Blown Mortgage

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How apropos. Realtor magazine names their top 30 agents under 30 every year.  This year’s crop had at least one documented fraudster, now being indicted on all sorts of goodies like bank fraud and money laundering.  Hat tip to Jessica at Inman for the story which also appeared on CNBC.

From Inman News on the Realtor superstar who is really just a thief:

Eve Mazzarella, broker-owner of Distinctive Real Estate & Investments in Las Vegas, at age 29 was named in Realtor magazine’s “30 under 30” feature in June 2007.

Mazzarella is now linked to a mortgage fraud case reported by CNBC on Friday. From that story:

“A Las Vegas real estate broker and her husband are facing federal charges they made millions of dollars orchestrating a mortgage fraud scheme.

“U.S. Attorney for Nevada Gregory Brower says Eve Mazzarella, 30, and her husband, Steven Grimm, 45, were indicted Wednesday on bank fraud, money laundering and aiding and abetting charges.”

You have to love the irony here - the top of the Realtor species being dinged as a criminal.  Poetic, really.  Of course, we really shouldn’t be picking on the young lady.  After all, there are probably 14 other frauds on that top 30 list just waiting to be caught.  Interesting to note though that as a Realtor she’s being tried for mortgage fraud.  I’m sure she was a big proponent of the dual-representation “we do your sale and loan to save you money” camp.

Some “highlights” of Mazzarella’s illustrious “career”:

 Where some see obstacles, Mazzarella sees challenges. She was a divorced mother with two sons and no savings when she moved from Seattle to Las Vegas seven years ago. She found sunshine and a strong real estate market. Over the next three years, she switched from a commercial auction company to a residential brokerage and then started her own company, Distinctive Real Estate & Investments. By focusing on the underserved downtown market, she closed $13.8 million in residential sales; this year she expects sales to hit at least $16 million.

Sum of the parts: Mazzarella attributes her company’s success to a congenial culture that encompasses a diversity of backgrounds. “Each of our 10 sales associates and four unlicensed assistants has special skills, but we mesh into something bigger than any one of us,” she says.

Crowning achievement: Already the owner of nine investment properties, Mazzarella says her next project—and her first development effort—is a 22,000-square-foot commercial office building in downtown Las Vegas. The City Council had rejected the project several times because it would require the destruction of a historic home on the site; Mazzarella finally won unanimous approval by agreeing to move the home atop the three-story building. In the process she’s creating a new city landmark.

I wish I could rewrite this: “Where some see laws, Mazzarella sees white-out and photocopiers…”  Also, anyone care to wager how those 9 investment property loans are done?  Can you say stated?

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