Georgia Man Admits to Mortgage Fraud

A Georgia man has admitted to scheming to acquire millions of dollars in fraudulent mortgages and other loans. Federal prosecutors say 43-year old Mark Anthony McBride in Atlanta pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy and to a bankruptcy fraud designed to stay foreclosures on dozens of fraudulently obtained properties.

US Attorney David E. Nahmias says the case is disturbing because dozens of banks were damaged, including Omni National Bank which was closed late last month by federal regulators.

McBride could receive up to 35 years in prison and a fine up to 1 and a quarter million dollars.

(Associated Press)

Macon receiving federal housing money

Federal dollars will help Macon tear down blighted homes and get foreclosed properties off the market.
In 2008 Congress passed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act. Four-billion dollars of the money was doled out to states hit hard by the foreclosure crisis.
Cities like Augusta, Atlanta, Columbus and Savannah qualified to receive part of those funds, but Macon did not, according to the Director of Neighborhood Stabilization for the City of Macon, Jesse Gerwig-Moore.

"The state received in total from HUD about 155-million. About half of that amount, around 74-million or so, went directly to the entitlement communities who already received community development block grant funds and that's where Macon fell below the 2-million dollar threshold."

The city remained undeterred and applied for a 4-million dollar grant from HUD. They were approved this week. The city will use the money to tear down blighted homes and provide down payment assistance to those who purchase foreclosed properties.

DeKalb officials meet to address foreclosure problem

Metro Atlanta’s DeKalb County has one of the highest foreclosure rates in Georgia--today, county commissioners will vote on a package of measures to fight the problem. Recommendations include urging the state to increase the length of time between when a homeowner learns of foreclosure action and the actual sale. Also recommended is the creation of a county Office of Consumer Affairs to help affected families. DeKalb County has a 6.4 percent foreclosure rate.

A buyer's market at the home foreclosure auction

Georgia housing forclosures, as of August, 2008. (Courtesy RealtyTrac.com)

While housing market hard times mean foreclosure for many, it also means bargains for home buyers and real estate agents.


Potential home buyer holds up sign with the catalog number of the home he's interested in, as the auctioneer, standing before a slide image of the home, rapidly calls out the fast-rising price at a home foreclosure auction at the Cobb Galleria, Atlanta, Oct. 19, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Auctioneer Mike Carr's machine-gun delivery is music to the ears of some two thousand anxious homebuyers and agents, who crowded into the Cobb Galleria Convention center Sunday morning.


Nicole Brown, a real estate investor from Dallas, Ga., at the home foreclosure auction, held at the Cobb Galleria, Atlanta, Oct. 19, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Nicole Brown, a real estate investor from Dallas, Georgia says her $73,000 bid netted her a three bedroom, two bath home:

“This was my first time with an auction; it's very overwhelming, but it's worth the trip.”

It was a trek made by potential buyers from cities and towns across the state.

Kamal Chopra of Alpharetta is looking for a house as an investment, but says it's hard to keep up with the auctioneer's rocket-fast patter:

“It's a different experience – it's too loud for me, i guess, and it's a little confusing for me, the way he's talking. but it's still very exciting, i guess – I'm enjoying it.”

Part of that enjoyment is that it's a buyer's market: Realtytrac.com reports that, as of August, Fulton County led the state foreclosure rate with one in every 267 homes on the block.


Two potential home buyers inspect a catalog of properties, as they watch the auction at the Cobb Galleria, Atlanta, Oct. 19, 2008. (Dave Bender)


Mary Quella, the vice president of the Real Estate Disposition Corporation, at a home foreclosure auction held at the Cobb Galleria, Atlanta, Oct. 19, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Mary Quella is from the Real Estate Disposition Corporation, who are holding the auction:

“We have people here that are buying homes for $30 – 40,000 dollars, that a couple years ago were going for $160,000 plus dollars.”

And at those kind of prices, Quella hopes the the series of auctions in metro Atlanta will sell off 1,100 homes.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the housing market.

Home auctions reach record high

Home foreclosures have hit a record in metro Atlanta. Alpharetta-based Equity Depot, which tracks foreclosures, says 7,335 properties in 13 counties are scheduled for auction next month. The previous record was set in January, when 6,992 properties went up for auction. The foreclosures are a symptom of the subprime mortgage crisis that began being felt last year after many loans reset at higher rates, prompting an increase in defaults.

Georgia 5th in foreclosures in October

Georgia had the fifth most foreclosures in October. The Atlanta Business Chronicle cites the website RealtyTrac.com in the ranking. One in every 332 Georgia households filed for foreclosure that month, totaling more than 11,300. Nationwide more than 224,000 households filed for foreclosure in October.