CW's macabre mortgage fraud

[flashl]

This house was a steal

TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION: How fraud led to this property changing hands 3 times as son of owner sat dead inside


The new buyers of a rundown graystone on the South Side showed up Jan. 9 to look at the house they won at a foreclosure auction. They took the plywood off the front door and went inside to make sure the utilities had been shut off. Then they called the police.

Sitting upright in the corner of a bedroom off the kitchen was a human skeleton in a red tracksuit. Next to him lay a dead dog. Neighbors told police the corpse was almost certainly Randy Johnson, a middle-age man who lived alone in the North Kenwood house.

The cause of Johnson's death has not yet been determined, but it is just one of the mysteries about 4578 S. Oakenwald Ave. 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.

Left holding the bag is Countrywide Home Loans, the nation's largest mortgage lender and a company whose practices are being scrutinized by the Illinois attorney general's office. Countrywide made mortgages of $450,000 on the property. Now it is likely to lose it all because it financed the sale of a home whose rightful owner was in no condition to sell.

Chicago Tribune

[leftofthedial]

1. what a perfect metaphor

for the mortgage scam

[Warpy]

2. Jeez, what a terrible story

The owner might have been a suicide who put his dog down first because he was in danger of losing his home.

The people who put the plywood up should have noticed the odor. Dead people STINK, worst stink you can imagine, and cleaners have to take up subflooring to get it out of a house.

That Countrywide didn't have inspectors to send out to look at the property inside and out before they approved a loan is very, very telling.

That company was the most poorly run that I've ever seen. I can't believe someone bought them, even for pennies on the dollar.

[flashl]

3. "Somehow, Johnson's house was transferred THREE TIMES to new owners

without anyone noticing he was in it."