Harlow and Joe bought their dream house on 1028 Stratem Court back in 2005 for $542,375.00, but according to recent land records... it would appear that it was taken away from them on/or around 9/5/2008... meanwhile, additional activity occured on 03/06/09. Here's a list of some of those involved:
MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC.
CADLEROCK JOINT VENTURE LP
WPL VENTURES LLC
RICHARD T. CREGGER
BRIAN C. LARGE
WILLIAM T. HODSDEN
WILLIAM D. SESSOMS JR.
Ironically, William D. Sessoms also happens to be the Mayor of Virginia Beach.
You're welcomed to do your own research here. (Select "Legal", and use the GPIN listed below).
GPIN:2416 59 2600 0000
MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC.
CADLEROCK JOINT VENTURE LP
WPL VENTURES LLC
RICHARD T. CREGGER
BRIAN C. LARGE
WILLIAM T. HODSDEN
WILLIAM D. SESSOMS JR.
Ironically, William D. Sessoms also happens to be the Mayor of Virginia Beach.
You're welcomed to do your own research here. (Select "Legal", and use the GPIN listed below).
GPIN:2416 59 2600 0000
It seems to me that someone(the mayor of va beach) got a sweathart deal. I wonder if this property was ever on the open market?
ReplyDeleteIf I recall correctly, Brian C. Large and his firm WPL Ventures were the original developers of that cul de sac.
ReplyDeleteI would suspect the Mayor was an investor in the development, as probably were the others listed.
ReplyDeleteWell, we do know this about MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC.:
ReplyDelete"MERS is an innovative process that simplifies the way mortgage ownership and servicing rights are originated, sold and tracked. Created by the real estate finance industry, MERS eliminates the need to prepare and record assignments when trading residential and commercial mortgage loans."
Here's another interesting link in regards to MERS.
ReplyDeleteWell, I am not too sure about the MERS process, but it appears that MERS may sometimes be an assemblage of lending investors to form a mortgage pool.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, the listed persons and LLCs may have pooled thier cash to finance the original sale to Joe and Harlow.
Interesting.
While it doesn't show the exact Birdneck Woods address... there's enough to prove that it's 1028 Stratem Court... looks like Mr. Sessoms as a Trustee took the Stratem residence along with another property in E. Norfolk for the tidy sum of $550000.00
ReplyDeleteHere's the link.
In light of everything so far, my best guess as to what happened 1028 Stratem Ct. is as follows.
ReplyDeleteDuring the planning/approval process for the development, a group of people got together and decided to form a mortgage pool to benefit the development and/or the builder. The private mortgages were to be offered at a slight premium over a standard FHA mortgage through the MERS process to people who could not qualify for the standard FHA bank mortgage.
Joe and Harlow were granted a mortgage through this process, occupied the house, conducted their business, and eventually went into default.
The default morphed into a foreclosure proceeding which went to civil court and was approved for a foreclosure sale. Apparently there was a second property of similar value, probably another property of WPL Ventures, which also went into a foreclosure sale at about the same time as 1028 Stratem Ct. The foreclosure upset price would normally be equal to the outstanding mortgage value.
Mr. Sessoms and Mr. Large appear to have placed bids equal to or slightly above the upset price at the sale and are apparently acting as trustees for the group. This process establishes a tax base and clear title to both properties so they can be resold. The transaction is essentially a paper transaction with no money to speak of changing hands aside from filing fees.
The above process is a reasonably straightforward, abet slightly convoluted, real estate transaction.
hi PC & everyone! just can't get enough of this case huh? ;) lol
ReplyDeleteanyway, was just wondering if there was any word from Harlow about how he feels or whats going on since his conviction? or did all his "friends" dump him as soon as the verdict was read and now he's without an online "mouthpiece"?
just morbid curiosity on my part, I guess...
good luck with the new blog, PC! :) since you took all your research down from the old one, does that mean YOU have plans for a book? :) can't think of anyone who would be better :D
I can explain MERS a bit. They're essentially paperless mortgage servicing pool that transfer mortgages from one lender to another paperlessly. They're super common. For example, if you take a mortgage originally with JP Morgan Chase, it can paperlessly transfer servicing to say Countrywide.
ReplyDeleteThey're honestly a real problem for the title insurance industry that I work in because half the time the lender's are different than the recorded mortgages say and we have to figure out how the ownership transferred.
If you have access to his mortgage through the VA Beach online records (I don't know if their records are online and free) the first page should have a 16 digit number called a MIN that you can track to see who Harlow's lender really is now.
Thanks Chris for explaining the MERS. It is not , or at least wasn't, recognized in NY while I was working a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteI still think Joe and Harlow got private financing for the house, or at least the down payment, since they ran massive credit card bills and apparently had little savings.
A private group would have a serious intrest in picking up the house at the forclosure sale just to protect thier investment, and probably with an eye toward a profit on re-sale.