Irvine Housing Blog

I think you would agree that there are some places where appreciation from today is possible: if you can pay cash at auctions, buying distressed REOs, and more prevalent in my area for 300-700k properties are corporate re-locations that just want to get properties sold.  Even then, if I was not going to live in those properties (or have a family member occupy them) I would make sure they were at least cash-flow neutral, and probably only go for them if they were cash-flow positive.  The NC market I live in and my parents market in FL both have fairly strong rental markets, and potentially cash-flow positive properties.

Why didn’t he just dump the properties in 2007?  Had he heloc’d them?

You should be very careful investing in one-man-shows.  In bigger funds, there is a separate custodian of the funds and manager of the funds.  You also want an external auditor.  Smaller funds may not do that, so you’ll want extra documentation.  It should have been easy enough to take the front page of the deed, with stamps, scanned and inserted into your reports, or MLS reports.  Investors could have Zillow’d the properties to see if they had sold (I don’t know if the guy found properties that matched his buy/sell times he told his investors, but that would be even more devious).

Good work, IR.  You may save the realtor profession yet.

IrvineRenter, I am disappointed in you.  Yes, Mr. Sparks may have lied -

BUT!

Did he lie knowingly?

No, he could not have.  He is bound by his “r"ealtor code of honor which forbids him from knowingly telling a lie.  Yes, it may have been a Ponzi scheme, but there is no proof that he knowingly lied about it being a ponzi scheme.  It is called “sales” - it was likely just a case of cute well-intended Puffery.

As usual, you are reading way too much into things and in doing so, lowering your moral and ethical standards.  Mr.  Sparks should slap you with an OCAR grievance where you stand for lying about his lies you lying liar you.

In the name of the virgin mother, I hope you post ten stories a day just like this one, no matter the locale. This country is rife with ponzi saleswomen and men looking to move “transactions,” no matter how awful the property.

From the OCAR website:

“The term REALTOR® is a registered collective membership mark that identifies a real estate professional, who subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.”

What a laugh. The only thing these fraudsters care about is transaction volume and 6% fee income. The ONLY thing.

Does this story say that a Realtor is a liar and cheat?  How can that be?  They religiously send me useful refrigerator magnets and pads.  It seems as if quite a few of the female agents also use their high school photos on their business cards and other advertising.  As a smart Kiwi once told me “thats nothing more than mutton trying to come off as lamb, mate”.  That line alone sums up what I and many people think of most of the profession and what they try to do on a daily basis.

From a Google on this featured property address, it is interesting to note that the person who lived (lives?) there is also running a retirement planning and “lifetime income streams” business with the home as the business address. Hmmmm…

Now, we just OCAR to come to his defense.  I’m joking of coarse.

sparks lies and steals $4M from his clients and ocar keeps his account active and probably will not pursue him.

but if you badmouth them and back it up with evidence, that’s ground for disciplinary action.

without disciplinary action against sparks, ocar is clearly stating
1) they have no issue with their members stealing from their clients (what’s wrong with breaking the law to make money?)
2) they do have problems with anyone that hinders profitability, even if the criticisms are true.

ocar/car/nar is slimey, a group of legalized organized criminals.

Irvine Renter:
Many people are working 12-15 hours per day to make payments on the property “Suzanne Researched.” They have no time to read your posts, so I prepared a summary of today’s post for them:

Today, Irvine Renter told the OC ASSociation of Realtards:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_OyYzqjv-Y
Best,
Joe

This is beautiful.  On the heels of ocar wanting to discipline you, one of their own admits to lying in a major fraud/Ponzi scheme.  Thanks for the story.  Amusing, but sad for all those people he scammed.  Maybe we should all write letters to ocar demanding they take action against this guy.  LOL.  Are you allowed to have a realtor license in jail or does that get revoked?

“2 story w/ 2nd floor.”

Wow, a 2 story house with a 2nd floor??!!  Rare in this market…

“Given that he is a realtor, his poor judgment on the housing market is understandable,...”

IR, classic, way to slip that in there…gave me a good laughing fit on a gloomy morning.

This is not a fair fight so maybe you’ll want to show a little mercy.

from the listing:

“2 story w/ 2nd floor.”  ZOMG!!!  I have to go look at this place today!!  I can’t believe a 2 story house would have a second floor!!  Irvine must truly be a special place.

ahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahaha…....the listing agent is obviously a moron.

What is it about Orange County that makes it a locus for white-collar crime?

Gee, a (nother) realtor to pick on .

This is getting really old .

Real estate salespeople , and NOT goldman (et al), are obviously the cause of the real estate debacle .

Maybe you should aim your sights a little higher .

The 50-year-old Irvine family man ... agreed to plea guilty to felony interstate wire fraud

That word, “family”, has rhetorical power. It softens opposition to many arguments which have little support, and can often be employed on both sides of a given argument.

Look for it here in the comments from time to time, particularly in explanations as to why certain places sell for 5x median income.

For some reason, “family” means caring, nurturing, love, respect, sharing, goodness and niceness, as if families have wet furry noses and big cute eyes, spend most of their time building toys for children, live off milk and apples under the magical candy tree in a gingerbread cabin on marzipan lane, and will burst into dancing and four-part harmony if you throw them a penny.

In reality, the worst neighbors I have had were families. Across the street, both sons, about 8 years apart, were drug dealers: just as the eldest left that profession, his little brother started high school and picked up the slack. This meant that for over a decade there were vehicles coming and going from 9 p.m. until 2 a.m., thanks to our neighbor’s family.

Meanwhile, the neighbors over the north fence had two kids who installed outdoor speakers and
cranked hard rock every moment their parents were gone - neighbors across the street from them gave up after 5 years and sold their house.

Finally, over the east fence the son of that family took time off from his drunk-driving hobby one night to play with his .44 while intoxicated, and sent a slug through the wall toward our house, which fortunately ricocheted off a planter instead of coming in through our kitchen window.

Ahh, life in a family neighborhood!

It’s said the scheme might be named after Ponzi, but it was perfected in Utah.

Four million dollars is chum change with the WS fraud unless it’s my money.  It seems like the more stolen the less likely for prison or jail time.

IR,
Remember what happen to John Rambo.

IR,
Remember what happen to John Rambo.

He went on to make 2 (3?) sequels? :-D

-Darth

Just want to know if it was an accident that today’s property was owned for the same amount of time as Mr. Sparks was a realtor, or if you looked until you found one as close to 24 years as you could get.

THAT would be truly subtle and slightly wicked…and, a sublime choice!

Just heard about the complaint from the Orange County Association of Realtors.  Do they not understand how tha interwebs workz?  Consider thanking them, you’ve just gained another reader/subscriber!

You are bringing a tear to my eye, Larry!

Sparks is the heart and soul of the Realtor® culture and, in fact, should be nominated Realtor® of the year!

Irvine Renter, take a look at this article, in case you haven’t seen this one today. Like many other people, I am with you on the subject.

Big scam hits home prices
Unscrupulous real estate agents are teaming up with foreclosed homeowners in sale-leaseback schemes costing lenders $375 million.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/real-estate-scam-thats-devastating-prices-2011-06-10

Wow, this rEaltor is an absolute functional illiterate.  One of the worst I’ve seen, and in this market, on this home?  All it’s missing is the ALL CAPS.

It just keeps getting better.

Realtor® is a trademarked appellation for a member of a vile criminal enterprise of wanton psychopaths masquerading as a trade association.

Remember, when you go outside, there are thousands of Realtor®s at large all over America, watching, waiting for the next opportunity, literally a vast army of criminally insane monsters who would rip out their own mothers’ livers if they could make a nickel doing it.

No one is safe as long as even on Realtor® is at large.

Oh please…..“A few bad apples”???? The RE industry is nothing but petty hucksterism and Sparks is just another sleazy, lying crook with a boxtop license. RE is the “Least prestigious occupation” (WSJ/Harris Poll - July 2009)