The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "real estate sales price" ...
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Short Sale Shenanigans
The story uncovers a little known practice in this post-bubble real estate world: the people who make money flipping and flopping houses in a time of crashing prices and foreclosures.
Tags: flopping houses; short sale; housing market; foreclosures
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The Real Estate Meltdown
"Did Appraisers Juice the Market?" showed how appraisers overstated home values. Using disciplinary records and interviews, Shanklin and McClure found appraisers who exaggerated condo sizes, appraised homes without seeing them and stated that condos were worth the $240,000 sales price even though the price was padded with $40,000 of incentives. The "Subprime Mess" package was based on more than 2 million records and showed how unconventional loans moved from low-income, inner city neighborhoods to the burgeoning suburbs. "How Investors Helped Overheat the Market" explored the role of investors in Central Florida's real estate meltdown by analyzing hundreds of data records and found that sales of non owner-occupied homes grew from 25 percent of all local residential sales in 2002 to 70 percent in 2006.
Tags: real estate; investors; lenders; purchase prices; subprime loans; adjustable-rate loans; high-interest loans; housing scam; vacant housing; condo conversion; development; property values
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Property Tax, Appraisals Explained
When valuing a piece of land the sales price is needed but buyers and sellers of property are required to disclose the price. Appraisal districts must find the information itself but when an outside expert was hired to review the job of the appraisal districts, tens of thousands of errors were found where property values would be up to ten percent off.
Tags: housing; realty; realtor; Dallas County Chief Appraiser; DCAD; property tax; real estate;
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Which Price is Right?
A massive mortgage scheme that dramatically increased the price of rental homes at the closing table was uncovered by the Journal-Gazette. Novice investors were tricked into paying an inflated price for dilapidated homes with only the highest sale price recorded in official documents.
Tags: real estate; realtor; John Kintz; Jeff Radabaugh;
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A Rapid Rise
This investigation examined dozens of unusual real estate deals in working-class neighborhoods in which buyers made low-ball offers to desperate sellers. The recorded sales prices, however, were tens of thousands of dollars more. These deals happened during a precipitous decline in Florida’s housing boom. In each transaction, the buyers borrowed close to the full amount from lenders. The investigations showed that the money between the price paid to the sellers and the recorded sales prices was paid to a third party. This was not always disclosed to the lenders, which is against state and federal law. All the deals involved the same real estate agent, the same title company and the same group of buyers. The same appraiser was used in many of the cases, and the appraisals reflected the higher price. As a result of the inflated prices, property values were artificially raised for the rest of the neighborhoods, resulting in higher taxes.
Tags: real estate; property; taxes; public property;
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Losing Our Homes
It has never been easier to lose a home in Akron because of Ohio's lagging economy and the slow price appreciation of local real estate.
Tags: Foreclosure; sheriff's sales; real estate; losing homes; economy lag; slow price appreciation
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Home Costs Go North; The More Affordable Suburbs; Seeing a Hopeful Change
Hopkins used a database of average home prices in the Baltimore area, grouped by zip code, to show the increase in home-sale prices from 1999-2004. Part one of the series shows that Baltimore is slowly becoming a Washington suburb, and the changing demographic is pushing locals to move further away. Part two focuses on some of the older suburban communities in the area. Part three examines the real estate market to see who is benefiting from the changes.
Tags: real estate; property tax; Washington D.C; demographic; population; census; Computer-Assisted Reporting; data analysis; homeowners; mortgage brokers
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"Grave Robbers"
This investigation involves the case of two brothers who organized an identity theft ring and kept it going for more than two years. They were accused of stealing the identities of the recently deceased and using them to obtain more than $1.5 million worth of luxury cars, loans, and merchandise. Their ringleaders also stole 23 luxury cars.
Tags: identity theft ring; criminal court records; police reports; arrest warrant affidavits; Texas open records law; taxing authorities; deed transfers; auto registrations; real estate sales price; federal crime; Countrywide Home Loans; mortgage; Michael F. Tisdale; William R. Tisdale Jr.; America's Team Mortgage; Social Security Administration
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New Values Off The Mark
"In one out of every five open-market real estate transactions in Pittsburg last year, a property sold for less than half or more than double its new assessed values," the Tribune Review reported. Analyses of the sale prices of homes versus their assessed values across revealed patters of under- and overassessment by neighborhood. Also includes a sidebar on the analysis of the data.
Tags: housing assments; property values; underassessment; overassessment; Allegheny County; Sabre Systems & Service; Inc.
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A rebound in the city
The Baltimore Sun reports that "...Sales are sizzling in Baltimore's 'buyer's market,' as bargain hunters spark a buying spree... After years of sluggish activity, homebuyers are apparently rediscovering Baltimore, with sales citywide reaching a four-year high. Yet even as sales surge, median home prices have dropped, according to numbers compiled by The Sun from sales transactions recorded by the state Department of Assessments and Taxation...."
Tags: property values; real estate; housing market