Foreclosure House with a “Surprise” inside
The Chicago Tribune reports the new buyers of a rundown graystone on the South Side showed up on Jan. 9th to look at a house they won at a foreclosure auction but found a “surprise” inside. The surprise came in the form of a dead Randy Johnson, a middle aged man who lived alone in the house.
Somehow, Johnson’s house was transferred three times to new owners without anyone noticing he was inside. It’s a story involving forged deeds, a corrupt title company and a South Side family that has been under investigation for mortgage fraud.
The intrigue surrounding the Oakenwald house offers a glimpse into the strange and murky world of mortgage fraud. Lenders duped into making loans have every incentive to unload the properties, and almost none to blow the whistle on wrongdoers. If borrowers or government watchdogs fail to cry foul, the same home can change hands again and again before anyone is the wiser.
“They foreclose. They don’t care. They just foreclose,” said Daniel Lindsey, a supervisory attorney with the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago. Most of the time, he said, the foreclosures go through because no one with an interest has the legal firepower to stop them.
This story carries a dramatic twist with the scandal of mortgage fraud. The death of Randy Johnson comes as a surprise not because of his demeanor and odd personality, but because the house was exchanged three times to different owners. The mortgage company involved in the transaction of this house is under investigation, but it was wise for Country Wide to refund the payment to the most recent buyers from the legal suit brought upon by Cook Country officials.
Often borrowers can be so concerned with seeking out a 2nd mortgage that they find themselves overwhelmed with the details, as mentioned here.
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