Back at the beginning of May I wrote about how I was in Boulder, Colorado, working with STAR POWER® Systems on a new real estate and mortgage fraud education/awareness product for Realtors. Now, just three short months later, STAR POWER has released Detecting and Preventing Real Estate Fraud, a CD/workbook package complete with tips for helping anyone identify and recognize questionable real estate activity.

As almost everyone knows by now, real estate/mortgage fraud is one of the fastest-growing white-collar crimes in the United States, and illegal real estate deals are making life miserable for homeowners and prospective buyers nationwide.

Unfortunately, despite all the news coverage about real estate and mortgage fraud, real estate professionals are still being caught off-guard by the rules, regulations, and signs related to real estate and mortgage fraud in record numbers. If you’re a licensed REALTOR®, or if you are a serious real estate investor, you should consider purchasing Detecting and Preventing Real Estate Fraud today.

Armed with the expert know-how in this package, anyone should be able to recognize the warning signs and understand the importance of spotting, stopping, and reporting fraud as it occurs. Together with STAR POWER’s founder, Howard Brinton, I tell you about fraud’s impact on homeowners, the real estate industry, and local, state, and national economies. I also cover common and complicated schemes, including those involving asset rental, air loans, double sales, straw owners and buyers, credit scrubbing, nominees, fraudulent appraisals, and more.

Click here to order your copy of Detecting and Preventing Real Estate Fraud today.

Someone much smarter than me once said, “Many of us spend our lives searching for success when it is usually so close that we can reach out and touch it.”

I’m in Indianapolis, Indiana, today delivering the Keynote Address for the Real Estate Success Summit. Close to 400 Realtors from around the greater-Indianapolis and surrounding areas are here at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Indy to hone their Business Planning, Pricing, Counseling Buyers, Systems Development, Niche Marketing, and Lead Generation skills around. My role, as the first speaker of the day, is to get the crowd pumped up and ready for a great day of learning and networking, and to remind everyone of our collective successes.

Teaching today’s sessions–at the invitation of STAR POWER® Systems founder Howard Brinton–are the following top producing Realtors, all of whom are STAR POWER Stars:

• Rob Levy from Prudential Northwest Properties in Portland, OR
• Leslie McDonnell from RE/MAX Suburban in Libertyville, IL
• Cathy Russell from Cathy Russell Real Estate in West Lafayette, IN
• Martin Bouma from Keller Williams Realty in Ann Arbor, MI
• Debbie Yost from RE/MAX Of Casa Grande in Casa Grande, AZ
• Mike Watkins from Mike Watkins Real Estate Group in Greenwood, IN
• Terry Moerler from AVIARA Real Estate in Westlake Village, CA
• Michael Maher from RE/MAX First in Shawnee Mission, KS
• Alexis Bolin from ERA Old South Properties in Pensacola, FL
• Jana Caudill from Keller Williams Realty Leaders in Crown Point, IN
• Darryl Baskin from Mcgraw Davisson Stewart Realtors in Broken Arrow, OK
• Debbie Morris from Morris Group Realty in Indianapolis, IN

That’s all for now (oh, aside from the fact that Ameriquest–yes, the same Ameriquest that earlier this year settled a $295,000,000.00 mortgage fraud claim–yesterday announced that it will implement a new “business model” that will result in the closing of 229 retail branch offices and the layoffs of about 3,800 workers, effective immediately). New “business model,” huh? So that’s what they’re calling it these days! Interesting.

I’m back in Boulder, Colorado, today and tomorrow working with Howard Brinton and his amazing staff over at STAR POWER® Systems on a new real estate and mortgage fraud education/awareness product for Realtors. While I’m not at liberty to say too much about the product itself (detailed info will be available soon enough), I will share that it’s going to be a great resource in the ongoing effort to spot, stop, and report real estate fraud.

Funny thing happened on the plane ride out to Denver from Detroit. While working with my assistant on my new book–Flipping Houses For Dummies, which will be published by John Wiley & Sons this November 2006 (ISBN: 0470043458)–we met Gregory Campbell, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service-Detroit Division. Because most real estate and mortgage fraud cases involve allegations of Mail Fraud, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Inspectors like Mr. Campbell, are all too aware of the dangers of real estate and mortgage fraud. It’s a small word, isn’t it?

I had a great dinner last night at The Briarwood Inn in Golden, Colo. If you ever make it out to this part of the country, you have to stop by The Briarwood. Nestled in the foothills of Golden, the Briarwood’s an idyllic setting for any occasion. With me were Howard and his wife Babs, my assistant, and Anita Padilla-Fitzgerald and her husband Gene from MegaStar Financial. We talked a lot about the challenges facing real estate industry professionals, and for Howard and Anita, even though they live so close, it was their first time meeting in person.

After I wrap things up here in Boulder with Howard and his team, I’ll be headed down to Denver to meet with Anita and her team of superstars. Then, tomorrow afternoon, Howard and my assistant and I fly to Indianapolis for STAR POWER’s Real Estate Summit, which I believe is close to being sold out, so if anyone’s still thinking about attending, now’s the time to register.

One of the things I’m most proud of in life–aside from my wife and children–is my designation as a STAR POWER® Star. If you’re unfamiliar with STAR POWER® Systems, Inc., here’s a quick overview:

Back in the late-1980s, one of the country’s top Realtors–Boulder, Colorado-based Howard Brinton–began a series of audiotape interviews with top producing Realtors from around the country. Howard’s idea was simple… capture the nation’s top producers talking about what specifically makes them successful, and then share that information with other Realtors interested in achieving the same levels of success. From those humble beginnings, STAR POWER® Systems was born. And those Realtors who Howard convinced to be recorded; well, those people are now officially known as the STAR POWER® Stars. According to Howard, a Star typically averages over $35 million in real estate sales volume and 200+ transactions per year, and they serve as the organization’s lifeblood when it comes to sharing the tips, techniques and strategies with the company’s international network of eager-to-grow agents.

In the 20 or so years since its inception, STAR POWER® Systems has grown to become one of the leading real estate education companies on the planet, offering conferences and niche training opportunities throughout the USA, along with highly focused training and educational materials for Realtors at any stage in their career.

So, what does any of this have to do with Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud? Good question (I was getting there .

Recently, Howard Brinton and I were talking about the problems associated with fraudulent real estate transactions and the need for more education around spotting, stopping, and reporting fraud. Howard and I decided the best way to tackle the issue from a STAR POWER® perspective was to generate content that makes everyone aware of the problem. Earlier this week, I worked with STAR POWER’s Strategic Marketing & Development Manager, Jeff Willner, on the first of what I hope will be many articles on real estate and mortgage fraud for STAR POWER’s Club newsletter; and later this month I’ll be flying out to Boulder to work in the recording studio with Howard to produce a series of high-quality audio CDs addressing the finer details associated with what the FBI calls one of the fastest growing white collar crimes today.

It’s nice to see an organization like STAR POWER® Systems taking real estate and mortgage fraud so seriously. To people like Howard and myself, it doesn’t matter how successful you are in this business… you still need to be able to spot, stop, and report fraud each and every time it happens.

I’m in Boulder, Colorado, today and tomorrow meeting with a small group of highly successful REALTORS® from around the country. All of us are here at the invitation of Howard Brinton, founder of STAR POWER® Systems, and a real trailblazer and thought leader in the area of REALTOR® networking. Howard started STAR POWER® back in the late-1980s, and has guided it to be one of a very small handful of highly-respected real estate education companies on the planet.

All of us who have gathered here in Boulder believe that if we want to be wildly successful, we must surround ourselves with other wildly successful people. It’s a pretty straightforward concept, and it serves as the very basis of why STAR POWER® exists in the first place.

Later today I’ll be meeting with top real estate producers, including Ed Birdsong (Lake Jackson, Texas), Alexis Bolin (Pensacola, Florida), Martin Bouma (Ann Arbor, Michigan), Judy Markowitz (Flushing, New York), Jeff Meyer (New Port Richey, Florida), Debbie Morris (Indianapolis, Indiana), Sandra Nickell (Montgomery, Alabama), Cathy Russell (West Lafayette, Indiana), Russell Shaw (Scottsdale, Arizona), Mike Watkins (Greenwood, Indiana), and Debbie Yost (Casa Grande, Arizona).

Our agenda includes sharing ideas, thoughts, tips, and experiences on a variety of topics, including those related to:

- Pricing
- Commission Models
- Listing Presentations
- Creating Buyer Urgency
- Prospecting and Marketing

Along the way, we’ll be sharing our own statistics and stories on operating in a down market, as well talking about the types of materials we put into the hands of our clients; what types of dialogues we each find to be most effective; and how we differentiate ourselves and our approach under hot and down market conditions.

Gatherings like this one are not about keeping score or calling in a favor. They’re truly about helping one another to be the best people we can be. I think it was Albert Einstein who said, “Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.” That’s exactly how I feel, and it’s what drives me to help my fellow real estate industry professionals as much as it does to help my customers.