The inland empire and Riverside County have been hit hard during the financial crisis of 2007-2008 but values are starting to make a comeback. Riverside, is one city located in the Inland Empire. This area actually comprises several counties, including Riverside and San Bernadino. The area borders Los Angeles on one side and Arizona on the other, connecting to the Colorado River. Cities such as Riverside, Temecula, Murrieta, Corona, Banning, Indio, Rancho Cucomonga and the California side of Lake Havasue. This area has been a hotbed of new development and i've helped many clients obtain loans throughout this large expansive desert area. One of the largest growths occured in the famous Palm Springs area which also include Indian Wells, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, and La Quinta.
I had a client who bought many properties throughout the Palm Springs area. We offered him both primary and secondary financing. Also one loan was for an investment property. I funded many loans in the Riverside area and unfortunately a couple turned out to be fraud committed by mortgage brokers or investors who were looking to take advantage of a growing market. It wasn't uncommon for investors to create "straw-buyers" for the purpose of a new sale that inflated the value of the property so the seller could pull out cash. This strategy worked fine as long as values continued to rise but when appraisal values declined the last buyer or the bank holding that loan was left with a property worth much less than the market value. I worked for a mortgage bank that made a $700,000 loan to a buyer named Girard who submitted a loan for a property in Murrieta through her mortgage broker at Zameena Mortgage. It turned out that the appraisal value was really about $560,000 and that the borrower's income and assets were not accurate. The borrower never made one single payment and then disappeared. The mortgage company went out of business and the principals of that company started a new company under a different name. The entire fraud caused a major loss of value and eventually the company i worked for had to close business because of the massive loss. Similar situations in Riverside County caused values to drop signficantly in 2007 and 2008 but the area is starting to make a comeback. This area still represents an affordable community and there are hard working and honest people trying to provide for their families throughout the Inland Empire.
Our loan programs are designed to fit your individual needs. Whether your want a fixed rate loan or an adjustable rate loan we can help. We offer owner occupied loans, non-owner and investment loans or 2nd homes. We can provide full doc or stated income loan requests. Our closing costs are very competitive and we operate as a direct lender. That means we process your mortgage application, provide an approval and fund it, and then after closing it's delivered on the secondary market to one of our many investors. We sell loans to many major banks such as Bank of America/Countrywide, Wells Fargo, Citi Mortgage, Chase Home Mortgage, US Bank, Union Bank, HSBC, Suntrust and GMAC just to name a few.
Please feel free to email your questions or scenarios.