News Link • Housing

Foreclosure-Gate: Sarah Palin And Short Sale Fraud

05-26-2011 • BusinessInsider.com/

This post has two parts: the first one, or the blue pill part, deals with the mundane, namely Sarah Palin's brand new $1.75 million, 8,000 square foot house in North Scottsdale, which "sits on 4.4 acres and has a home theater, a billiard room, a walk-in wine room and a "resort style backyard" with a gazebo and pool, according to the listing and listing photographs. The brown, stucco-and-stone house, which was renovated this year, has several fireplaces, a six-car garage and mountain views. The property has a circular driveway and desert landscaping." The second part, which is where one takes the red pill, deals with something far more serious: short sale fraud - yet another facet of the ongoing discovery of just how deep mortgage fraud in this country (in this case by real estate "investors") runs. Only this time it is fraud which results in impairments to the banks (arguably). Yet even then, questions remain... First, a little more on the mundane from the WSJ: The neighborhood is "as rural as Scottsdale gets," says broker Bob Hassett of Russ Lyon Sotheby's International Realty, who was not involved in the deal but said he was approached in 2007 by a previous owner about listing the home, which he described a "Southwest in feel." Within a square mile of the home, he said, houses are priced between $500,000 and $5 million. Real-estate agent Jeff Sibbach of John Hall & Associates described the area as "low-profile; most of the stuff in there is horse property." Rumors have swirled for months that Ms. Palin, whom some GOP factions are urging to run for president, has been looking to be based out of Arizona. On Saturday, the Arizona Republic reported that Ms. Palin had possibly purchased the home. She purchased through a limited-liability company that bought the property from Ian Whitmore, who Wednesday identified himself as a real-estate investor. "It was always my intention to sell the home," he said, and declined to elaborate on the work he'd done on the home. Mr. Whitmore bought the property from J,P. Morgan Chase Bank last year for about $800,000, according to tax records. The property in question is located at 29005 N 82nd Street St.,Scottsdale AZ, per the affidavit of the short sale from JP Morgan to Ian Whitmore (link). Below is a video of the actual property.