Untold Banking Scandal Is Causing Record Foreclosure Numbers, Says Real Estate Professional

Twenty-year real estate veteran Melanie Smith uncovers a shameful and undisclosed banking and lending practice fueling the housing foreclosure crisis

SEATTLE, Aug. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Among the millions of Americans affected by the housing crisis of recent years, most blame the country's general economic hardships and record unemployment for the high foreclosure numbers and continually depressed market prices. Twenty-year real estate professional Melanie Smith has a different idea - one based on decades of experience and growing suspicions backed by careful research. Now, at the end of a trail of shocking evidence, Ms. Smith can say with conviction that there is a secret underlying factor fueling the ongoing foreclosures - one rooted not in continual consumer hardship but in unpublicized banking and lending practices and potential scandal.

"I've spent 20 years selling real estate in Seattle," says Melanie Smith. "The question is, why is it so often practiced for banks to foreclose, short sale, or take deeds back in lieu of foreclosure? Why is it a better financial decision for banks to evict people from their homes, then let the property sit on the market for weeks, months, sometimes years, rather than making an effort to work with the people living in the property - people who cared enough about it to buy it, who want to make payments, and who do not want to be homeless? As a real estate agent, for several years I laid in bed at night trying to find the answers to these questions. It just made no sense! Banks are not in the business of losing money."

The most pressing question Smith faced in her investigation was what differentiated distressed homeowners who were willing to work with the bank from those who faced immediate eviction, with no options to refinance or remodify their loans. "These were people who were qualified borrowers under the old rules, people who may have been able to make reduced payments if only the lenders would have worked with them. What differentiates Mary over here who gets to keep her home from Sally next door who has a moving truck in front of her home, when their financial situation may be the same and both of them may be behind in their mortgage payment?" she asks.  

Smith has spent the past several years following this trail of questions back to its source: "What makes it worth the banks' and lenders' efforts to continuously foreclose, rest the house, then bring it back on market months later, at prices less than the neighborhood values, rather than trying to refinance and collect payments from the original parties? In some areas across our country, one in six or seven people are losing their homes, and even the government admits it will not stop soon. It seems that giving families longer mortgages or lower payments until the recession ends would be a better idea."

It took a professional eye, but Ms. Smith was finally able to uncover the underlying cause of banks' erratic and hasty foreclosure practices - and the reasons they are not likely to stop. "There is a reason that is directly related to all these foreclosures," says Smith, "and I am ready to tell Americans what it is."

"The practice I uncovered is undermining the financial health and future of America. People deserve to know exactly what is going on and why they lost their home, and I am ready to tell. It's far from over. At this point, my opinion is that we're at the halfway point."  

Smith concludes, "I was shocked when I found out this information, and I want the whole world to know what is going on behind closed doors."

Melanie Smith is available for interviews and appearances to discuss her theory and supporting evidence. She can be reached at meljls@aol.com or 206-270-5370.

This press release was issued through eReleases(R).  For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE Melanie Smith