Author Archives: zovall

Aldea – Oak Creek Detached Condo

Address: 71 Alevera, Irvine, CA 92618 (Oak Creek)

Plan: 1300 sq ft – 3/2.5

MLS: S472766 DOM: 72

Sale History: 6/10/2005: $621,000

Price Reduced: 02/15/07 — $675,000 to $655,000

Price Reduced: 03/13/07 — $655,000 to $645,000

Price Reduced: 04/01/07 — $645,000 to $635,000

Current Price: $635,000

This home is a Plan 3 detached condo in the Aldea tract built by California Pacific Homes in the village of Oak Creek. The current owners purchased the home in June 2005 for $621,000 and listed it on the market about 18 months later for $675,000. After the reducing the price 3 times, the new asking price is $635,000. Assuming 6% in selling costs, they are looking at a $24,000 loss if they get their asking price.

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Let’s see how much this exact plan (Plan 3) is listing for around Irvine:

And a Brand NEW Plan 1 at Decada (similar but with more sq ft) in Portola Springs starts at $580,000!

Canyon's Edge – Is it worth more than it was in May 2005? – UPDATE #1

Originally posted November 17, 2006

Address: 29 Shade Tree, Irvine, CA 92603 (Turtle Ridge)
Plan: 1993 sq ft – 3/2.5
MLS: U6603755 DOM: 4
Sale History: 5/13/2005: $1,010,000
06/02/2003 — $701,500
Current Price: $1,150,000

Here we have a detached condo in the Canyon’s Edge tract built by Standard Pacific in Turtle Ridge. This home was purchased in May 2005 with 5% down.

I don’t have much to say on this one yet. If they get their asking price, they stand to make about $71k after 6% in selling costs. Pretty nice return on their $50,500 investment in 18 months.

Has anyone been inside this tract? It’s part of Turtle Ridge but it is completely separated from the rest of the homes in Turtle Ridge which are all off Summit Park. Strange location…

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UPDATE #1 – March 26, 2007

Thanks to a tip from Owen in the forums, I’ve come to realize that this home has been relisted (MLS U7000708) and the price has now been reduced to $1,099,000. Assuming 6% in selling costs, their expected profit is now about $23k. Where did the other $48k go?

The Plot Thickens in Fraud Park

Back in October, we did a post on a property in North Park and discovered some fraud going on. Even Casey Serin stopped by and posted a comment. Recently, I’ve gotten some excellent leads on even more fraud going on in Irvine and beyond. I’d like to thank graphrix, brealiving, and IrvineMom for all their help in uncovering this. This thread in our forums was extremely helpful.

Figuring out how all the fraud is connected is a lot of work. Writing a post to explain it is even more difficult. So please accept my apologies if this is hard to follow. Also, because I’m convinced there is something shady going on here, I’m not going to go through the extra work of jumbling names, etc. It’s all public information anyways.

OCRenter at Bubble Tracking and his readers have made some inroads as far as getting the Main Stream Media to notice what’s being said on the blogs (regarding flippers, fraud, etc.). Hopefully, we can get some exposure to this story as well. 🙂

So let’s begin!

*** GROUP 1 – CHAPA, HUSSAIN, YEASMIN, MOZUMDER ***
It appears this group of people purchased 7 homes in North Park in late 2005 and early 2006. Here are the details:

71 Avondale (MLS I703478) – Listed at $725,000 – Short sale
– Purchased by Nurer Chapa and Moktadul Hussain on 12/28/2005 for $735,000

43 Modesto (MLS I703441) – Listed at $750,000 – Short sale
– Purchased by Nurer Chapa and Moktadul Hussain on 12/29/2005 for $750,000

86 Sorenson (MLS I703639) – Listed at $630,000 – Short sale
– Purchased by Nurer Chapa and Moktadul Hussain on 12/22/2005 for $735,000

78 Sorenson (MLS I703654) – Listed at $630,000 – Short sale
– Purchased by Marina Yeasmin and Helal U Mozumder on 10/13/2005 for $715,000


5 Winterfield (MLS I703388) – Listed at $709,000 – Short sale
– Purchased by Marina Yeasmin and Helal U Mozumder on 11/22/2005 for $726,000

1 Thorn (MLS I703426) – Listed at $875,000
– Purchased by Marina Yeasmin, Helal U Mozumder, Moktadul Hussain, and Nurer Chapa on 10/27/2005 for $840,000

63 Modesto
– Purchased by Nurer Chapa and Moktadul Hussain on 3/15/2006 for $715,000
– Transferred to Crossroads Enterprises Inc on 11/28/2006

You can see how the property at 1 Thorn ties all 4 of these people together (it looks like they are 2 couples). Also, ALL 7 of these properties were purchased on 100% financing. The 6 properies that are on the market are listed by Darlene Gallegos of Century 21 Beachside (just click on the links and you’ll see this). Of the 6 that are listed, 5 of them say they are short sales in the private remarks.

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*** GROUP 2 – SCHUMACHER, YEASMIN, HOQUE ***
Here we have 4 more homes in North Park that are linked together:

3 Del Mar #10 (MLS I703772) – Listed at $870,000
– Purchased by Sabina Yeasmin on 4/27/2005 for $750,000
– Transferred to a revocable intervivos trust in the name of David Schumacher via a Warranty Grant Deed on 9/19/2005


81 Sorenson (MLS I703686) – Listed at $725,000 – Short sale
– Purchased by Sabina Yeasmin on 5/26/2005 for $700,000
– Transferred to a revocable intervivos trust in the name of David Schumacher via a Warranty Grant Deed on 9/19/2005

47 Middlebury
– Purchased by Mansurul Hoque on 4/28/2005 for $745,000
– Transferred to a revocable intervivos trust in the name of David Schumacher via a Warranty Grant Deed on 9/19/2005

12 Apple Valley
– Puchased by Mansurul Hoque on 10/16/2006 for $869,000

So how is Group 1 linked to Group 2? There are a few connections although I’ll be the first to admit they are kind of loose. First, the Sabina Yeasmin in Group 2 could be related to the Marina Yeasmin in Group 1. Second, 81 Sorenson in Group 2 is practically next door to 78 Sorenson and 86 Sorenson in Group 1. Third, the agent listing the properties in Group 2 is also listing the properties in Group 1. What do you think?

David Schumacher is the common element here in Group 2. Anyone know what a revocable intervivos trust or a Warranty Grant Deed is? All 4 of these homes were purchased using 100% financing. Also, I don’t have any info on Hoque’s properties. Does anyone know if there is a NOD on them? If not, they could be legitimate.

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*** GROUP 3 – HOSSAIN, CHOWDHURY, UDDIN ***

11 Solstice – On Foreclosure.com
– Purchased by Shapna and Khoka Hossain on 7/31/2006 for $950,000
– Transferred to First Capital Investments Inc on 11/28/2006

1 Armory – On Foreclosure.com
– Purchased by Manik Chowdhury on 5/9/2006 for $735,000
– Transferred to First Capital Investments Inc on 11/28/2006

68 Arcata – On Foreclosure.com
– Purchased by Manik Chowdhury on 5/9/2006 for $720,000
– Transferred to First Capital Investments Inc on 11/28/2006

39 Modesto – On Foreclosure.com
– Purchased by Giash Uddin on 7/31/2006 for $720,000
– Transferred to First Capital Investments Inc on 11/28/2006

Here, the common link is First Capital Investments Inc. All 4 of these properties are listed on Foreclosure.com. They were all transferred to First Capital Investments on 11/28/2006. They were all initially purchased with 100% financing. Some of you may have noticed that the last propety, 39 Modesto, is the one that started the original fraud post back in October (yup, Shagi Indud = Giash Uddin). Apparently, all of Giash’s properties were transferred to First Capital Investments as well. Thanks to someone who may want to remain anonymous, I’ve come to find that there are 16 properties (7 from Giash, 3 from Group 3, and 6 others) that are owned by First Capital! And almost all of them are NOD!

Ok, we’ve got 11 homes in Groups 1 and 2 that could be connected. And we’ve got possibly 16 homes in Group 3. But is there a link between Group 3 and Group 1? Well, after a little bit of digging, I found out that the address for First Capital Investments AND Crossroads Enterprises is the SAME on the property records! Crossroads Enterprise is the entity that is on the title of 63 Modesto in Group 1. The address for both of these companies is: 25202 CRENSHAW BLVD STE 301, TORRANCE CA 90505.

That’s possibly 27 properties that may be intertwined in some sort of fraud!

Now what? Time to dig up what we can on these corporations. I’ve got some leads from a source who may want to remain anonymous. Apparently, First Capital Investments may be incorporated in Nevada. If anyone has information on these companies, please email me (zovall at gmail dot com) or post a comment. I’ll try to do a follow up post but it may take a while.

Tamarisk – Flip in Northpark?

Address: 27 Trailing Vine, Irvine, CA 92602 (Northpark)

Plan: 1500 sq ft – 3/2.5

MLS: S476804 DOM: 13

Sale History: 05/11/2006: $616,500

Current Price: $679,900

This Plan 3 condo in the Tamarisk tract built by William Lyon Homes was purchased from the builder in May of 2006 with 20% down. Although it’s in the 92602 Zip, this tract (and the Mericort tract by California Pacific Homes) have nothing else around it (except for an affordable? housing apartment complex) – so I don’t believe it’s actually in the village of Northpark. I just wasn’t sure what to call it. Although the tract doesn’t belong to a proper village, it is in a pretty convenient location (near I-5 and Culver).

It was listed on the market 1-2 weeks ago and the private remarks on the listing say “HOME IS VACANT. GO DIRECT. SELLER WANTS TO SELL NOW, WRITE ANY OFFER. THANK YOU FOR SHOWING”. Was this home purchased with the intent to flip? Was it a job relocation? YOU decide!

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If sold at the current asking price and assuming 6% in selling costs, the sellers are looking at a profit of around $22,000.

The most recent second hand sale I’ve found in this tract was a Plan 3 located at 81 Trailing Vine. 81 Trailing Vine was purchased from a flipper for $635k on 5/30/2006. The flipper bought it for $535k from the builder on 10/19/2005. The 81 Trailing Vine flipper made about $62k (after assuming 6% in selling costs) in about 7 months! No wonder there are so many people trying to flip homes in Irvine.

I wouldn’t be surprised if $635k turns out to be the highest priced sale in this tract for a long time.

Silverado – Another 2006 Flip in Northwood Pointe

Address: 2 Bramblewood, Irvine, CA 92620 (Northwood Pointe)

Plan: 3000 sq ft – 4/4

MLS: S472587 DOM: 45

Sale History: 07/05/2006: $1,150,000

Current Price: $1,289,000

Just a quick glance at the numbers above will tell you that this flip isn’t a flop quite yet. The featured home is a Plan 3? in the Silverado tract built by California Pacific Homes in the village of Northwood Pointe. The sellers purchased this home on 7/5/2006 for $1,150,000. It was originally listed by the previous seller at $1,245,000 so it seems like the current owners tried to catch a falling knife last summer. Bad timing…

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Looking at title information, I’ve found one loan for $920k (80%), so they may have put 20% down. It’s interesting how the home is priced HIGHER than it was when it didn’t sell last year. The description on MLS says “MOTIVATED SELLERS!!!”. If they are motivated, then why are they still hoping for a nice profit here? Assuming 6% in selling costs, they are looking at a $61,000 profit if they get their asking price! I think they ARE motivated because the place looks empty on the pictures and MLS states it is vacant. 7.6% on a $920,000 loan is a lot of money going down the drain each month.