Released: December 01, 2007

Big rebukes on title company referrals

Source: Kenneth Harney, Washington Post (Free Registration)

Rigged appraisals, lax underwriting and toxic loans may dominate the headlines, but they are hardly the only issues causing problems in residential real estate.

The federal government and state regulators are targeting other housing-related misdeeds that can cost consumers big money, especially involving alleged under-the-table kickbacks among builders, real estate brokers, loan officers, mortgage bankers and title insurers. Buyers and sellers are rarely aware of the cash changing hands and thus are paying needlessly higher prices for services.

In a little-publicized series of legal moves in the past five weeks, regulators have reached settlements with six major home builders and one of the largest title insurers in the country.

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