How Desperate Homeowners Got Caught Up in an Alleged Scam – California From: voiceofsandiego.org

Late last year, 20-year-old Emy Palacios signed up for a program she thought would help her keep the house she owned with her mother and shared with her two younger siblings.

After a couple of housemates moved out of the house last fall, Palacios had called her lender to explain that she and her mom couldn’t make their monthly payments. The bank said she could sell her house at a loss — a short sale — and Palacios set that plan in motion.

But soon after, she heard from a real estate agent about a program that promised to shield the house from foreclosure and allow her family to stay in their home. Palacios called to find out more. She signed over the deed of her home to the program’s operators, who said an antiquated government land grant program would shelter her home from foreclosure, at a seminar in December and cancelled the short sale. She made six monthly payments of $1,500 to “rent” her home.”*

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