Irvine Housing Blog

I see lots of reasons to prefer a short sale. I think most people view a short sale as being more ethical than a foreclosure because the lender voluntarily accepts a short sale. A foreclosure is basically shoved down the lender’s throat. Probably most people underestimate how hard a short sale is now, with prices dropping and lender price guidelines necessarily constant out of date in addition to concerns about inadequate marketing, fraud, etc. Finally, most people probably expect it’s much less of a hit to your credit rating - I know I do.

PS - LOVE the Rotundra! ROFLMAO!
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Perhaps someone with more knowledge of FICO scores could comment, but I doubt there is much difference between a foreclosure and a short sale. In both instances the credit report will show a series of late payments followed by a debt discharge which should have similar effects. I don’t believe short sale or foreclosure appears anywhere on the report.

I got a big kick out of that image as well. You can just see the bears of the IHB roasting the poor FBs…

“all living space on one level”.........

It looks like it is on the bottom level?  I lived in a “stacked” condo and the people below us asked us to leave when they showed the home when trying to sell.

Basically the noise was terrible downstairs - especially when an adult walked over a wooden entry way or even more especially- when the kids were laughing and jumping around.  Another funkyism - when they burned their fireplace down below and the wind was just right, we could smell it.  In fact we smelled an odd burning smell when we moved in and had just installed the washer/dryer.  Wound up calling the fire department on the very first day.

A stacked unit for a half million dollars? 

I think College Park, with its big lots and low fees is looking like a bargain if you have a family and want the biggest bang for your buck.  There was nothing in that condo that couldn’t be done in an older CP home, imo.

It is possible to do a short sale without ever missing a payment and the discharge of debt will only show up if the lender reports it.  I know people that did short sales in the early 90’s with no ill effect on their credit.  I’m sure this is not always the case though.

Great song.  That was my theme song when I left Idaho, that and “Fool for the City”....

“How long could you endure being “underwater” on your mortgage?”

I got aways to go yet. We bought our “McMansion” in 2001 and the price skyrocketed to almost double. I tried to talk my wife into selling and moving to a local rented apartment or townhouse (daughter in public HS) about a year/year and a half ago (when things were still hot to sell) but she wouldn’t hear of it. We could have walked away with $300K in profit (after fees) and, while the prices have not dropped here in MD like they have in CA, I fully expect that, when my daughter has finally graduated in mid-2009 and I finally talk my wife into selling (prolly 2010), we will only be able to sell for a modest increase over our cost of purchase, if that.

My wife is a Pollyanna. She still thinks things won’t get that bad here. So far the local comps are about 10% off their highs of 12 months ago and sales have slowed. My only consolation is I will have an “I told you so” to hang over her head.

$559k for a 4-plex condo building? That seems reasonable.

Oh, that’s just for one unit? ROFLMAO

It is amazing the value of a good “I told you so.” IMO, it is probably worth it…

I’m fortunate that my wife listens to me and let’s me do the financial calculations for the family. I convinced her when we married that we should continue renting, saving, and investing instead of purchasing a home. Let’s just say she’s very happy we did that, when she compares what’s happened to us since with what’s happened to people we know who chose otherwise. People on this blog can have all the fun they want calling me a “bitter renter” but people who know me also know that I’m “sitting pretty”.

Will it have been worth it after it ruins his marriage damaging his wealth to a far greater extent than any ill-timed real estate sale/purchase?

“How long could you endure being “underwater” on your mortgage?”

It’s not too bad.  Considering the tax shift, PITI is about a 10% premium on an equivalent rental.  And with a fixed mortgage, the value and debt will meet at some point.  The length of time underwater isn’t as concerning as the depth. e.g. I’d be more comfortable slightly underwater for 15 years, than I would be deeply underwater for 7.

Have you ever had the satisfaction of a really good “I told you so with your wife?” Some things are priceless…

I told you so only works if the person acknowledges you were ever right. What I hate is when a person refuses to accept you were ever right or had a reason to be right in the first place. “Well, there was know way you could have possibly been right when you said that.”

“How long could you endure being “underwater” on your mortgage?”

You ask as though it’s never happened before.  I bought in back in 91 and the value of my property dropped about 24% at the bottom and didn’t recover until 98-99.  It was a bit depressing but I had put 20% down and my payments were affordable anyway so financially I wasn’t worse off than I planned and I did enjoy living where I bought.  I did put off plans to remodel.

“no way”

Many banks use short sale as a tactic to keep homeowners make good on payments longer….

Odds are you are down much more from the peak than you think. You do not realize how far down the market really is until you try to sell.

“Have you ever had the satisfaction of a really good ‘I told you so’ with your wife?”

Unfortunately, YES!  I told her when we bought that I expected prices to decline 15%, and we got that decline within six months.  But considering I submitted to the purchase, it kinda takes the sting out of the “I told you so.”

more kool-aid…

MSN Money says foreclosure crisis overblown:-

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/HomeFinancing/ForeclosureCrisisIsOverblown.aspx

Though the national rate of foreclosure increased by a whopping 79% between December 2006 and December 2007, the rate was still only 1.033%. Because about 30% of all homes are owned mortgage-free, this means that for all the noise about a crisis, only seven-tenths of 1% of all homes were in foreclosure.

In the top 100 housing markets, the average foreclosure rate was somewhat higher—1.38%—and it was up 78% over the previous year. But if you rank-ordered the list of the top 100 areas, only 34 had foreclosure rates above the group average. Fifty-one areas had rates of 1% or less.

Foreclosure rates actually fell in 14 of the 100 areas. More important, many of the areas with the highest increases in foreclosure rates were rising off rates that were tiny. The Bethesda, Md., area, to offer the most extreme case, saw foreclosures rise 1,288%—to a rate of 0.682%. In other words, foreclosures there were virtually nonexistent the year before. Today they are still well below the national average. The same can be said for the Albany, N.Y., area (up 638% to 0.25%), the Baltimore area (up 544% to 0.73%) and the Providence, R.I., area (up 354% to 0.41%).

IR,,

There is a severe negative value to “I told you so”

Keep your mouth shut and you will experience happiness.  All you can do is upset your wife and that always costs you money (flowers, dinner, shoes, etc).

Shake your head and walk away.  If you need to get your aggressions out go shoot some hoops or go to the range and wack some balls.

The more humbling way is a ‘you told me so.’

Those explosions in foreclosure rates is something. Funny how those you mentioned are all east coast. Foreclosures going up by 1,288% should ring some alarm bell. It goes from almost nonexistent to a high enough level…all I can say is whoah.

During the boom years, I made a number of lowball offers (which were all rejected) on condos that I loved. I pegged my offering price at levels that were not too far above rent-parity, and decided in advance of submitting the offer that I loved the place enough that I would not feel too bad if it turned out I was bagged.

I just don’t want to be the biggest schmuck in the neighborhood, that’s all, I told my real estate agent.

I was prepared to buy any one of these places and see a better deal a month later. There is always a better deal.

You never get in at the absolute bottom and you never get out at the top. Therefore, if you see a place you really want for a price that is reasonably related to the fundamentals and that is easily affordable on a 30-year-fixed for you, maybe you want to go for it.

But so far, I’m not seeing places I want at prices I consider reasonable. When I do, I’ll bite, even if we are nowhere near a theoretical bottom.

of for the love of…excuse my grammar. I sound like my in-laws in that first sentence!

NoWow!way, I believe a friend of mine has this floor plan.  All the living space is on one level; however, you are above your own garage.  There isn’t anyone above or below you.  It’s actually a nice floor plan if you don’t mind going up a flight of stairs to get to everything.

Longtime lurker de-lurking for a moment…

Since I’ve been lurking on this blog (it’s been very educational), I’ve seen listings with 2 HOA fees.  Just how can 1 house/condo belong to 2 separate HOAs (and pay monthly fees to each)?  I figure almost all houses in Irvine come with HOA, but two?

I said I could endure the pain forever.  But we like our house and don’t plan to move.  If I were in a starter condo, I suspect I’d feel differently.  And we’re no where near underwater, due to having bought over 10 years ago, so I don’t really know how I’d feel.

I was looking forward to refi’ing our mortgage at a lower rate when the prime went down so dramatically though.  Ah well.

HOAs can be layered. You can have a master HOA and a community HOA with different responsibilities and different geographical areas.

This is the same kind of nonsense Ben Stein has been spouting for a while. Foreclosure rates are higher than the peak of the previous bust, and they are still rising dramatically. The headline grabbing statistics of increasing foreclosure rates is overly dramatic, but if anything, the foreclosure crisis is underreported. It is very serious, and it is the primary mechanism of the price decline.

I think you guys are taking the joke a bit too seriously…

Many in Irvine had two HOAs, especially condos.  Condos very typically have as IR suggested, a master and sub association.  A master for example is not going to budget for and pay for the extra insurance for a particular attached condo complex.  It wouldn’t make sense to burden the detached SFRs owners that pay into the master HOA for that…  As a result, the condo tract has a sub assocation, it’s on HOA, that specifically handles responsibilities for that particular tract.

Same here…bought a condo in early 1994 that lost 28% of its value, then recovered by 1998, at which time I sold for breakeven after closing costs.  It was a bummer, but a good lesson.  Buying a place to live that is within one’s true financial means will help one sleep well at night even if the value goes down.

I don’t think it dilutes the point you were making, but I disagree that “a foreclosure is basically shoved down the lender’s throat.”  A foreclosure is initiated by (or on behalf of) the lender.  If they wanted to, a lender could continue to accept delinquent payments, negotiate some measure of loan forgiveness, refinance the loan, reduce the principal or interest rate or sell the delinquent loan at a steep discount.  The lender chooses to initiate foreclosure proceedings because it feels that it is the best available option.

To give you an example, if you own a residence in Woodbury, you might pay an HOA fee to Woodbury and also pay a fee to the HOA for your neighborhood.  The Woodbury HOA would take care of all the landscaping and parks that are shared by all in Woodbury.  The neighborhood HOA would take care of things inside your subdivision.

Someone paid 700k for this? We are in for some serious pain folks.

The thing I still am not sure of is if this unit has someone else living below or not. If it does, then I would not touch this place under any circumstance.

If it does not have anyone living below then I would pay about 300k.

They are different, because a successful short sale is done prior to the home being foreclosed.  There will still be late payments on the credit report, but ultimately the mortgage will show paid satisfied.

Its very hard to find the absolute bottom; once the payments vs my income gets decent and I find a place I love, then its time to buy.  A few years of slight value drops could be tolerable.

I sure wouldn’t buy when every payment is a searing pain and the only way I can survive is if the value continues to go up.  Even FLAT values are destructive then.

So . . . Mr. Vincent bids about $170/ft for Irvine condos.

Yeah, serious pain…  Two more escrows started yesterday and a bunch of closes this week:

www.ipoplaya.com

Average per sf sales price recently is probably $340 or so.  Long way to go to $170 Mr. Vincent. 

Boy all these people seem to be having trouble closing their loans, NOT.  Average days between escrow start to close date is 30.  Right on time…

Hope everyone realizes Irvine only has 22 more places on the market vs. one year ago today.  Sales are slower, but there is quite possibly only 6 months worth of inventory out there.  You ain’t gonna see 40-50% drops anytime soon unless things change dramatically.

I wish it wasn’t the case, but as a prospective move-up Irvine buyer, all I see is relatively little to choose from right now and places getting sold at a faster pace.  Very disappointing…

It is Irvine. The rules of common sense do not apply. People pay an extra $200,000 for the excellent trailer schools. They know the value of a good education.

“Long way to go to $170”

Lets see, current asset deflation estimated to be about 14%/year for the next 5 years..

March 5 08   $340
March 5 09   $292
March 5 10   $250
March 5 11   $215
March 5 12   $184

LOL - too funny - my in-laws all sound the same too…didn’t even notice it ‘til you pointed it out!

i agree, if the general population cannot afford a house today, a 5-8% drop in prices is certainly not going to make it affordable again.
it is also the buy now or be forever priced out media pundits who should equally share the blame.

“You ain’t gonna see 40-50% drops anytime soon unless things change dramatically.”

indirect way to say: “Irvine is different and everything is back to normal”

Five years is a long time to wait to buy a home…  That’s almost 10% of someone’s adult lifetime.

Normal would be home price appreciation roughly equivalent to inflation.  We’re far from normal, but very very far from sub $200 per sf in Irvine…

Somehow people are buying homes today.  I have no idea how as my household is pretty high on the income side relative to published statistics for Irvine, have a big down and some equity to throw into a bigger place, and the best we can do today is 2200-2400sf in a less premium part of Irvine based on traditional standards of affordability.

it’s 4 years ipo.
you can rent a nicer house to avoid burning your 5+ years of savings in 4 years

“Five years is a long time to wait”

Gee, with the economy entering a severe recession and all the pain of these foreclosures, layoffs etc, I’m so sorry that you have to pay for the sins of subprime by putting you home purchasing dream on hold.

If I could only go back in time and have put my tech stock buying dream on hold in 2000 also, oh well

This downturn will affect everyone to some degree, you still come out smelling like a rose compared to many people.

iPop..

you know you can never time the bottom, but I think that 2 years or 24 months is resonable period of time to wait before jumping back into the housing market based on today’s knowledgd.  You will most probably still be getting in before the bottom occurs but you would still come out much better then the current market.  I’ll bet you could restrain yourself for 24 months if you tried hard enough.  My suggestion is to stop looking at housing blogs/realestate for the next 12 months so you don’t tempt yourself and get another hobby such as golf or gold futures to take it’s place.  Sort of like a telling a fat person to stop looking at the chocolate cake.

I’ve been waiting for 5 years already, thanks to the retards out there buying overpriced things they couldn’t afford.  I can wait another 5…  or just move to a cheaper place, like Santa Monica:

http://www.redfin.com/stingray/do/printable-listing?listing-id=1407719

I could afford about 1/4 of that, and live underneath the 405 the rest of the year.  With the economy going the direction it is, at least I’d have company.

If prices fell 80% up here I’d still think it was a rip-off.  I guess I’m just crazy.

“I sure wouldn’t buy when every payment is a searing pain…”

But this truism is constant. i.e. If 2005 million dollar Irvine homes are going for $250K in 2009, you still shouldn’t buy one if $250K exceeds 4x your income and/or the PITI exceeds 28% of your gross.

Maybe, Mr.V was the one that picked up 58 Townsend in Woodbury for $231K ($106/sq.ft.)
Whoever it was stole that baby!
IR should do a write up on that buyer.
Knocked it out of the park.

Whatchu talking about ten?  58 Townsend is pre-foreclosure according to RealtyTrac.  Last NOD entered on 2/1/08.

Weird though.  NOD says owner is Specialized Loan Services LLC.  I see a 1/4/08 sale recorded transferring from the original buyers to that entity.  It’s a “Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure”.

In my neighborhood here in N. California I have seen 3 resales in the past few months. These upper middle class residential properties moved at about 20% below their peaks. What I found surprising was that the buyers were all “investors” who put the places up for rent at amounts that didn’t begin to cover costs.

This is obviously anecdotal. Does anyone know how much of the market is still being driven by this kind of speculation?

This is a nice condo.  I’d pick it up today if it was 15-20% less.

I’d need to rip out the carpet and put in some walnut or something though.

I have a feeling this will sell way before we see this type of unit declining an additional 20%.

The mentality behind the choice that received the most votes (“even for a day”) explains much about what is behind the recent RE Gold Rush.  People who are that short-sighted and that immature about the world of investing are better off buying US Savings Bonds and Certificates of Deposit.

2d lien holder, maybe?  Subj to the 1st?

Did you look at that listing, the house is less than 1/2 the size of all the adjacent houses and only takes up 1/4 of the lot.  Granted it is a cute, small house but all the value is in the land and you would have to tear it down to make something larger.  Since land values are subject to speculation and have doubled in the last 4 years, that whole areas value is based on pure speculation.

I agree completely.  It’s sort of weird to me that so many people here apparently share the mentality of the “jingle mail”-ers who have given up promptly after being under water.

I think it reflects the mindset of some on this board.  Like bubble speculators, they see buying a home as a pure financial decision.  Unlike the speculators, they aren’t trying to flip and get rich but rather, to maximize the personal economics of housing.  Therefore, by definition, if they are underwater for a day, they’ve failed.

I actually found it very interesting that nearly 3/4 of the respondents on this board were willing to be underwater for some time and nearly 1/4 would do it for 10+ years.

On further thought, the rental value of the 2brm/1bath Santa Monica Bungalo at $2M is $12500/month or $450/night.

For that money you can get a really nice hotel suite with room service and a doorman.

Just shows how crazy the market is.

zillow has picked up the crackpipe again after signs of reality intruding a month ago - maybe you should consider a future column on the zillow reality disconnect, IR - it probably wouldn’t be too tough to eyeball a dozen irvine WTF ‘zestimates’ in a matter of minutes…  “you must have been high” comes to mind as a musical selection, with a dedication to the zillow calculator programmers.

Many on this board are as extreme on one end of the spectrum as the flippers were on the other.  I say find something you like and can be happy with for 10 years—and AFFORD (that’s the key).  Make your payment every month, and enjoy your home and your life.  Who cares what the guy next door is or isn’t paying for his home. We can’t control any of that, so why worry about it. Life is about more than hoarding every nickel, isn’t it?

Unless some of the IHB posters have figured out a way to take it with them to the next life?  If you have, please email me so I can get in on that deal.

West Los Angeles and Santa Monica aren’t nice enough to justify $2M for a 2/1, unless it’s on an acre.  I was just pointing out how insane the run-up was here.  I don’t really care what happens from this point out, it’s already f’ed to the point where I’ll leave eventually.  If homes deflate 80% we’ll have slums, and if they don’t I won’t be able to buy anything I’d want anyway.

Look for me in OC or SD as soon as my options vest.

Here’s one way that builders are keeping excess inventory from flooding the markets.  Condo converts into apartments.  They were originally slated to be apartments, according to the article, but as real estate picked up, they were selling as condos.  I wonder how much of this is going on in all the new Irvine high density housing projects that are still going.

Here is an example in an article about the Stadium Lofts in Anaheim.  If you look at the comments you’ll see the price reductions as reported by some poster.

http://www.ocregister.com/money/says-apartments-apartment-1990391-condos-rents?referrer=google

The question is not whether or not the house is worth less than you paid for it, it was whether or not you owed more on a mortgage than it is worth. The resale value can be less than you paid, and you could still have equity if you used conservative financing with a large downpayment.

Not wanting to endure being underwater does not mean people will bail at the first sign of trouble, it can mean they take precautions against it happening in the first place.

How you handle being underwater depends on a variety of things.  On the top list is how bad is the monthly cash drain.  Running a tight second has to be is there any equity left.  Running third is how much of your hard earned money have you already burned on the house.  That’s all dependent on do you have other assets and is it recourse loan.

In the simple case, the case many buyers in the last couple years, they have little assets if any outside of a retirement account.  Hence, other than their FICO score, don’t have much at stake.

The ones that probably are stressing the worse are those that have payments that will be much worse than rent, have their own money in the game as a down payment and are facing the ugly choice of selling now and getting out clean, but giving their remaining equity to an RE Agent in the form of a comission or hanging tight and risking watching their equity burn, their cash flow burn until they head into a foreclosure situation.  In other words, the group that likely tried to be responsible with their purchase but overreached out of fear of being priced out.

“Sales are slower, but there is quite possibly only 6 months worth of inventory out there. You ain’t gonna see 40-50% drops anytime soon unless things change dramatically.”

Some nerve, Ipoop, after I trashed you the last time you claimed the months of inventory was 7.5. Yea, try again, it’s more like 10+.

Oh, and prices dropped 25% in Irvine over the last year, according to your own dq data that I trashed you with. Another thing I pointed out that you graciously left off. So we’re halfway to the drops you claim won’t be happening “anytime soon”. I guess you can always claim things “must have changed dramatically”.

I should have realized what an attraction this blog would be to trolls and shills. Sorta like flies to ipoop. Neither the first nor last time I get trolled!

You’re funny zoiks.  Apparently you can’t read either as you are posting about something I didn’t claim.  I’ll leave you to figure that out…

When Irvine had 10+ months of inventory we were dropping 3% per month in terms of prices.  That was at the end of last year…  When Feb and March sales come out, check the inventory figures and post back here with an “I’m sorry IPO, you are a god of numbers and ole zoiky was wrong”. There will be no way you can spin 150-200 sales and 1000 units into a fantasy 10-month inventory number but I suspect you will try.

You’ve got wishful thinking blinders on my renting friend.  Irvine will NEVER EVER see a 40-50% drop from today’s selling prices.  Put that bold prediction down in your file.  If Irvine drops 50% more, I’ll buy you your condo.  If you can’t afford an Irvine place after a 20-25% drop from current prices, you might as well head out of state amigo.  You aren’t going to get much mor than that…

Ipoop, I think you make the mistake of assuming everyone else is dumb.

You continue to hide behind non-committal statements and phony numbers.

Where’s your 150-200 unit number come from? Does it include new home sales? If so (it does), then you should add the new home inventory to your 1000 figure. Otherwise, your numbers are bogus (they are). You admitted a few days ago that your 7.5 month figure was bogus for the same reasons, but now you start claiming 6 months. The bogosity is deep.

Who said 40-50% drop from today? We’re already down 25%. One 15% drop from here, and Irvine will have dropped 40%, within the range you consider impossible, oh, yeah, “unless things change substantially”. Nice qualifier, great way to say nothing at all.

“If you can’t afford an Irvine place after a 20-25% drop from current prices, you might as well head out of state amigo.”

I know your concern is heart-felt, but trust me, affordability isn’t even remotely an issue. I know that’s hard to believe. But your condescending tone is quite satisfying!

Hey, every industry needs its shills, so keep pumping, you’re doing a heckuva job!

That is the problem that I see, too. Where are all of the good deals that one would expect at this stage? The decline is record breaking, and still prices are outrageous. Obviously, the pain has not been great enough, so I just shuuder to think of it will take.

“You continue to hide behind non-committal statements and phony numbers.  Where’s your 150-200 unit number come from? Does it include new home sales? If so (it does), then you should add the new home inventory to your 1000 figure”

Wow zoiks, I wasn’t aware the builders were booming right now.  With developments shelved, phases delayed, phase releases cut in half, etc. you really think either new home sales in a given month or new home inventory materially affects anything?  Where in Irvine is there any significant new home sales or inventory?  The only location marketing anything substantial is Portola Springs.  Do they have hundreds of built homes sitting there ready for sale in PS?  I haven’t been up there in a long time, but my educated guess would be no. 

150-200 is my guess at sales volume the next couple of months.  How’s that for a committment?!

“Who said 40-50% drop from today?”  I did, and that was that was the premise of the posts you are referring to Mr. Speed Reader.  A fall from the average per sf selling price TODAY of around $340 to $170, to which I suggested a drop of that magnitude would not happen anytime soon.  Were you absent in school on the day they taught reading?  My response was condescending as I expect people who frequent a blog and respond to things posted there to actually read vs. argue about things not posted.

If you did understand what was posted, is what you are suggesting is that prices will fall another 50% from today’s levels?  If you think that is the case, how long do you think it will take?  Let’s see how committed your statements are.

“Somehow people are buying homes today. I have no idea how as my household is pretty high on the income side relative to published statistics for Irvine, have a big down and some equity to throw into a bigger place, and the best we can do today is 2200-2400sf in a less premium part of Irvine based on traditional standards of affordability.
“

Knife catchers, that’s ALL….

Gawd, you just dont get it, do you?

Go ahead sucker, and buy NOW !
The sooner you do, the sooner we wont
have to listen to your bs any longer.

Geeesh….

“Knife catchers, that’s ALL….”

Maybe they just all make a lot more money than you HouseWifeLover?

We have an HOA of Nazis that we like to jam stuff up their butts when they overstep their legal rights.

The other HOA is the Park and Rec and they maintain the pools, tennis courts, larger park.

The small HOA is 270 homes.

The Park and Rec is more like 600.

With the Nazis in my corner of TR and what not, the more I think the more I wanna sell and move to either up in the Colorado mountains or to the Big Island.

Somewhere I can walk out the back porch in my boxers and cowboy boots, with a fine cigar, a beer, a good rifle and a bunch of supersonic ammo… then I’ll start shooting at targets in my backyard without the neighbors having a clue what the hell I’m doin’

With some really big ass speakers on the back porch blaring Zappa, Shostakovich or Lou Reed.  Wagner would be good for shotguns.

Sort of Hunter S. Thompson.

You boys in the flats keep talkin’, I’ll just take my Spaniard ass somewhere were I can shoot the living daylights of stuff without the cops, the HOA or the frenchies giving me any lip.

( I added the frenchies ‘cuase it sounded fine ).  ;-D

For those of you who have rental properties, I wanted to make you aware of a fraud alert. I’ve had 3 such requests, all from outside the USA.

NEW!!! Fraud Alert

Please note that OCAR has received information about a fraudulent cashier check scam in our area.  An agent was contacted via email about leasing a property.  This individual lived out of the country and was interested in relocating to the United States . The agent was presented with two cashier’s checks to furnish the home—both checks were initially approved by the bank teller as “valid checks.”  On good faith, the agent was asked to make a third installment—to be repaid by a cashier check.  The check that arrived to recoup the cost was invalid and the earlier submitted checks were declined due to stop payment. Please be aware of such a scheme by any prospective tenant or buyer