Real Estate Refinancing: Legal Racketeering and an Illegal Restraint of Trade

Nobody wants to hear this, but the never-ending flurry of ads about real estate refinancing that we all have been subjected to over the past few years is criminal.

"Refinancing" is a fraud. Remember when, many years back, Neil Bush (yes, President Bush's brother) was implicated in a savings-and-loan scam, a part of which was "land-flipping" scheme involving property that was to later become the new Denver International Airport?

Parcels in that land grab were "land-flipped" (that is, sold over and over again very quickly to buyers who didn't have any idea just how often those properties were being sold). In the aftermath of that charade, a big savings-and-loan went down, and Congress got involved. Neil Bush, of course, escaped serious implication.

But the same scam has been going down with real estate for years now, especially in California. Speculators -- often from other countries, neither American nor local in the sales areas -- outbid everyone for a prime property. Then they immediately put these houses up for sale, for a bogus below-market price just to draw dozens of offers that bid the price up, up, up, up.

It's not necessarily an illegal practice but certainly should be. If out-of-state parties are involved, and investors rather than primary residents of the homes, then some kind of mail fraud or wire fraud could very well have occurred.

But nobody's talking because everybody is too busy ripping each other off.

And the infamous MLS -- multiple listings service. It is a paid service, either online or using big published books that realtors lug around from deal to deal. The MLS is flat-out illegal under the Sherman Antitrust Act because it restricts access to properties for sale to an exclusive list of paid subscribers.

But, since everybody is so busy ripping each other off, nobosy's going top squeal to any authorities. Most municipalities are in this racket up to their eyeballs and their respective D.A.s look the other way -- instead staying busy busting collegiate lacrosse players on phony rape charges.

Yeah, I know your house is worth $500K today after being "worth" $300K last year and $200K the year before.

Just understand why.