Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Arizona Minister's Real Estate Deals Attract Interest From State, Federal Investigators; 23 Of 26 Purchases Went Into Foreclosure

In Phoenix, Arizona, The Arizona Republic reports:
  • A Valley preacher with a worldwide ministry and his wife bought multiple upscale homes with deceptive loan applications, according to a state case accusing a mortgage firm of illegal practices. Clint Rogers, head of Mesa-based Clint Rogers Ministries, and Angela Faith Rogers are not accused of any wrongdoing in the complaint filed by the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions, which seeks to shut down Scottsdale-based Global Mortgage. The mortgage company handled many of the couple's purchases and is accused by the state of using illegal and improper procedures. But the couple's purchases of more than two dozen homes in Arizona over two years are documented in records turned over by the state to federal investigators charged with looking at mortgage improprieties.

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  • Property records show that they bought homes that the sellers had purchased hours, days or weeks earlier for thousands of dollars less than what Clint and Angela Rogers had paid for them. That generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits for the sellers. Of 26 homes bought by the minister and his wife, at least 23 went into foreclosure. All were sold for less than what banks lent to the couple, mostly through trustee sales.

For more, see Minister's home purchases questioned in state mortgage case.