Denver Realtor group insists on subpoena

Sometimes, the process of moving things forward makes little or no sense.  Newly appointed head of the Colorado Division of Real Estate, Erin Toll, has identified Denver’s rampant mortgage fraud metro as being directly tied to bloated appraisals, complicit mortgage lenders and Realtors. 

Like all of us trying to do a job, Erin needs the tools of the trade to verify and check suspicious activity and fraudulent reporting.  It never occurred to me that the head of the Colorado Real Estate Commission would not have unfettered access to this information.  It never occurred to me that the Colorado Real Estate Commission has not had access to these records for years.  Erin’s job is to protect the public.  In this instance, the newly appointed head of the Colorado Real Estate Commission is herself an accomplished attorney who in recent years has stood the Colorado title insurance on its head with her investigations that unearthed kick back schemes in the re-insurance sector.  As a Realtor that has nothing to hide and has not been involved in any type of mortgage fraud, I want Erin Toll to have access to this information.  I want Erin to have every tool she needs to clean up the fraud that has been prevailing in our industry.  This activity leads to skewed information that we Realtors need to do our work.  It leads to over-evaluations at the local tax office and far worse, it leads to foreclosures. 

During the first 11 months of this year, a record 17,782 foreclosures have been filed in the metro area. In November, the state’s foreclosure rate was second only to Nevada’s, RealtyTrac, based in California, reported this week. Colorado was No. 1 the previous eight months.

Metrolist is insisting that Erin subpoena the records she needs and get a court order allowing her access to the MLS.  State officials say forcing Toll to obtain court orders would be expensive, time-consuming and not the best use of taxpayers’ money.   

As an attorney, Ms. Toll knows her way around the courthouse and undoubtedly she will get the access she has requested.  The woman is on a mission and she will get what she wants.  I wish her the best.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.