Editor note: This article was published on January 21, 2014 and describes Florida housing, foreclosure, and short sale conditions as they stood at that time. Market data, lender and government programs, and court timelines referred to here have changed since publication. It is kept as a record of that period and is not a current statement of Florida law or market conditions.

Nothing should be surprising in Miami when it comes to Miami real estate scams. The Miami New Times is reporting that another scammed has plead guilty to a 2.4 million real estate racket. You can read the entire article here:

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2013/09/another_scammer_pleads_guilty.php

The caper exposes the ease with which local rip-off artists prey on out-of-towners by promising them drastically discounted prices on properties in default. And because one out of five households in Miami-Dade is in foreclosure, investors are swooping in to buy distressed properties, making the local foreclosure market a breeding ground for scammers.

According to the article:

“The quartet's racket involved using a fake company called Miami-Dade County Short Sales Inc. to lure victims into believing they were getting rock bottom prices on real estate. In one scheme, the victims were falsely led to believe that the three women were in collusion with a County employee who could facilitate the pre-sale of a delinquent property prior to the scheduled public auction to satisfy the tax certificate holders. That was a lie. They had no inside source.”

This is another reason that no one should buy property, let alone in South Florida, without using an attorney.