Mortgage Scam: An Alberta Classic.

Alberta is viewed as the mortgage fraud capital of Canada. We’ve all seen the media stories of massive mortgage fraud involving millions of dollars. Those are just the ones that get reported. Even amongst seasoned investors and after many warnings, mortgage fraud keeps raising its ugly head! Rather than trying to cheat the system, I say why not use a legal strategy like Agreements for Sale that allows you to buy property without having to qualify for a mortgage? And yet many people still try to pull off various scams, which are the subject of this blog post.

Basically, mortgage fraud can be defined as criminal misrepresentation on one’s application for a mortgage in order to get more money than would have been possible by telling the truth. But mortgage fraud can actually cover a much broader set of circumstances.

The Law Society of Alberta is extremely concerned about mortgage fraud; they are constantly on real estate lawyers advising them to watch out for it. In this article, we’ll look at some examples from the Law Society on the various kinds of fraud. Then, in Part 2, we will apply those comments to your real estate business. Continue reading →