House flipping rates cut, study says
The destructive practice of flipping homes in Buffalo has been cut in half in just two years, according to a study released Friday.
The study by Buffalo’s Anti- Flipping Task Force found the number of flipped properties dropped from a high of about 600 in 2005 to fewer than 300 in 2007.
The task force attributed the decline to measures intended to monitor and curtail the practice of buying cheap housing and quickly selling it at inflated prices.
“Those measures have definitely had an impact,” said Kathleen Lynch, task force coordinator.
Lynch said the anti-flipping measures include the use of a computerized registration system at Buffalo’s annual real estate auction.
The new system provides a quick way to determine whether bidders are local or from out of town. It also allows the task force to view bidder information right away.
“We can look at who’s there immediately, and I think that helps eliminate fraud,” Lynch said Friday.
One of the consequences of that new computer system is far fewer investors from outside the region and state. In the past, it was not usual to find buyers from as far away as Australia and Europe.
Now in its fourth year, the task force released an annual report that details its successes, including the reduction in flipped homes.
The group also pointed to its role in the prosecution of Brent Kinney, a former Amherst man convicted of selling a house he didn’t own. Kinney was sentenced last month to a six-month jail term.
The task force said Kinney’s case was the first federal prosecution of a fraudulent flipping scheme.
The task force also expanded its efforts in foreclosure prevention and initiated efforts to curtail flipping in Buffalo’s suburbs.
Modeled after a similar effort in Baltimore, the task force was formed to combat flipping in Buffalo. The 70-member group includes people from the community, government, not-for- profit agencies, educational institutions and the private sector.
Lynch said the group’s work has resulted in a message that the City of Buffalo does not tolerate unethical and illegal real estate practices that destroy its neighborhoods.
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