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Atlantic Palms Condominium plagued with mortgage fraud?
• More than 80 percent of units in foreclosure
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Saturday,
May 29, 2010
A 990 Square foot condominium at the 76-unit Atlantic Palms condominium complex at 400 Atlantic Boulevard in Margate sold for $172,900 in January 2008.
Two years later in March 2010, the condominium unit - originally purchased with a HUD backed loan - was sold to a new owner for $24,600, an almost 700 percent drop in value.
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Atlantic Palms not too long ago was an apartment complex, converted to condominiums in 2007 by Atlantic Palms Conversion, LLC. during a time when the housing bubble had already begun to bust.
Originally purchased for roughly $7.6 million, all 76 Atlantic Palms units were sold between December 2007 and December 2008 at an average price of $169,000, grossing more than $12 million for Atlantic Palms Conversion, LLC. A 63 percent gross return on investment during a period of rapidly declining home values across South Florida and the nation.
Little more than two years later, all but 14 Atlantic Palms units (80 percent) are in foreclosure. Remaining residents in the condominium complex are on the brink of having their water shut off because the majority of unit owners have either walked away from their residences or stopped paying condominium assessments.
Strikingly coincidental when culling through Atlantic Palms property records is how almost all unit owners experiencing foreclosure at Atlantic Palms have a foreclosure filing date a year from their purchase date, give or take a month or two in some cases.
Another coincidence shared by foreclosed units at Atlantic Palms is a pattern of near 100 percent financing, which is a financing vehicle used by homebuyers who typically cannot afford a mortgage down payment.
In fact, fewer than five percent of those foreclosed upon at Atlantic Palms put any money down at all on their Atlantic Palms purchase, according to public records.
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To that end, is it possible that Atlantic Palms residents in foreclosure never made a mortgage payment? And with a foreclosure backlog in Florida of roughly 12-18 months; did Atlantic Palm occupants live payment free for two years or more? Not only not paying their mortgage, but not paying condo fees either?
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The list of surnames of Atlantic Palms unit owners reads like a linguistics “who’s who” of minorities, predominantly of Creole and of Latin descent, many of whom may have been preyed upon by what appears to be a well executed plan to sell condominium units at unscrupulous premiums in a declining housing market to people who couldn't afford them.
After having 76 Atlantic Palms condominium units appraised well above market value, Atlantic Palms Conversion LLC then found banks to finance 76 buyers who didn’t have the financial wherewithal to make mortgage payments.
Public records indicate that some Atlantic Palms unit owners had been foreclosed upon before at other properties—but still got a mortgage. Other unit Atlantic Palm unit owners had a track record of eviction, while still others had a history of criminal activity prior to being approved for a mortgage.
More than half of the Atlantic Palm units aren’t homesteaded, which could indicate a high percentage of absentee owners and / or landlords -- and / or a majority cross-section of units sold as vacation homes, time shares or to persons who didn't know what they were buying.
Some Atlantic Palm unit owners were recipients of housing grants ranging from $20,000 to $40,000, which they used as down payments to purchase their Atlantic Palm condominium. Sadly enough, many grant recipients were foreclosed on too according to public records, because they didn’t make their mortgage payments either.
Had Atlantic Palms Conversion LLC, not acted quickly to sell Atlantic Palm condominiums to 76 unsuspecting buyers when they did, the apartment building the company purchased for almost $8 million dollars in July 2007 would have been reduced to half that value in months, putting the company upside down in its investment.
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