Nine additional homes engaged in so-called shortsales, where the lender agreed to sell the house for less than the mortgage in an effort to avoid foreclosure. Also, tax records show that Romero worked with or employed a network of real estate agents who sold an additional 63 homes since 2005, 21 of which entered foreclosure. Put another way, 69 percent of Romero's sales and 33 percent of his agents' have resulted in foreclosure or ShortSale.

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• One of Romero's former employees said homeowners have filed several complaints with the [California Department of Real Estate] concerning Romero's conduct. The complaints do not become public until the department has completed an investigation, so the department could not confirm any complaints against Romero or his company, said Tom Pool, spokesman for the department. Some of the clients who filed complaints declined to comment for this story after receiving what they said were threatening phone calls from Romero. At least two clients say they filed harassment complaints with the sheriff's office because of the phone calls.

For more, see Families say real estate agent led them into crisis (Of 122 sales, 75 went back to lenders amid some allegations of misleading sales practices).