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Thread: Buffalo landlord pleads guilty in mortgage fraud probe

  1. #16
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    How do you manage to get your digs in and still be smiley?
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  2. #17
    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    Quote Originally Posted by Linda_D
    I'm not going to disagree with anything anybody's said about Frank Sr or Jr because even if it's not the exact truth, it's close enough, but the original article talked about a Robert Parlano. Is this a misprint, a Parlato clone (or alias) or simply another scammer with a similar name? Does anyone know?
    I bet greg olma would know.. Greg? Are you reading this? Would you care to fill us in how this practice hurts the community?

    Jim O? Call greg and tell him about this thread.

  3. #18
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    Robert Palano

    I met with many of the victims of these mortgage scams, They faithfully paid their rent and their lives were turned upside down due to his greed!
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  4. #19
    Member Curmudgeon's Avatar
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    A couple of comments here:

    First, it sounds as if this Parlato guy is a completly sociopathic parasite. I'm not defending him.

    That being said, There's a couple of things that were said that are just plain wrong. If a distressed seller puts their house on the market (ie "old people"), they have a sellers agent who wants to see them sell the house for as much as they can get for it. If Parlato is the buyer and nobody else puts in a offer that's better, then that is the market value of the house. Period. It doesn't really matter how much the old lady thinks the house should be worth. What he paid for it is what it is worth. No more. No less. That's what realitors and the MLS service is for.
    If he has co-opted appraisers and Escrow Lawyers rigging the game, then HUD (or the FBI) should be all over these people. The lawyer is providing Escrow services and is in theory a neutral third party. In practice he wants the deal to go through so he can get his escrow fees and sell Title insurance as well. Also, NYS should STOP REQUIRING ATTORNIES for real estate tranactions. Most other parts of the country use escrow companies, which are a lot easier to regulate, cost a lot less, and can be sactioned easier than a swarm of slippery independent lawyers, as in the case of NYS. I guess we have to rely on the NYS bar association to sanction shady escrow lawyers, which is like letting the fox guard the henhouse...
    Data is not the plural of Anecdote.

  5. #20
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    Palano/Parlato 2 different people

    Robert Palano ran the same scam alittle differently but basically the same way 3X YES 3X.........Millions lost, people forced out of their homes because they were foreclosed on,Went to jail 5 months for fraud in the early 1990s then came out and did it again basically getting a slap on the wrist the 2nd time ( a 225K fine) ,He then continues to acquire 100+ rental properties gets an appraiser to appraise virtually ALL of them ALL overinflated to get loans from 10 different banks all out of state, He gets over 4.5 Million dollars and lets them go into foreclosure.He pleaded guilty and will have to pay back 1.5 million to fannie mae but 3 million well............ its in his pocket!
    The appraiser got a 55k fine.
    I am too tired today to type out the Parlato story.go to www.kernwatch.com to read some of it.
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  6. #21
    Member Curmudgeon's Avatar
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    The problem is not Parlato. It is the system that allows "Parlatos" to exist. read my above posts for identifiable roots of the problem. If Perlato was run over by a train tomorrow, another guy would take his place....

    Identify the disease, not the symptoms...
    Data is not the plural of Anecdote.

  7. #22
    moonshine
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    Curm, there are several points you should consider in these situations.

    First, most of these deals did not involve a realtor. Nor did they place any sign in their front yard offering the home for sale. Some form of marketing persuaded these people to sell. It could have been one of those "I Buy Houses" signs, or a mass-mailing that targeted a specific area. Furthermore, it is NOT in a realtor's best interest to get the highest price for a house. We can discuss this point in detail in another thread if you like. I agree that you are correct in stating that "...that is the market value of the house". Most of them aren't worth the paper the deed is printed on.

    If he has co-opted appraisers and Escrow Lawyers rigging the game, then HUD (or the FBI) should be all over these people. The lawyer is providing Escrow services and is in theory a neutral third party. In practice he wants the deal to go through so he can get his escrow fees and sell Title insurance as well.
    That's a lot of assumptions. "Rigging" the game isn't as black and white as the newspapers claim. A crooked real estate deal can be concocted without any cooperation from appraisers or lawyers. There's a lot of behind-the-scenes action that lenders aren't privy to. I'm not sure why you believe that a lawyer receives a kickback from escrow or title services. Unless the deal is FHA, VA, or backed by a lender who services the note, the seller/buyer names the title service and escrow account. I use the same title company in all transactions. If I discovered that my lawyer was getting a kickback from anything outside of his legal services to approve and file the paperwork I would find a new lawyer immediately.

    NYS should STOP REQUIRING ATTORNIES for real estate tranactions
    Good point. The casual transfer of ownership of a primary residence doesn't require the red-tape that yew nork demands. Attorneys SHOULD be voluntary in all situations, but it gets complicated when the terms of purchase aren't uniform. For instance, purchasing a quad-plex will ultimately require an attorney when the existing tenents have a complaint about the purchase. Even if you lift the law that requires an attorney on an SFR the bank will double the fee and charge it back to the borrower at closing, so it's probably in the best interests of the buyer to have his own attorney looking out for his interests, not the bank's.

    Parlato might be the posterboy for mortgage fraud, but he wasn't very far outside the boundries of the law. For every Parlato that is exposed there are 100's doing deals without any media attention. Most of them aren't doing ANYTHING illegal. It's just a matter of how the laws are defined.

  8. #23
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    Curm and Shine:

    I agree with most everything you two have posted.

    Whatever the seller gets is the market price. Period.

    But Parlato, IMO, was definitely gaming the system in a highly orgainized manner. Most reasonable people just hesitate to believe anyone could be so venal.

    Like Moonshine. He knows there are enough shady practices going on in the normal course of business. Like a mortgage banker paying off the credit card debt of a loan applicant, so the credit report and rating will be better. Or the practice of "drive by" appraisals is so common, that there is an official HUD regulation describing and allowing it.

    Then there is tremendous pressure for lenders to make loans in areas like the East Side. Community activists are always alleging "red lining". The Federal Reserve issues reports on the subject. Bank mergers worth tens of billions of dollars are held up because Bank X has made enough stinkin' $50k loans in blighted neighborhoods to people with marginal credit.

    In this sleazy environment, a Parlato doesn't need to tinker much to get a money machine going. And look like a hero in the process. Elderly residents (or their estates) get to unload houses that they don't want. People who otherwise wouldn't be able to become homeowners do so. The lenders are happy to add a few loans to improve their stats. (The almost inevitable loan losses will simply be charged to their reserves.)

    The commmon element in all of this, though, is that Parlato comes out on top.

    As a final aside, I don't think Curm was talking about lawyers scamming escrow fees. I think he was just sloppy or using slang to say they want the deals to go through. 'Cause that's the only way they get their legal fees.
    Truth springs from argument among friends.

  9. #24
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    I agree the "system" is terribly broken,I read alot of the posts and dont respond because when people have their minds set on something it is almost impossible to change them , Now I see changes and have met others who feel like I do ........That we dont have to wait for someone.anyone..our government,fairy godmother I dont know who to come help us that we have to do it ourselves,
    I also realized some of the most critical people actually do nothing but complain! Its easy to sit and type out what is wrong with the city but getting out and trying to make it better is something completely different.( a nd foreign to the most critical)
    It has nothing to do with being rich or poor, from the city or suburbs,being black or white its about getting out there and trying to make things better,Which believe me there are MANY days I would rather do nothing but lay around the house and watch TV,
    The East Side still needs alot of work, But come and join us, We have alot of positive things going on and for the first time in years we have people actually moving back to the area.If anyone would like to take a tour of the East side please contact me I would be glad to show you all the good things going on )
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  10. #25
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    Michele doesn't like to toot her own horn....But I will! There are many people who like to complain and tell everyone what should be done to fix things- then there are people like Michele- making positive changes at the grass-roots level, oftentimes with no support from government. And there are many more like her improving neighborhoods that aren't in it for recognizition, but because that is what the believe it the right thing to do. Great job Michele- keep plugging and fighting the good fight!

    http://www.buffalospree.com/spree/cu...hborhoods.html

  11. #26
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    First, most of these deals did not involve a realtor. Nor did they place any sign in their front yard offering the home for sale. Some form of marketing persuaded these people to sell. It could have been one of those "I Buy Houses" signs, or a mass-mailing that targeted a specific area.
    What can I say? People are stupid. How do you prevent someone from being their own worst enemy?

    Even if you lift the law that requires an attorney on an SFR the bank will double the fee and charge it back to the borrower at closing, so it's probably in the best interests of the buyer to have his own attorney looking out for his interests, not the bank's.
    Don't buy the double-fee argument at all. Look at fee structures in other states that don't require atty's. The facts speak for themselves.

    Most of them aren't doing ANYTHING illegal. It's just a matter of how the laws are defined.
    Absolutley true. The "Parlato problem" is a symptom of a deeper problem, and not the cause. These guys feed on dysfunctional markets flooded with motivated sellers and ignorant buyers. Fix the local economy and real estate will become desirable. whenthat happens, the Parlatos lose their business model.
    Data is not the plural of Anecdote.

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