Aftf Year End Report

The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force

First Year Report Mayor Byron Brown Timothy Wanamaker, Executive Director Office of Strategic Planning

Co-Chairs

State Senator William Stachowski Assemblymember Sam Hoyt

AFTF Coordinator Kathleen A. Lynch, Esq.

Western New York Law Center Inc.

A Plan to Stop Fraudulent Real Estate Flipping Practices

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Mayor Byron W. Brown’s Anti-Flipping Task Force Byron W. Brown, Mayor Timothy E. Wanamaker, Executive Director

Senator William Stachowski, Co-Chair Assemblymember Sam Hoyt, Co-Chair

Dear Neighbors, I know I don’t need to tell you that house flipping is a serious problem in the City of Buffalo. Flipping is the practice of buying real estate cheap and then turning it around and selling it for an inflated price. Fraudulent flippers do this without making any repairs to the property. House flipping prevents neighborhoods from being revitalized, and too often we see out-of-towners who neglect the property they have purchased, or they give up on it altogether. We have seen first hand what flipping can do to our neighborhoods. Now, it is time to try to put a stop to it. To rebuild Buffalo, we need people who are committed to building up our neighborhood. The Mayor’s AntiFlipping Task Force was established to stop fraudulent real estate flipping practices. These practices have resulted in vacant houses by the hundreds—many in neighborhoods like those shown in the cover photographs from Buffalo’s East Side. Unless there is fraud, flipping is, in most cases, allowed under the law. But even legal flipping can result in housing that is overvalued, over-mortgaged and eventually left abandoned and demolished. We are working hard to prevent the practice of flipping to continue. Please take a moment to look over the information and links provided in this report. With help from our partners such as Senator Bill Stachowski and Assemblymember Sam Hoyt, as well as the legal resources of the Western New York Law Center, we can begin to prevent flipping from continuing. Sincerely,

Byron W. Brown Mayor of Buffalo

The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force: First Year Report

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1.

Letter from Mayor Byron Brown……...................................…...……………………..1

2.

History of the AFTF…………………….................................………………………..3

3.

Example of a Flipped Property………………….................................……………….10

4.

AFTF Action Plan…………………………….................................…………………12

5.

AFTF Members and Composition…………................................……………………15

6.

Executive Committee ………………………………………...................................….17

7.

Data Committee…………………………………………................................……….18

8.

Legislation Committee……………………………………................................…...…24

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Investigation Committee………………………………………..............................…..30

10.

Communications & Education Committee…………………...............................……..32

11.

Finance Committee…………………………….....................................................….35

12.

Conclusion .........................................………..................................................…….36

13.

Acknowledgments……………..........................................................................…….37

Appendix Exhibit A

Power Point on Baltimore Task Force & Development of AFTF

Exhibit B-1

Actual eBay ad for 41 Loepere Street

B-2

Building Inspector pictures showing actual condition of 41 Loepere Street

B-3

Housing Court summons for 41 Loepere Street

Exhibit C

May 6, 2005 announcement of Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force

Exhibit D

Example of ibase relational database charts

Exhibit E

Maps of Flipping in the City of Buffalo, created by Professor Mix

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The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force: First Year Report

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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History of the AFTF

O

n December 16, 2004, at the request of Assemblymember Sam Hoyt, 144th Assembly District, the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection, Assembly Standing Committee on Housing, and the Assembly Standing Committee on Banks held a hearing in Buffalo, New York to address residents’ complaints about House Flipping and Internet Housing Sales. Assemblymember Audrey I. Pheffer, Chair of the Consumer Affairs and Protection Committee, Assemblymember Sam Hoyt, 144th Assembly District, and Assemblymember Crystal Peoples, both representing Buffalo, conducted the hearing. Participants in the hearing included Marilyn Rogers, Housing Court Liaison; Charlene Zuradi, President of the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors and on behalf of the New York State Association of Realtors; Ian MacDonald, homeowner and community activist; Ingram Lloyd, Housing and Urban Development Regional Office in Philadelphia; Timothy Wanamaker, Executive Director, City of Buffalo Office of Strategic Planning; Judge Henry Nowak, City Housing Court Judge; Tracy Krug, City of Buffalo Housing Inspector; Dick Kern, Housing Activist; Kevin Hayes, community activist; and Diane Wray, Real Estate attorney. Written testimony was also submitted to the committee. This hearing gave participants an opportunity to testify to the destructive impact of property flipping in Buffalo neighborhoods. Concerns long articulated by community activist and Housing Court Liaison Michele Johnson, and Building Inspector Tracy Krug, were put into context for Assembly members at the hearing. Excerpts from hearing transcript: “Unchallenged, drug dealers and traffickers are able to purchase new headquarters invisibly and have started using this convenient tool over attending a housing auction. This allows for a quick investment in an area they can claim as new turf with low overhead. I can firmly attest to the need to create a restriction of strong and enforceable legislation to assure those with little knowledge of home buying or those provided with what might be termed a deal too good to be true are not taken advantage of again, while their neighborhoods are not further decayed by this type of sale. Legislation also needs to be in force regarding disclosure of the condition of the property and to ensure the closing attorneys, home inspectors or anyone higher, that were contracted by the purchaser are not tied into the seller or seller’s agent. Additional checks and balances need to be made between the governing bodies that oversee real estate transactions. We need to protect our biggest investment, our community. Fraudulent practices, such as house and title flipping, threaten that sanctity.” ~ Marilyn Rogers, Housing Court Liaison

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A task force could easily be formed. The bottom line is, if you’re involved in the transaction with a realtor, we have safety nets in place. But, you know, we’re not there on the Internet. We’re not there when this person purchases and they’re buying from an owner directly. We have a very strict code of ethics and professional standards we must abide by, however, like many of the speakers said earlier, when you’re buying directly from an owner, there’s not that licensing regulation in place.” ~ Charlene Zuradi, former President of Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors “I’m a homeowner in the city and I’m trying to protect my investment. I’m also a community activist and I’m highly interested in the fate of our community. I think what I’m asking you guys is maybe to jump in and help us. Like I said, I’m not really an economist or realtor or anything here. But we need some full time people out working on this problem… I would say that I’m not a big fan of over regulation, but clearly the effect on the community is not-you may not see this on the balance books right away, but the crime, the drugs, the blighted houses, us calling the councilmen, all of this shows up in the hidden costs of these buildings. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that’s legitimate. They’re generally just the worst houses, they’re in the worst neighborhoods.” ~ Ian MacDonald, homeowner and community activist. “Flipping, mortgage fraud, predatory lending, involves unethical and dishonest practices by sellers and lenders who often target our most vulnerable populations. I believe that our first line of defense against flipping and predatory lending is an informed consumer. Flipping and predatory lending can rise to a level of criminal activity and constitute fraud. We have worked closely with the City of Baltimore. Baltimore Maryland… We’ve worked very closely with their staff and them on using Baltimore, the City of Baltimore, as a laboratory. They really sustained a lot of flipping activity and in their city back in 1996, 1997, and as a result of working with them and establishing a dialogue they made a lot of good suggestions and helped shape the flipping rule that we put in place. And they recently did a study and they noted that flipping in their city is down considerably, like eighty percent.

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The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force: First Year Report

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“The Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors, along with State and National, as most of you already know, have committees…we do have committees in place that would be more than happy to get involved in something like this. You know, with information that you may require…

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But in working with them, and working with the inspector general’s office and law enforcement, I think they really [caught] the attention of a lot of bad players in that market, and there have been a number of prosecutions with flippers and the likes.” ~ Ingram Lloyd, Housing and Urban Development, Philadelphia Regional Office “Since arriving here from Prince George’s County...to Buffalo, New York…it has become clear that the situation that we we’re starting to deal with in Prince George’s County, which actually, as Mr. Lloyd mentioned, that had been dealt with, was starting to be dealt with in Baltimore, Maryland, was something that we’re experiencing here at a higher level, actually, in the City of Buffalo. The problem seems to be in defining what constitutes flipping. Buying low and selling high is not illegal. Defining what illegal activities associated with anti-flipping techniques seems to the basis for defining the practice. The vast majority of control methods will include identifying criminal actions or intent, and prosecuting the perpetrators on the various existing laws. However, the operative words are identification and prosecution. These two items tend to challenge the available resources of both local communities and other judicial systems. Prosecution of these and other illegal activities are completed by the state attorney generals, HUD inspector generals, as it was mentioned earlier, local housing courts, state banking departments and other federal, state, and local courts of prosecutors. Some solutions to the problem include, and primarily, establishing a flipping and predatory lending task force. This is something that Mr. Lloyd talked to you about that was established in Baltimore. It has worked very effectively for them. He talked about some of the results they had from that. We believe it has to be done. That task force cannot simply be volunteers that run the task force, though. It has to be staff with paid professionals that can keep on top of the issue. That is going to be an issue for local governments being in the fiscal condition that they’re in. Monitoring large property acquisition activities and determining possible and actual criminal intent. Monitor those that quickly purchase and sell properties on a reoccurring basis. Work closely with HUD and state housing agencies to enact anti-flipping laws. This again is an area where its worked very successfully for Baltimore, and working through the predatory task force and HUD, as Mr. Lloyd described earlier, the HUD anti-flipping rule actually came out of the work of Baltimore and the predatory lending and anti-flipping task force. We have to have an opportunity to take a look at it and verify whether or not it is a flipping activity that’s going on. It is very difficult to prove. It’s not easy, and it takes a lot of man hours and dedication to be able to get that done.”

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“As you’re aware, we’ve had a little working group set up with the representatives from the Buffalo HUD office, and your office, and community advocates and activists. Will you join us in, or can your office, I should say, help spearhead the establishment of a bigger task force with more official representatives that will have the mission of addressing the magnitude of the problem here in the city, and ultimately looking at a series of solutions?” Response: “I absolutely will. But, in addition to that, I want to, I want to be very specific and stress this point. Unless it’s set up with professional people that can keep on top of this thing. One of the things that we have been made very well aware of in talking with the folks down in Baltimore, that they have to be on top of this on a day-to-day basis. They’re reviewing these sales on a regular basis so that they can keep on top of it. It’s clear to people that come in to purchase in Baltimore that they’re not going to make a purchase without someone reviewing that. And, unless you have that component in place, or volunteers that have the ability to do that…You’re not going to resolve the issue.” ~ Timothy Wanamaker, Executive Director, City of Buffalo Office of Strategic Planning “So, maybe blaming the buyer is not the best approach… Why do you want to focus on the seller? Well, number one, chances are, and it’s ninety-nine percent of the type I’ve seen, they’ve misrepresented the property in some fashion. Sometimes, it’s misrepresented that they own the property. Sometimes they aren’t even the ones that truly owned it. They certainly misrepresent all the time the actual quality of the product that they’re selling on the Internet. I mean you look at it—at the printouts of the web— and it seems certainly from the excellent work that Michele Johnson has done, not only as an activist but as my Housing Court Liaison for the Fillmore District, and all of the research that she’s done and also Mr. Krug has done, city building inspectors are taking a very active role here…Printouts are nothing like reality, in terms of what we see of the property. So you really have a lot of blame falling on the seller for misrepresentation.” ~ Honorable Henry Nowak, City Housing Court Judge “This goes on, on a weekly basis. Michele emails me all the time regarding this, tells me I gotta’ check something out. I try and get out there, you know, and do the best I can and try to catch up to these people and we do notify the judge that there’s flipping going on with these certain companies and corporations and the only way to deter it is to get them in Housing Court and have the judge, you know, actually fine them or do something with it. But, I mean, basically somebody’s always stuck. And I mean, you get a phone call a month later that I bought this house on eBay. I hired a local contractor, he never showed up. I wired him, you know, four thousand dollars, never did, you know, pound in a nail. I mean there’s all kinds of things, and then this lady’s calling me, ‘what should I do’? ‘I mean, it’s your house. I don’t know what to tell you to do. I mean, you bought it [sight unseen] and now you’re going to call me up and ask me what to do with it?’”

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The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force: First Year Report

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The following question was posed by Assemblymember Hoyt to Mr. Wanamaker:

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City of Buffalo Building Inspector Tracy Krug, along with community activist Michele Johnson, both testified at the New York State Assembly hearing.

I would say HUD, they have their own web site, okay? So, I mean, basically I’ve seen investors that are picking up the banks and HUD properties for, you know, three, four thousand dollars and then within a time frame of you know, three, four, five months, it’s just flipped with nobody pounding any nails.” ~ Tracy Krug, City of Buffalo Building Inspector “Buffalo seems to have acquired a reputation in the last several years of being a place where you can get away with a great many violations of the law. I mean, these people know they’re violating the law and they come into our city and they just do it, right? And guess what? They do get away with it. And they have been getting away with it. In addition to the scammers, the rent-to-own people, the mortgage fraud, they get away with these crimes, and that’s why they’re flocking to Buffalo. The Internet makes it easier to do that. We’ve acquired the reputation of being a lawless city when it comes to this type of thing. That’s a bad thing.” ~ Kevin Hayes, homeowner and community activist. “Many of the historic bad guys are working together and sharing pointers with one another, so we are fighting a very difficult problem here…We clearly have to do things faster; the speed at which this happens is truly frightening…Tracy Krug and Michele Johnson have been lightning fast. Whenever we see a suspicious looking transaction, I call Michele or e-mail her. She gets Tracy on it, but we can’t keep doing it that way. We need systems corrections and we certainly need HUD to be much more accountable.” ~ Dick Kern, Housing activist “We hadn’t come across that [flipping]. We think that it’s because of the system that was in place, actually through a HUD program (referring to Asset Control Area Partnership Program). They sold the properties immediately to the City of Rochester. The City of Rochester then sold them to community

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~ Rebecca Case Grammatico, Esq., attorney at PILOR/GULP (now Empire Justice Center) in Rochester, New York. “I’m going to skip to some of the possible legal avenues to explore. What I’m finding, because I asked people to send me all of their paperwork, and what I’m finding is there is usually one attorney. This is…against attorney ethics. An attorney cannot represent both sides of a deal. I’m seeing buyers who are actually paying the seller’s attorneys, and those attorneys’ names are all over things…I had a conversation with the attorney ethics committee, someone on that committee last week, and they were in shock. They didn’t know this was going on...If we didn’t have professional participation in this, we wouldn’t have this going on to the extent it is.” ~ Diane Wray, Esq., Real Estate Attorney “The ability for cities and communities to follow through on this information would also be necessary to send a message that property flipping is not to be tolerated in New York cities. Unfortunately, many local enforcement agencies do not understand the harm that these scams cause. Education in this area could also help reduce house flipping by ensuring that all public agencies stop thinking along the lines of ‘well, they signed the contract,’ and treat the cases as the truly damaging cases of fraud that they are. The fact that there is so little understanding in our communities as to the true nature of the harm that is done by the individuals who perpetrate these transactions for their own personal gain is correctable. Our cities need to train personnel to identify and understand these transactions when they are seen and have them investigated for signs of fraud, and if fraud is found, to make sure these individuals are put out of business.” ~ Adrianne Barrett, Fair Housing Council of Central New York During this time frame, Senator Stachowski’s office started receiving complaints from Building Inspectors who saw repeated sales of properties cited for housing code violations. Usually, the houses remain vacant. This activity is particularly frustrating for inspectors because it is difficult to track the owner who is responsible for correcting housing code violations. In response to the Assembly hearing and to complaints fielded by Senator Stachowski, meetings were conducted with interested parties to determine how best to create a task force to address property flipping in Buffalo. Timothy Wanamaker, Carla Kosmerl and Michael LoCurto, then a Special Assistant to Assemblymember Sam Hoyt, traveled to Baltimore to learn about the “Baltimore Laboratory.” Timothy Wanamaker met with Kathleen Lynch, an attorney at the Western New York Law Center and coordinator of its Community Reinvestment and Fair Lending Project, to consult about establishing and coordinating a similar task force in Buffalo. Lynch met with Assemblymember Hoyt and then conducted a number of telephone interviews with Diane Cipollone, Coordinator of the Baltimore Task Force from the Community Law Center. Ms. Lynch reviewed Baltimore reports of the task force effort and their findings. Holly Lindstrom consulted with Ms. Cipollone about data collection and analysis. A

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The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force: First Year Report

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organizations and community groups which rehab the properties before they had the opportunity to get flipped as they are in other places.”

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number of preliminary meetings were held with stakeholders, including community representatives such as Michele Johnson, Building Inspector Tracy Krug, city, state and federal representatives and real estate professionals. In May 2005, former Mayor Anthony Masiello established the Anti-Flipping Task Force. The Mayor appointed Assemblymember Sam Hoyt and State Senator William Stachowski to Co-Chair this task force. The effort is modeled after the Baltimore Anti-Flipping and Predatory Lending Task Force. Kathleen Lynch was invited to Coordinate the Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force effort in Buffalo. The AFTF has the full support of Mayor Byron Brown and his administration.

Note:

Erie County Bar Association ~ March 2006

For further information about the Baltimore Laboratory and on the Development of the Mayor’s AFTF, see Appendix A, a copy of a Power Point presentation prepared by Kathleen A. Lynch of WNYLC.

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41 Loepere Street, Buffalo NY

Photo By David Torke (See Appendix—Exhibit B-1)

The following are just some of the claims made about 41 Loepere when it was listed on eBay for sale. “41 Loepere will bring you a steady annual stream of income! $7800 estimated annual yearly rental income.” “The home does NOT need any work.” “THIS HOME HAS BEEN COMPLETELY REHABBED. ALL REPAIRS HAVE BEEN COMPLETED.” “I just talked to the property manager, he said that investors from the whole country start buying homes on the up-and-coming Eastside of Buffalo.” “This is a great investment for out-of-state or overseas investors!!” “The Eastside of Buffalo, zip code 14212, a busy area of the city, is infused with private investment funds and community based business.”

10 The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force: First Year Report

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Example of a “Flipped Property”

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This is the actual history of 41 Loepere: •

December 20, 1999 — Seller to Buyer with FHA Mortgage. Sale Price of $8,500

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July 30, 2002 — Mortgage company commenced foreclosure proceeding

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August 6, 2003 — Foreclosure Deed Sale price $11,900 to Mortgage Corp.

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October 9, 2003 — Property transferred by Mortgage Co. to HUD for $10

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March 19, 2004 — Property sold by HUD to NYC LLC for $3,500

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March 30, 2004 — Property sold by LLC to buyer in California for $8000

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October 14, 2004 — Property auctioned for bid on eBay. Starting bid $5,000

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October 17, 2004 — Winning bid at $21,100 to California individual buyer

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November 17, 2004 — Sale of property to California buyer for $21,100

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December 14, 2004 — Housing Court Summons filed listing 14 violations of NY State Code and describing property as vacant. Property is still vacant and California owner has never appeared in court or fixed any violations. (See Appendix — Exhibit B-2 & B-3)

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May-June, 2005 — Property listed on City of Buffalo In Rem 40

The AFTF has been active in seeking a resolution from eBay as to the problem properties sold utilizing their Internet site. We requested more stringent requirements for sellers involved in real estate transactions that occur as a result of advertising on eBay. In particular, the AFTF requested that eBay ensure sellers and buyers are informed and comply with the laws of New York State regarding property sales, require that sellers disclose all housing code violations on properties advertised on its site, keep track of and ban all sellers that have created misleading advertisements for real property on its site, make information about such sellers available to the AFTF and law enforcement as requested, and create an easily accessible and prominently displayed complaint process for real estate transactions so that buyers and others with information about the property can immediately report misleading or fraudulent claims made by sellers. eBay maintains the position that they act strictly as an advertising forum and as such are not liable for the content posted on their site. The company also claims it has in place an adequate complaint process and requires that all buyers and sellers conform to legal requirements. The AFTF continues its efforts to remediate solutions with eBay.

Erie County Bar Association ~ March 2006

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Anti-Flipping Task Force Action Plan — Produced in May, 2005 Buffalo, like many urban cities, suffers from a problem created by abandoned housing. The practice of “flipping” properties severely exacerbates this problem. “Property flipping” can occur in several ways. The victims of this practice range from individual buyers to lenders, investors, the federal government and the communities in which the properties are located. Unethical real estate practices significantly contribute to an environment ripe with opportunity for scams. Mortgage-related property flipping occurs when a seller, often through a company structure, buys and sells residential property to individuals in a short time frame. The seller significantly inflates the value of the home, often in collusion with an appraiser, real estate agent, mortgage broker, or title company, and sells it to an unsuspecting buyer who has no knowledge of the previous price of the property. In addition to scamming the homebuyer, investors are also misled. Once an “investor” for a property is located, the company creates fraudulent mortgage packages in order to secure loans for the investors through secondary market lenders (companies that make residential property loans and then immediately sell the loans). The loan is eventually sold, the original company gets out and the investor is stuck with a loan on a property that has low value or negative value. Often, the property is abandoned and becomes a blight in the community. The expanded use of the Internet to sell properties, along with the depressed real estate values in urban areas, has raised this problem to another level. Properties now can be sold sight unseen on auction sites like eBay and the sales are usually cash transactions. These sales are unregulated, usually involve no formal disclosure documents, and are advertised with vague and inaccurate descriptions of the property. The properties have often been cited for code violations. Often “buyers,” looking to make a quick return on this real estate “investment,” will turn around and sell the house at a higher price. Consequently, the same properties are re-listed on eBay in a short time frame. Often, no rehabilitation work has been performed on the property. Other “buyers” or “investors” accept the statements made by the sellers, such as “this is an income-generating rental property,” and later learn that the property is worthless and even hazardous. Many of the homes sold through flipping are properties with FHA-insured loans, so the government is being defrauded, too. One of the goals of this task force is to identify the problems that lead to the sources of flipping and determine if policy and legislative changes are needed to stop the availability of these properties for scam artists.

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The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force: First Year Report

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Buffalo Law Journal ~ June 12, 2006

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The practice of “flipping” properties leads to foreclosure and abandonment of properties. This results in neighborhood destabilization. The impact of this destructive real estate practice on distressed neighborhoods and residents is no different than the devastating effects of illegal drug activity and other crimes. It decreases surrounding home values, leads to vacant properties and hazardous environments, and provides ample space for illicit activities to occur.

Actions The task force will accomplish its goal of curbing flipping through a committee structure that will take the steps outlined below.

Data Collection In order to identify the sellers who are engaging in this activity, a data collection system will be established to capture the information needed to prove “property flipping.” This committee will include local, state and national government representatives, local colleges, community activists, housing court, interns, and attorneys. Data will be collected through a number of sources including city and county databases, the Internet, housing court, legal agencies, housing agencies, and general complaints.

Investigation/Enforcement Once collected, the data will be analyzed to identify suspected “flippers.” Further investigation of these individuals or companies will be conducted by attorneys who will interview victims, review loan documents and collect any additional information necessary to establish a pattern of “flipping” practice and determine if existing laws have been violated and/or if referrals should be made to appropriate law enforcement authorities. This committee will also seek to formulate remedies with Internet providers that, if not regulated, may have a “good business” incentive to refrain from listing or advertising such properties.

Legislation, Policy, and Procedural Changes This committee will consist of representatives from the City, Common Council, State Assembly and State Senate, Congress and the U.S. Senate, as well as attorneys from participating legal agencies. Members of this committee will research, consider, design and advocate for appropriate policy and procedural changes, as well as legislative remedies, that will end the practice of “property flipping” in Buffalo.

South Buffalo News ~ August 3, 2005

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An important component of this effort is education and awareness so that buyers or “investors” will not fall prey to these unscrupulous sellers. Through the use of media and educational tools, we will create an environment where it is evident that Buffalo is “off limits to flippers.” It is likewise extremely important that community residents know that their leaders are willing to take serious steps to prevent activity that leads to neighborhood decline.

Funding This committee will ensure that the AFTF effort is funded so that professionals are hired to complete the work necessary to curb flipping. This committee will also seek to provide avenues for funding assistance to victims of predatory practices. This will help prevent foreclosure and encourage homeownership.

Summary The talent and resources devoted to this task force are essential to neighborhood preservation and the economic health of our communities and residents. Protecting our residents and neighborhoods from being victimized by unscrupulous “flippers” is our obligation. Accomplishing our goal of staving off abandoned properties and foreclosures caused by “property flipping,” in conjunction with planning, will lead to a much healthier City of Buffalo.

Art Voice~ September 2, 2004

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The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force: First Year Report

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Communications and Education

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AFTF Member List and Composition Grace Andriette, Esq., Neighborhood Legal Services, Fair Housing Unit Supervisor Anthony Armstrong, Local Initiatives Support Corporation Elizabeth Bailey, Assistant to U.S. Senator Charles Schumer Peter Battaglia, Esq., Ticor Title Company Moira Bergin, Assistant to Rep. Louise Slaughter Byran Cacciotti, Executive Director, Homefront David Chadwick, Esq., Legal Services for the Elderly/DBT Foreclosure Prevention Michael Clarke, Program Director, Local Initiatives Support Corporation Traneeka Cusack, Esq., Legal Aid Bureau, DBT Foreclosure Prevention Bradley Dossinger, CRA VP, M & T Bank Susan Fretz, Appraiser, The Appraisal Institute David Franczyk, Councilmember Fillmore District/ President, Common Council Joseph Golombek, Councilmember, Buffalo Common Council John Hannon, COB, Director of Real Estate William Haslinger, Professor Hilbert College Greg Heeb, COB Corporation Counsel, Housing Court Prosecutor Sam Hoyt, State Assemblymember, 144th District Jerry Inda, Appraiser, The Appraisal Institute Michele Johnson, Community Liaison and Housing Court Liaison Carrie Kahn, Executive Dean of Workforce Development, Erie Community College Carla Kosmerl, COB Director of Administration and Finance, OSP Dennis Kozuch, Chief of Staff to State Senator William Stachowski Laura Krolczyk, Regional Director, U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton Tracy Krug, COB Building Inspector G. Patrick Lester, President of the Upstate Chapter of the Appraisal Institute Holly Lindstrom, Candidate MUP, Western New York Law Center, Inc. John Leonardi, President, Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors Daniel Locche, Government Relations Director, Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors Bonnie Kane Lockwood, Director of Special Projects for Rep. Brian Higgins Michael LoCurto, Councilmember, Buffalo Common Council Kathleen A. Lynch, Esq., Western New York Law Center, Inc Jack Maloney, Deputy Director, Fannie Mae Athena McCrory, Esq. Legal Aid Bureau Bruna Michaux, Commissioner of Assessment and Taxation, City of Buffalo Wende Mix, Professor, Buffalo State College Harry G. Meyer, Esq. Hodgson, Russ, Chair, NYSBA Real Property Law Section, BAEC Andrea Mujahid-Moore, Esq., Housing Opportunities Made Equal Beverly Moore, Buffalo Urban League/DBT Foreclosure Prevention Project Rich Morrisroe, Real Estate Agent Hon. Henry Nowak, City Court Housing Judge Lou Petrucci, Director of Housing, City of Buffalo State Assemblymember Crystal Peoples Michael Pacifico, UB Law Student Monica Pellegrino, Special Assistant, Assemblymember Sam Hoyt

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In addition to this list of members, the task force effort has been actively supported by members of the community who alert us to flipping activity in their neighborhoods. Further, members and staff of government departments and professional organizations have assisted our efforts to identify flipping, research and consider measures that will curb flipping, and have collaborated with us to produce and participate in educational events.

16 The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force: First Year Report

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David Polino, President, Upstate NY Better Business Bureau J-M Reed, Real Estate Broker, Polis Realty Peter Savage, Esq., Assistant Corporation Counsel, City of Buffalo William Stachowski, State Senator, 58th District Shrita Sterling, Assistant to Assemblymember Crystal Peoples Mark Surdi, U.S. Dept. Housing and Urban Development David Swarts, Erie County Clerk Robert Trusiak, Assistant United States Attorney, WDNY Timothy Wanamaker, Executive Director, City of Buffalo Office of Strategic Planning Paul Wolf, Chief of Staff, Common Council of the City of Buffalo Diane Wray, Esq., Real Estate Attorney, Hughes and Wray Heather Yanello, Special Agent, HUD Office of Inspector General Federal Bureau of Investigation — Buffalo Office

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Executive Committee The goal of the Executive Committee: • Oversee the work of the AFTF to ensure its success in curbing flipping in Buffalo

Members: State Senator William Stachowski, Co-Chair Assemblymember Sam Hoyt, Co-Chair Timothy Wanamaker, Executive Director, City of Buffalo Office of Strategic Planning Kathleen A. Lynch, Esq., Western New York Law Center (See Appendix — Exhibit C)

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Holly Lindstrom, Chair The goals of the Data Committee: • Analysis of property flipping activity in the City of Buffalo • Analysis of Real Estate transactions for investigation of patterns and practices of fraudulent flipping activity • Analysis of suspected points of origin of properties which are subsequently flipped (REO sales and foreclosure auction) or ‘Where do flippers buy the properties they flip?’ • Analysis of data to support the initiatives of other committees The function of this committee is to research, collect, and analyze Real Estate Transaction Data from the city, state, HUD, Fannie Mae and other resources. While this committee has a set of overall goals, it is understood that from time to time, certain data requests will be refreshed or extended, while others will evolve in response to, and in support of, the pursuits of the various committees of the AFTF. This committee has been active in gathering data from various sources in order to analyze the existence, location, and degree of flipping in the City of Buffalo. The committee will evaluate the actual impact of suspected sources of flipping (i.e. REO sales and foreclosure auctions), determine what policies and procedures create conditions ripe for flipping, and to support investigation of unethical and illegal activity. The initial objective set by this committee in order to perform an analysis of flipping activity in the city was to collect sales data for the past 3 years. The goal of this analysis is to detect patterns and practices of fraudulent flipping activity. This time frame was chosen after several meetings with law enforcement partners, due to the overall initial objective of the AFTF to perform data analysis toward investigations which could lead to prosecution of fraudulent activity. Due to the existence of statutes of limitation within related charges, it was noted that anything older than three years would not be acceptable. In addition to serving Investigation Committee goals, this committee is charged with providing an in-depth analysis of flipping activity. The committee will use the data to evaluate which properties are being flipped, to what extent, by whom, and from what sources flipped properties originate. The purpose of this analysis is to help the AFTF understand what existing factors, policies and procedures led to a situation that made Buffalo vulnerable to flipping. This analysis will assist the Legislative Committee in its efforts to recommend changes and legislation that will curb flipping. Requesting sales data was the first task of this committee. Understanding where sales data could be found necessitated an understanding of how property sales are recorded and where these records are kept. The transfer

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Data Committee

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of property is accomplished by filling out and filing a form RP5217 with the county, city, and state. This task is usually accomplished by first filing with the Erie County Clerk at closing. Therefore, an initial request for sales data to the county was made. However, this data request was not fruitful due to the implementation of a new database system at the County Clerk’s office. The committee then approached the City of Buffalo Assessment and Taxation Department. The first results of our request for sales data from the City of Buffalo yielded only “valid sales.” In meetings with a city assessor, the AFTF was informed that valid sales represent those which reflect a fair market sale. As such, transfers between company names, changes to deed, sales between relatives, and properties that have been unethically flipped are not counted. The assessor working with the AFTF informed us that city assessors are often aware of sales which are unethical flips, and have been noticing this trend of flipping for some time. These sales are purposely not reported as valid because city assessors understand these sales do not represent fair market value. For this reason it is important that sales data must represent all sales in the city and not just valid sales. A subsequent data set received from the City of Buffalo was believed to represent all sales, but upon quality testing by the AFTF, it was found that many sales recorded with the County Clerk’s office in the same time frame of the requested data were not represented in the data set. They should have been contained in the set. This fact compromised the quality of the data set.

Analysis of City data collection process and impact on flipping As the AFTF worked with its contact at the City, it became apparent that there were many quirks to the data management system for city properties. Though the city assessors need permit and inspection reports to maintain accurate assessments, this information is not maintained on the same computer systems. In fact, it was found that hard copies of permits are physically brought from the Department of Permits and Inspections (now known as the Department of Economic Development, Permit and Inspection Services) to the Department of Assessment and Taxation, where the changes to the assessment records must be changed manually. This appears to be an inefficient system that does not take advantage of the powerful data management system, Hansen, already in use by the Department of Economic Development, Permit and Inspection Services. There are 3 different systems in use to manage property information; the City’s system (Access program), Hansen, and Real Property System (RPS), a program of the Office of Real Property Services.

Meetings with Assessment Dept and NYS ORPS to discuss data collection The data collection process unavoidably became protracted while the AFTF assessment contact worked to solve the problems with gathering data that represented all sales in the City of Buffalo for the past three years. During this period, the AFTF Data Committee proceeded to learn more about the systems utilized in maintaining property related data in the city. We learned that the city’s sales and assessment data is stored in RPS. NYS ORPS has written report formats which allow city staffers to access information stored in the RPS. However the information they can access with these report formats is limited to routine reports. By early October, 2005 the AFTF Data Committee had met with Bruna Michaux, Commissioner of the Department of Assessment and Taxation, Ann Marie LoFasso, Chief Assessor, Tony Krayna, Assessor and AFTF contact, and ReaAnn Engler, Real Property Analyst for NYS ORPS. In this meeting, RaeAnn Engler agreed to volunteer her help with this effort. Engler set out to write a unique report format that could be run by our contact at the city.

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Meetings with City of Buffalo Department of Management Information Systems In our research, it was found that the information management system, Hansen, is in use for retaining information related to permits taken on, inspections performed on, and court proceedings related to, properties in the City of Buffalo. Additionally, Hansen is also used for billing related to property board-ups and demolitions. Hansen contains all this information and also has the capacity to hold scanned-in documents related to the above for quick reference (as opposed to searching for and through the physical records). When the AFTF discovered that assessment information was not retained on the same system, we began asking questions to ascertain why this was the case. One of the pieces of information we uncovered was that the Assessment and Taxation Department was in the process of deciding on a new information management system, and had narrowed down the choices between Hansen and Munis. On the surface, it appeared to the AFTF that all information related to properties in the City of Buffalo should be maintained on the same system to reduce redundancies, increase efficiency, and most importantly to be able to spot problems such as property flipping before they become pandemic. However, this committee sought to decipher whether or not Hansen or Munis could handle the integration of all property-related information. By December 2005, Holly Lindstrom, Kathleen Lynch, and Carla Kosmerl of the AFTF had met with City of Buffalo Management Information Systems Director, Rajender Mehta, System Analyst for Hansen system, System Analyst for Munis application, and System Analyst for Tax and Assessment/RPIS (Real Property Information System). From this meeting the AFTF discovered that Munis is an accounting-only system already in use by the City of Buffalo Accounting Department and Hansen is a property management system, which has the additional capacity to perform financial, tax, transportation, utility billing, and public works management. The AFTF also discovered that any changes needed to the Munis system would require a service call and payment. However, with the Hansen system, City of Buffalo staff can make necessary changes to the system in house. System Analyst for Tax and Assessment/ RPIS informed the AFTF of the process currently undertaken for the management of city property sales; data is purged from the RPS into the “Homebuilt Access System” called Legacy; we don’t know if these sales represent all sales or just valid sales. From Legacy, information is dispersed to various offices for a variety purposes. The City of Buffalo is currently working with NYS ORPS to link Hansen directly to

20 The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force: First Year Report

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Three months later, we had new report formats and the results from running the query. The data set provided to us was full of errors, due to the quirks of the RPS version in use at the time. However the AFTF wasn’t aware of this problem at the time, and spent a lot of time going back and forth via email and telephone with ReaAnn Engler and Tony Krayna in order to try to resolve the problems. In May, 2006, a meeting was called with Regional Director Joe Muscarella of NYS ORPS, ReaAnn Engler, Tony Krayna, Bill Haslinger, and Wende Mix, AFTF GIS Analyst. At this time we were informed that with the old version of RPS, a unique grantor (or seller) was not guaranteed or identifiable. This fact meant that, essentially, the data was useless. Fortunately, a new version of the RPS had been installed by this time. ReaAnn Engler indicated that the report formats previously written would produce the results we wanted. Upon testing, the AFTF found this was not, in fact, true. At our request, ReaAnn Engler promptly wrote a new program for the RPS. Finally, in June 2006 the AFTF was provided with an acceptable data set representing all residential property sales in the City of Buffalo for the past three years.

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the RPS system to have seamless access to sales data due to the difficulties encountered with transferring information .

Meeting with City Housing Court Judge Nowak Holly Lindstrom and Kathleen Lynch of the AFTF met with Hon. Henry Nowak, City Housing Court Judge. From this meeting we learned that court records (even Housing Court) are kept by defendant name, not property address through the Office of Court Administration program. To our knowledge, this information system does not maintain records once a case is closed although hard copy files may be kept. Therefore, because there is an absence of knowledge about previous cases, as well as the condition of other properties owned by a particular defendant, it is much harder to discern activity performed by a particular individual or company unless there are pending cases. Thus it becomes much more difficult to do research. However, the court does have access to Hansen and in this way, the obstacles created by the OCA program can be overcome if utilized properly.

Development of ibase program The investigative portion of the analysis will be performed by our partners at Hilbert College through the Economic Crime Investigation Department (ECI). Hilbert’s ECI department in one of just a few in the country designed to prepare students for jobs in federal agencies, such as the CIA, FBI, IRS, investigating crimes such as fraud, money laundering, terrorism, and various white collar crime. The Hilbert sub-committee is comprised of Hilbert faculty, staff, and students, law enforcement, and government prosecutors. Hilbert College has also linked student interns with the AFTF in order to manually gather data and track Internet sales. This sub-committee utilizes the ibase relational database provided to the college by i2 Inc. It is of interest to note that the FBI utilizes ibase, as it is a highly respected and powerful analysis tool for investigators. With technical support from i2 Inc., at no expense to the AFTF or to the college, the AFTF worked with Hilbert College staff and an i2 analyst to produce an ibase program specifically designed to assess the property flipping issue for Buffalo. The task of designing a database specifically for this project was accomplished in August, 2005. The Data and Investigative Committees had been waiting for a competent property sales data set to test the database. (For an example of an ibase relational database flowchart, see Appendix - Exhibit D)

Tests of ibase program As of early July 2006, and after receiving data from the City of Buffalo, our partners at Hilbert have been testing the program. The testing of the program could not be performed without the sales data. Additionally, the Hilbert subcommittee worked diligently to manually sort and re-format the many thousands of records contained in the sales data set, in order to enable a data import to the ibase program. From an initial set of test runs, we found the program to be performing as anticipated. Hilbert College and i2 Inc. continue to work together on perfecting database queries requested by the AFTF, again, at no expense. The Hilbert sub-committee continues to move forward with more detailed analysis as more data, from other sources, becomes available.

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In order to fully assess the impact of property flipping on the socio-economic demographics of Buffalo, it is important for us to have a broad range of information related to property sales. To this end, in June 2006 we met with County Clerk David Swarts and members of his staff. We requested, and have been granted, records from the Erie County Clerk’s Office for the past 5 years. These records will cover deed and mortgage filings. Though we have requested an aggregate set of information for comprehensive analysis, the AFTF has already begun the tedious, but necessary task of manual collection of this information.

GIS analysis of property sales in the City of Buffalo Since receiving a usable data set representing all property sales in the City of Buffalo, GIS analyst Wende Mix of Buffalo State College has been volunteering her time and expertise to analyze this sales data for the AFTF. This sales data included any sale occurring in the City of Buffalo between January 1, 2001 and March 2006. The property sales data set included all property sales, not just residential properties. As such, Professor Mix sorted out properties that did not have residential property codes (i.e. those that were multi-unit, industrial, commercial, etc.). Once that was accomplished, the data set was once again filtered to remove properties which only appeared once in the data set (these would be properties where only one sale occurred in 3 years). Professor Mix also created an additional column in the data set using GIS to indicate the number of days between sales. The number of days between sales is an important piece of information in that it tells us if the property was sold within 6 months (180 days or less) or 1 year (365 days or less). Finally, the remaining records were sorted and coded by hand by Holly Lindstrom. The coding process created 5 additional columns in the data set: sale within 6 months after acquisition at a loss, sale within 12 months of acquisition at a loss, flip within 6 months, flip within 12 months, and origin of flipped property. A flip is defined as a sale of a property from a private individual or entity to a private individual or entity within 6 months or within 12 months after acquisition for profit. The origin of a flip is defined as the type of owner who sold a property which resulted in a flip (i.e. private individual or entity, private foreclosure, HUD, City of Buffalo, Erie County, New York State, etc.). It is of great importance to note that the City of Buffalo does not take title to properties auctioned at the annual In Rem sale. This means that just because a property is coded as “private individual or entity” does not exclude the possibility that the property was sold as a result of the In Rem auction. However, HUD does take title to properties it sells as REO, and for this reason we can be reasonably confident that those coded as originating from HUD are correct. The coding was necessary to exclude sales which actually represented changes in deeds, transfers from a government entity or agency, transfer of deed due to foreclosure, etc. In order to meet the definition of a flipped property, we had to decipher if the grantor was a private individual or entity selling within the time frame indicated after acquisition to a private individual or entity. Through this coding we are ensuring the quality of the conclusions we draw from the data. Attached in Appendix - Exhibit E are two maps representing, geographically, by City of Buffalo Common Council district, properties flipped in the City of Buffalo within 6 months, and within 12 months. These maps will also show,

22 The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force: First Year Report

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Research of deeds, mortgages and related documents for investigation

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based on the coding described above, the origin of the flipped property. These maps do not indicate whether fraud was involved in the flips, but do offer a preliminary snapshot of where flipping occurs in the City. Although the Data Committee has acquired data from the City of Buffalo showing the properties sold as a result of the In Rem auctions consistent with the time frame of the sales data, Professor Mix found inconsistencies between the In Rem data set and the sales data set. Until we pinpoint the reasons for these inaccuracies, we are unable to produce a quality analysis showing how many of the properties flipped in the City of Buffalo originated from the City’s tax auction. At the same time, we know from concurrent data research for investigative purposes that “flippers” do utilize the In Rem as one source of properties for purchase and flips. The AFTF will continue to work with Professor Mix to produce much more in-depth analysis of flipping in the City of Buffalo utilizing the many data sets we have acquired, and will acquire. Since we have only had the most important data set (property sales) for less than 1 month, we are just now at the stage where we can conduct more in-depth data analysis.

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Dennis Kozuch and Michael LoCurto, Co-Chairs The goals of the Legislation Committee: • Meet with government representatives, community representatives and real estate professionals to determine what policies, procedures and laws affect flipping • Research policies, procedures, and laws, at all levels of government, that create conditions ripe for flipping in Buffalo • Use data and research to make recommendations regarding policy and legislation to city, state, and federal representatives that will help curb flipping

Meetings/Discussions Over the course of the last six months, members of the Legislation Committee have met with a wide array of individuals interested in reducing/eliminating “flipping” in the City of Buffalo. During that time, members have met with: • • • • • • • • • • •

Members of the legislative committee to determine what policies, procedures, and legislation at local, state and federal level should be subject of AFTF focus, City of Buffalo Corporation Counsel Alisa Lukasewicz and her staff to discuss legislative initiatives involving the city’s In Rem sale and other proposals, Councilman Nick Bonifacio to talk over changes to In Rem sale, PUSH to gain a better understanding of their goals and ideas on preventing flipping, Representatives of the Municipal Bond Bank Agency (MBBA) and their agent JER Revenue Services (JER) to discuss liens purchased from the City of Buffalo, including the maintenance, lien collection progress, and future of these properties, The Common Council Legislation committee to hear about a City of Buffalo proposal to enact a local law requiring the licensing of property managers within city limits, Dan Locche of BNAR to review state legislation dealing with the licensure of property managers on a statewide basis, Harry Meyer, Chair of the NYS Bar Association Real Property Law Section to obtain a legal perspective on legislative items that might curb flipping, Brian Liebenow, intern for Commissioner Rich Tobe, to inform him of AFTF efforts and provide him with recommendations proposed by this committee, Paul Wolf, Chief of Staff to Buffalo Common Council regarding partial payments, and Lou Petrucci, City of Buffalo Director of Housing regarding various recommendations for In Rem.

Representatives from the Legislation Committee also attended a viewing of “Flipped,” a documentary produced by Michele Johnson, revealing the devastation of east and west side neighborhoods, resulting in part from “flipping” on eBay and other more “traditional” methods.

24 The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force: First Year Report

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Legislation Committee

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Recommendations Through the conversations held with other stakeholders, staff research, and outside advice, the Legislation Committee has developed a platform of recommendations for city officials to consider. These recommendations were submitted to Corporation Counsel Staff, Paul Wolf, Counsel to the Common Council, and Bruna Michaux, Commissioner of Assessment and Taxation. Such recommendations include changes in the In Rem sale, property manager licensing, and property transfers. The Committee has also been following and monitoring legislation introduced in both the State Senate and State Assembly that pertains to property transfers, banking issues, and other issues that deal with “flipping” on a statewide level.

Local Recommendations (discussed with Corporation Counsel/staff) 1. Include full disclosure provisions on sales contracts and require completion before bidding In order to complete the transaction, the bidder must disclose, under attestation, all partnerships or corporations in which they are a member. This provision in the sales contract will ensure the city is aware of any affiliations with property management or other firms the purchaser might have and to guard against the city transferring property to organizations with open or past Housing Court cases. This also ensures that all bidders at the auction are bona fide purchasers and are not representing unknown third parties. This matter is being reviewed by Corporation Counsel and Assessor for inclusion in bidding documents. 2. Include oath or affirmation on both documents that asserts all statements made are true This will create a basis for a False Claims violation allowing the city to prosecute bidders who conceal membership in organizations that may have violated city ordinances. It will also give additional protection to the City in that it may rescind the sale if the proper disclosures are not made. This suggestion is under consideration by Corporation Counsel. 3. Enact “Partial Payment” Ordinance for Real Property Taxes In order to decrease the number of properties that go into foreclosure, it is imperative that the process by which residents pay their taxes becomes more user-friendly. The term partial payment is somewhat of a misnomer. It does not mean that residents will not pay their entire tax bill, or even that the City of Buffalo will not get its taxes when they are due. It simply allows taxpayers within city limits the same payment options available in every other town and village in Erie County. Essentially the partial payment plan will make available the option for the taxpayer to submit 4 payments over the course of the year with each payment representing at least ½ of the outstanding balance. This plan will allow taxpayers to spread out payments throughout the year with the final payment due at the same time currently required by law. Information obtained from a sample of towns across Erie County shows that this plan has increased overall tax revenue collected and has been received well by taxpayers in those localities. By allowing more flexibility to taxpayers, the city will increase overall tax revenue and move one step closer to the goal of reducing property tax foreclosures. This suggestion was opposed by City Commissioner of Assessments and Taxation and the City Comptroller on the grounds that it will negatively affect cash flow and that staff does not have the capacity or resources to execute this change. Other municipalities have adopted the

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4. Enact Third Party Transfer ordinance The goal of Third Party transfer laws are aimed at reducing the number of distressed properties within the City. Properties that are identified as distressed, a term defined in the legislation as a property with 5 or more building code violations and a lien to value ratio in excess of 15%, would be offered to predetermined third parties with the stipulation that they rehabilitate the property. Third parties would be evaluated on their ability to finance repairs, their real estate management experience, and their ability to work with governmental agencies. The elimination of distressed properties available at the in Rem auction will greatly reduce the practice of real estate flipping as those properties are the ones most likely to be flipped. If the City only auctions those houses that are habitable, it will attract more owner occupiers and less investors looking only to make a quick buck. In addition, by transferring distressed properties to organizations that are required to rehabilitate them, it will improve the overall housing stock in the city. The concept of the “Third Party Transfer ordinance” was already undertaken in NYC after the State Legislature passed permissive legislation. Although this was considered for the City of Buffalo, there does not appear to be an agency in existence at this time financially capable of assuming such properties and/or programs. 5. Include a bar to sale or encumbrance for specified dollar amount for one year This proposal represents the most direct response to addressing the practice of real estate flipping. For a period of one year, a successful bidder at the city’s in Rem auction would be prohibited, by a provision in the sales contract, from selling or encumbering the property purchased for more than a specified percentage over the purchase price. This provision would make it less financially viable to flip properties for profit. It would combat the problem of fraudulent appraisals by limiting the sales price or amount of mortgage that can be taken against the property. A property flipper is less likely to purchase a property if they know they must hold for one year because among other things it gives the city a chance to cite the property for code violations. If the successful bidder is barred from quickly reselling the property, the financial advantages of flipping disappear. This provision will not affect bona fide purchasers as they generally don’t sell the property in the short term for considerably more than they paid for it. This provision in the sales contract would be based on a similar provision in a Fannie Mae contract. Provisions could be made for authentic investors, who wish to rehabilitate properties, to submit a completed work plan, together with permits, that will establish that the property has actually been improved and justifies an increase in price. The Corporation Counsel’s office is looking into the legality of this recommendation and will determine what legislation may be required to enact such a provision. 6. Include a bar to assignment of contract in the sales contract Undesirable property owners (those with tax and fee liens or neglectful out-of-town property owners) often send surrogates to the auction to do their bidding. We have also seen at least one property in which the successful bidder at auction advertised it for sale on eBay before the transaction with the city was completed (this seems to happen with HUD houses as well). A bar to assignment of the sales contract for a reasonable designated time period will prohibit those who successfully bid at auction from assigning the sales contract to a third party. This would also enable the city to hold the owner responsible for housing code violations for a longer period.

26 The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force: First Year Report

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partial payment policy. The Legislative Committee of the Common Council met to discuss this proposal, and members of the AFTF presented support for it. No action has been taken by the Common Council to date.

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7. Bonding requirement for out-of-town buyers who buy more than a certain amount of houses a year in the City of Buffalo. Councilman Bonafacio proposed to put a bonding requirement on out-of-town buyers and this was thought to be discriminatory by City Corporation Counsel. 8. Allow owner occupants to bid on the first day of the auction. Increased home ownership is a vital factor in the stability of neighborhoods. The provision to allow owner occupants to bid on the first day was reviewed by Michael Risman, former City of Buffalo Corporation Counsel, and found to be “contrary to state law to enact any legislation limiting who can purchase property at the tax sale. Pursuant to Real Property Tax Law §1136, the sale of any foreclosed properties at a public auction must be open to the public, with no restrictions except those provisions that allow the referee to set aside a sale if a bidder is found to not be a responsible bidder by the standards set forth under state law. This was suggested by Councilman Rich Fontana, however it was ruled illegal to give preference for sales under the In Rem auction. 9. Receivership The City of Buffalo could take title to foreclosed properties and market the houses to potential homeowners or nonprofit housing organizations. This would eliminate the need for state legislation and prevent properties from going to auction in the first place. Allows HUD to limit their auction to potential homeowners for an initial period. Suggested by Assemblymember Sam Hoyt. Past practices have indicated that the city is unwilling to assume title to distressed properties. 10. Department of Tax and Assessment should hold management of their data on the same computer system as the Department of Permit and Inspection: Hansen System The Hansen System would allow integration of City’s computer systems to achieve smooth flow of information to pertinent departments. Information from the Taxation and Assessment Dept combined with information from the Inspections Dept., Permits Dept., Housing Court, and Public Utilities can give a comprehensive picture of property and the condition. Recommendation considered by AFTF Executive Committee Meeting, Sept. 2005. There is an issue of cost, training and ability of the City to undertake such a large-scale integration. This step may be undertaken as a result of Mayor Brown’s Citi-Stat initiative. 11. Chapter 265 of the Code of the City of Buffalo amendment proposed to regulate property managers of more than 3 residential rental properties by requiring a license and inspections among other provisions Property managers should at least be subject to the same ethical and educational requirements as realtors, appraisers, and lawyers. A property manager engages in activities commonly associated with operation and rental of properties on behalf of an owner of residential property, including: advertising or soliciting of apartments or rental units for rent; tenant review and screening; the collecting and/or oversight of rental profits; and/or the conducting of and/or arranging for general repairs and maintenance of residential properties in the City. This was proposed by Councilman Fontana. Legislative Co-Chair attended Common Council Legislative hearing to testify in support of this ordinance.

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#S-8042/#A-11623: Implements an appraisal reporting statute in the City of Buffalo for residential real estate in order to combat flipping. The appraisal reporting statute will require licensed and certified residential real property appraisers to report appraisals in the City of Buffalo to the Office of Real Property Services. These transactions are often completed with cash but may also involve financing based on inflated appraisal values that constitute fraud. This legislation was introduced by Assemblymember Hoyt and Senator Stachowski, Co-Chairs of the AFTF. #S-5759/#A-8854: Establishes a period of probable usefulness of 5 years for municipal finance of repair or reconstruction of a private building threatening public health or safety; repealer. This bill was introduced by Senator Stachowski and Assemblyman Tokasz which “piggybacks” on a previous law enacted by the State Legislature that permitted municipalities to bond out the demolition of privately held properties. This measure would permit municipalities to bond out repairs to privately held distressed properties. Signed into law as Chapter 190 on July 26, 2006. #S-5316/#A-7919: Creates an exemption of capital improvements to multiple dwelling buildings in certain cities having a population of more than 290,000 but less than 295,000. It is designed to provide a tax exemption for any improvements made to a multiple dwelling that is converted into a one or two family home. Introduced by Senator Stachowski and Assemblymember Hoyt, this bill passed the Legislature early in 2006. Signed into law as Chapter 181 on July 26, 2006. #S-2856/No same as: Relates to unauthorized entities, unregistered mortgage brokers and mortgage fraud; establishes additional penalties against unlicensed or unregistered persons or entities engaging in activities after receiving a cease and desist notice; further establishes the crime of mortgage fraud in the first and second degree. Passed Senate. #S-7431/#A-10802: Mortgage brokers and mortgage loan originators (MLO’s) would be regulated by requiring them to register with the Superintendent of Banks. The Superintendent would have the power to suspend or revoke a MLO’s registration for Banking Law violations. Registered MLO’s would also have to complete a yearly educational requirement with part of the time dedicated to proper industry ethics. Registration to require a criminal background check with a registrant agreeing to submit fingerprints. Passed both houses of the State Legislature and awaiting Governor’s signature (as of 8/30/06). Recommended by AFTF although we do not agree with exemption for mortgage brokers employed by financial institutions. Increased state money available for demolitions Vacant properties negatively affect the quality of life in neighborhoods. They attract drugs and other criminal activity and are the source of many fires. Vacant properties require many police, fire and inspection calls which place a burden on limited city resources. Legislation was introduced and adopted to allow bond funds to be used for the demolitions, not to provide more money but to provide greater flexibility to municipalities. In response to this gaping need, both Assemblymember Hoyt and Senator Stachowski pushed for assistance from Albany to help revitalize areas like the City of Buffalo. Earlier in 2006, the Western New York Delegation secured $5 million for the City of Buffalo to use for the demolition of derelict properties. Prior to adjournment, the Legislature also created the “Restoring New York’s Communities Initiative”, modeled after

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State Legislation

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Assemblymember Hoyt’s initiative, which provides funds for school construction programs, land acquisition for economic development, cultural tourism projects, demolition projects to improve neighborhoods and to clear land for development, and for government efficiency efforts. It is expected that the City of Buffalo will receive a large portion of these funds.

Federal Recommendations The federal subcommittee of the AFTF Legislative committee is monitoring efforts to pass federal anti-predatory lending legislation. While it is clear that more needs to be accomplished to prevent predatory activities such as property flipping and fraud, particularly in the realm of internet transactions and mortgage broker activity, there is a concern that federal anti-predatory lending legislation, like that proposed by Rep. Ney and Rep. Kanjorski, would be weaker and pre-empt more protective New York State laws. Once the data analysis is complete, this committee expects to use it to review federal policies and practices, such as those exercised by HUD, to determine if they contribute to flipping and fraud. If so, we will work with our federal representatives to consider, design and advocate for measures that will reduce flipping.

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David Chadwick, Chair The goals of the Investigative Committee: • Work with the Data Committee and law enforcement to develop a useful ibase tool • Review and analyze data for evidence of flipping and fraud • Research and provide background information for potential use by law enforcment • Receive and investigate all complaints of flipping and predatory practices • Refer victims of predatory tactics and fraud to appropriate resources • Refer information received regarding potential violations of professional ethical standards to appropriate forums • Assist law enforcment by providing information that will help identify and prosecute individuals engaged in illegal activity In order to ensure that misinformation is not distributed, reputations of those engaged in legal and ethical activity are not harmed, and that potential evidence that may be used in prosecution is safeguarded, the nature of this report is necessarily more general and will not focus on specific individuals. While waiting for the data analysis component to be completed, this committee has simultaneously received and reviewed citizen and other complaints related to flipping activity. Members of this committee have conducted interviews, by telephone, email correspondence and in person, with purchasers of flipped properties (including purchasers from out-of-state), persons suspected of engaging in flipping, employees and employers of companies/ employees suspected of engaging in flipping, community complaints, victims of predatory loans, property managers and other potential witnesses. At this committee’s request, the Data Chair has conducted an independent analysis of activity by suspected flippers using the resources of Ticor Title Company. Results of this analysis and interviews have been transmitted in meetings with law enforcement including HUD Office of Inspector General, FBI, State Attorney General and U.S. Attorney. These agencies also communicate information to the IRS. Members of this Committee, and the Data Chair, met with Housing Court Judge Henry Nowak to review accusatory instruments and processes for prosecution of violators. Members of this committee met with the the City of Buffalo Assistant Corporation Counsel charged with prosecuting housing code violations to strategize about cases and consider evidentiary avenues for prosecution. This committee will also look at specific cases referred by the City of Buffalo and others which indicate the presence of fraudulent activities.

30 The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force: First Year Report

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Investigation Committee

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The committee is considering whether it should work with Data Committee, Police and Fire Department to analyze whether a relationship exists between affected properties. Committee members will continue to work with the Data Committee and law enforcement to uncover patterns and practices of illegal and unethical flipping. Committee members will also communicate findings related to policies, procedures and legislative issues to that Committee.

Buffalo News ~ June 14, 2006

“We need to protect our biggest investment, our community. Fraudulent practices, as house and title flipping threaten that sanctity.”

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Monica Pellegrino, Chair The goals of Communications and Education Committee: • Inform the community, real estate professionals and investors about flipping and fraud in Buffalo and its detrimental effect on neighborhoods and the real estate market • Inform the community, professionals and investors about the creation of AFTF, its strategies and goals to curb flipping, and the City’s AFTF website and the [email protected] address which can be used to submit concerns and complaints about flipping and fraud • Provide the community with up to date information on AFTF activities • Provide authentic investors with information and tools needed to acquire and invest in Buffalo • Provide investors with links to BBB, BNAR, BAEC for both complaints about bad actors as well as referrals to reputable professionals Media coverage has included newspaper articles, radio shows and cable network show. Education seminars aimed at targeting professionals in these transactions have been conducted in an effort to reduce participation in these transactions.

Newsprint articles Inner-city “flipping” scams to get close analysis by Hilbert students, South Buffalo News, June 29, 2005 New rules to curb unethical real estate practices, by Deirdre Williams, Buffalo News, July 27, 2005 Anti-Flipping Task Force releases first recommendation, South Buffalo News, August 3, 2005 Article On AFTF and WNYLC, National Community Reinvestment Corporation Newsletter, Summer, 2005 Edition Anti-Flipping Task Force releases recommendation ‘City should accept partial payment for property taxes’, The Buffalo Criterion, August 6-12, 2005 Property tax partial payments opposed, by Brian Meyer, Buffalo News, September 12, 2005 FBI helping out fight against property flipping, Buffalo News, October 14, 2005 On the Internet, Some Home Buyers Find a House of Cards, by Katie Hafner, NY Times, March 11, 2006 Flipping deals get a close look, Jim Fink, Business First, June 9, 2006 Targeting flippers, Hilbert students delve into data, by Jodi Sokolowski Jack, Buffalo Law Journal, June, 12, 2006 Efforts take aim at ‘flipping’, Buffalo Law Journal, June, 12, 2006 Realty seminar set as city fights ‘flipping, by Joseph Galante, Buffalo News, June 14, 2006 Neighbors fight to fend off ‘flippers’, byJoseph Galante, Buffalo News, June 30, 2006 Buffalo Niagara Association Realtors newsletters, by Dan Locche Appraisal Institute Newsletter, Sue Fretz and Jerry Inda BAEC article, by Kathleen Lynch April 2006

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The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force: First Year Report

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Communications and Education Committee

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Television PM Buffalo with Linda Pellegrino-AFTF and Hilbert College, Kathleen Lynch and Professor Bill Haslinger, August 2005 Adelphia Crossroads Show- AFTF and Hilbert College, Professor Bill Haslinger and Kathleen Lynch, Summer 2005 Assembly report for government access television, Assemblymember Sam Hoyt and Kathleen Lynch, November 2005 Adelphia Legal Report with Judge Penny Wolfgang, Robert Trusiak and Kathleen Lynch, April, 2006 Australian News TV interview with Senator Stachowski and Tracy Krug, March 2006 Various news interviews regaring the In Rem Auction and Task Force efforts

Radio Law line radio interview with Kathleen Lynch and Harry Meyer, January, 2006 Legal Report on Radio with Penny Wolfgang- Harry Meyer (Bar Association of Erie County and G. Patrick Lester (Appraisal Institute) Tom Baurle Show on In Rem and Flipping, Kathleen Lynch, October 2005

Website An AFTF website is being developed. Material in the website will be geared towards three audiences: investors, community and professionals. The website is a collaborative effort with the City of Buffalo. Static information about the AFTF will be on the city’s site with a link to the WNYLC for more fluid information. There will be links to BBB, Buffalo Urban League, City Assessment information, BNAR, and Bar Association.

E-mail An email account was established to address concerns about flipping and fraud, [email protected].

Professional Seminars and Presentations Bar Association of Erie County Board, Presentation by Kathleen Lynch, Robert Trusiak, Harry Meyer and Nancy Langer, February, 2006. AFTF Seminar, A professional seminar was held on April 5, 2005 to educate participants in real estate transactions about the dangers of unethical and potentially fraudulent transactions. The seminar was a collaborative effort with real estate professionals; BNAR, BAED, Appraisal Institute and ECC Workforce Development. The seminar was sold out with 250 real estate professional participants and very positive evaluations. Due to the great success another seminar has been scheduled for October 25, 2006. A DVD of the seminar is available for distribution. New York State Bar Association Annual Meeting, Real Property Section, Presentation by Kathleen Lynch on AFTF with introduction by Harry Meyer, January 2006.

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New York State Bar Association Legal Assistance Partnership Meeting, Presentation on Property Flipping in Buffalo-emerging issue in upstate NY by Kathleen Lynch, June 7, 2006.

Community Outreach Community presentations were conducted to provide greater exposure on the work of the AFTF, inform the community about the signs and concerns of flipping, and educate about ways they can assist to combat flipping. The AFTF met with the following groups: Black Rock forum/ Black Rock Riverside GNPA Board of Block Clubs Housing Court Brown Bag Session for liaisons Dearborn Community Association Fay Street Block Club Problem Properties Task Force University Heights Collaborative City of Buffalo Councilman Antoine Thompson Community Leaders and Stakeholders Breakfast Senator Stachowski presentation to East Clinton Block Club

Future Goals We are working on an Anti-Flipping Task Force brochure and a newsletter. Expanded Community outreach by meeting with community groups Information material for professionals, investors and community members Public Service Announcement Public Access DVD

34 The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force: First Year Report

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Schenectady Bar Association Real Property Section Meeting, Presentation on Predatory Lending and AFTF by Kathleen Lynch and Harry Meyer, May 23, 2006.

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Finance Committee Carla Kosmerl, Chair The goals of the Finance Committee: • Provide funding to ensure that professionals can dedicate time and resources necessary to accomplish task force goal to curb flipping in Buffalo. • Seek funding and resources that will assist victims of predatory practices, stave off foreclosure and encourage home ownership in the City of Buffalo. The City of Buffalo has allocated CDBG funds to contract with WNYLC to coordinate the AFTF, participate in committee work and conduct data analysis. This funding is used for coordination time by Kathleen Lynch, an attorney with 20 years legal experience including 10 years of criminal trial work, and for data research and analysis performed by Holly Lindstrom, Data Chair and Assistant to the Coordinator, a graduate of Hilbert College and a candidate for Masters in Planning from UB expected in August, 2006. Through the efforts of Senator Stachowski, Assemblymember Sam Hoyt, Assemblymember Crystal Peoples and the Western New York Delegation, funding was secured for WNYLC to establish the task force and to continue work on all aspects of the AFTF. One of the goals of this committee is to help establish a successful HELP program that will assist homeowners that have been the victims of predatory practices remain in their homes. A program created in Baltimore was the product of collaboration between banks, Fannie Mae and government agencies. The AFTF will collaborate with the Don’t Borrow Trouble/Foreclosure Prevention Project to create a similar program in Buffalo.

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At the end of the first year, the Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force is satisfied that we have successfully established a broad, participatory effort with a focused aim to combat fraudulent flipping in Buffalo. Similar to Baltimore’s effort, it is a multi-partner task force combining the talent and resources offered by community members, government departments, agencies and officials, private and professional entities, and universities and colleges. The AFTF meets quarterly as a group for updates. Individual committees and members of each committee meet much more frequently. Information is communicated to the entire AFTF through a listserv hosted by the Western New York Law Center. This information includes articles and publications relating to flipping and fraud locally and nationally. Real estate members of the AFTF also provide their newsletters for circulation among task force members. Our legislative representatives keep us informed about related laws. Each of the committees has made significant progress toward reaching their stated goals. The Data Committee, despite facing many challenges in the acquisition of competent reliable data, has ultimately been able to obtain the data that will enable the AFTF to perform a comprehensive ibase analysis. This program will alleviate the need to engage in tedious and time-consuming manual research of real estate transactions in order to detect flipping activity. In the meantime, this committee has served the needs of the Investigation Committee by producing targeted research and data requested by its members and by law enforcement based on specific complaints. With that data, the Investigation Committee has been able to focus its inquiry on particular individuals and companies that appear to be engaging in flipping and possibly fraud. Proving illegal activity is not a simple matter and it takes time. This fact was recognized by participants in the Baltimore Task Force and was referred to in the testimony at the Assembly Hearing cited at the beginning of this report. The steps taken by both the Data Committee and the Investigation Committee are essential to the successful referral of potential evidence to law enforcement for prosecution. Our law enforcement partners have worked cooperatively and willingly with the task force in this effort. We fully expect that the fruits of this collaborative endeavor will result in our ability to weed out persons engaging in fraudulent flipping in Buffalo. The Legislative Committee has actively researched and pursued changes to policies and procedures that currently contribute to flipping and neighborhood destabilization. It is clear that many factors act together to produce an environment that makes the City of Buffalo vulnerable to this kind of detrimental activity. This Committee has made a concerted effort to take a broad view of the problem and to consider legislation and other measures that will target these factors at every level of government. The legislation that has been passed, and the Committee’s proposals, will help Buffalo become a healthier city and less vulnerable to flipping. The Communications Committee has energetically pursued its goal of educating the public, real estate professionals and investors about the perils of engaging in fraudulent flipping in Buffalo. This committee has used a number of media avenues, including newspaper print, television, radio, and the Web to reach local and distant audiences. AFTF communications have reached international audiences through an article in the NY Times and a television report in Australia-targeting one source of “investors” in the Buffalo market. Real estate professionals-attorneys,

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CONCLUSION

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appraisers and realtors- across NY State are now familiar with the City of Buffalo Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force. As a result, we are receiving requests for information, assistance and opportunities to speak about our effort. We are also receiving a growing number of complaints and information from residents as well as participants in real estate transactions. The Finance Committee, recognizing the importance of a sustained effort, has focused its energy on securing funding for the 2006-2007 year so that our objectives are achieved. In addition, this Committee will look for avenues to assist the victims of fraudulent flipping scams so that foreclosure is avoided. In its first year, the Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force has taken significant steps to combat the practice of property flipping in Buffalo. We have not yet achieved all of our goals. With the continued commitment of Mayor Brown and his staff, and under the leadership of our Co-Chairs Senator Stachowski and Assemblymember Hoyt, we fully expect to curb fraudulent flipping in Buffalo.

Acknowledgments The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force would like to thank all members for their work on the task force effort, as well as the work involved in producing material for this report. The AFTF would especially like to thank the following people who helped design and produce this volume: •

Designed by the NYS Senate Minority Conference Services Office Tracey Pierce-Smith, Director

For more information please contact: Kathleen Lynch, Esq. Holly D. Lindstron AFTF Coordinator AFTF Data Committee Chair Western New York Law Center Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force 237 Main St. Suite 1030 Buffalo, NY 14203 (716) 855-0203 [email protected]

The Mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force: First Year Report

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Exhibit A

Exhibit B-1

Exhibit B-2

Exhibit B-3

Exhibit C

Exhibit D

Exhibit E