Suspicious Shorts Sales Continue To Attract Spotlight

The New York Times reports:

• STRUGGLING homeowners have found some refuge in short sales, in which lenders allow borrowers to escape foreclosure by selling a home for less than what is owed on the mortgage. Government programs offering incentives to both parties will push the number of short sales to 400,000 this year from 100,000 in 2008, according to CoreLogic, a financial consulting firm.

• But the jump in short sales has also given rise to a new form of fraud — which, as a recent study by CoreLogic suggests, could undermine the burgeoning practice.(1)

For more, see A Downside of Short Sales.

(1) The study can be downloaded by visiting www.corelogic.com/shortsalestudy.