Stories are hitting the newswires constantly about mortgage fraud:

• Three lawyers were among 13 individuals indicted in Manhattan Wednesday on charges of operating a mortgage fraud scheme that bilked banks and other lenders

• Mortgage fraud-related Suspicious Activity Reports referred to law enforcement increased 36% to 63,713 during 2008, compared to 46,717 reports in 2007, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 2008 Mortgage Fraud Report.

• Jonathan Boxman, an owner and operator of New York-based real estate title insurance companies, was charged in federal court in Brooklyn with defrauding his companies' clients of more than $1.7 million.

• Six people have been charged in three separate, unrelated mortgage fraud cases in New Jersey, including two women accused of spearheading a conspiracy to use stolen identities to obtain more than $1 million in unauthorized mortgages, lines of credit and credit cards.

• After pleading guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges in September 2008 in connection to organizing a large mortgage fraud scheme, Ronald Luczak of Cape Coral, FL, has been sentenced to 22 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $5.9 million in restitution to his victims.

We here at MetFund fail to understand why these people would go to such illegal lengths for the sake of some extra money.  We find that if you treat your customers as you yourself would want to be treated the money will come.

They risk incarceration for years at a time when all they had to do was their job and do it well.  Ah, that may be the problem: they never knew how to treat their customers well.  It is becoming a lost art.  We hear from consumers and practitioners alike of the lack of care given to potential clients.

No wonder they had to turn to such unscrupulous activities.  They never knew better.

•  Prime Mortgages Seen in Two-Thirds of Foreclosure Sales
Two-thirds of the 94,000 foreclosure sales in June involved properties previously financed by prime mortgages as the tide of subprime foreclosure sales has declined over the past four quarters, according to the Hope Now alliance.

•  Starting August 15, servicers can reduce the principal amount of a troubled Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgage by up to 30% so the homeowners' monthly payments are reduced to 31% of income.

•  House Approves Funds for Federal Housing Administration
The House has passed a bill to provide the Federal Housing Administration with an additional $85 billion in loan committee authority so FHA can continue to insure single-family loans through Septmber 30 without interruption.

•  Lending is steady or slower and residential real estate generally remains weak with signs of improvement, according to the Federal Reserve's Beige Book.

•  Administration Urges Servicers to Modify More Loans
Obama administration officials want servicers to pick up the pace of loan modifications and qualify at least 500,000 homeowners for 90-day trial modifications by Nov. 1, according to Treasury Department and HUD officials.

Please check out Steve Myers' thoughts after returning from a summer hiatus in the midwest.

"Forecasting is very difficult, especially when it involves the future."