3/4/13 - Following raids last week on realty offices in Brighton and Livonia, a former state Attorney General is publicly defending his client. Mike Cox says he has yet to see anything from authorities that would lead to charges against his client, Will Elias of Elias Realty. Cox says last weekâs raids came after the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, also known as Freddie Mac, told law enforcement officials he was committing fraud by failing to disclose that some of his short-sale customers had bought second homes. Cox told the Livonia Observer that in his opinion Freddie Mac is going after Elias and his businesses because he does more short sales than anyone else in Michigan. In January, Elias sued Freddie Mac in U.S. District Court claiming his businesses were unjustifiably blacklisted and had lost 500 clients and more than $2 million in revenue. Freddie Mac placed Elias on its exclusionary list in November, meaning it could not participate, either directly or indirectly, in any Freddie Mac transaction. Cox insisted that Elias has followed all of the rules pertaining to short sales including having clients sign forms that they had been advised to avoid purchasing a second home if they are attempting a short sale of their present home. Both the FBI and Freddie Mac have declined to comment on the raids. However, local Realtor Rick Beaudin with RE/MAX Platinum in Brighton tells WHMI that Elias was charging sellers $1,000 for doing short sales---even though everyone else did them for free. He also says many agents hesitated when showing houses listed with Elias because short sales are difficult enough and many encountered a lack of progress and problems on offers their buyers had with Elias. (JK)
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