KERN COUNTY - The county is considering raising some more fees, this time for real estate transactions. It's an effort to combat home sales fraud.
If you come to the Hall of Records to file certain real estate documents, the county already charges a two-dollar fraud fee. Now, they are considering raising that fee up to ten dollars to bring in more funds to fight fraud.
"Yes it is a problem in Kern County," said Barry Kline, Supervising Deputy District Attorney, Kern County District Attorney's Office. He's referring to real estate fraud which has come into the public's eye during several high profile cases.
This includes a case where Golden Empire Mortgage was sued for allegedly charging Hispanic buyers more for homes. This also includes the case of David Crisp and Carl Cole who still await trial for allegedly defrauding lenders out of millions of dollars in fraudulent home loans.
"Just last year alone, there were dozens of cases that had a cost to the community of millions of dollars," said Kaler Ayala, Administrative Analyst for the County Administrator's Office.
Cases like these are why a Kern County group formed a real estate fraud committee in 2007. Right now, the group charges you two dollars every time you file certain documents to the County Recorder. They collect, on average, $193,000 a year and distribute that money to local law enforcement agencies, including the Bakersfield Police Department, the Kern County Sheriff's Department, Cal City Police Department and the Kern County District Attorney's Office.
"We've been up and running for the past four years and each year we have a half a dozen cases that go through the system," said Kline.
That's with part-time investigators at each of these agencies. Now, the committee is hoping to get full-time investigators.
"Some of these cases are very time consuming, so they cannot complete them as quickly as they could with a full-time staff member," said Ayala.
So the committee is considering raising the fee from two dollars up to between three dollars and ten dollars on 26 real estate documents. The county is able to ask for this increase because of the passage of Senate Bill 1342.
"We are still analyzing the extent of the fee," said Ayala.
Remax Magic Broker President, Debbie Banducci said if the money is used right, she's for it.
"As a consumer if they are going to take my money, I would like to see them work on things, not only current, but be proactive in making sure these things don't take on a life of their own," said Banducci.
These fees do not apply to the transfer or sale of property. The Real Estate Fraud Committee hopes to have a decision on the fee increase by the end of the year.
According to the Kern County Recorder's Office, the documents the county currently collects fees on include: a deed of trust, an assignment of deed of trust, an amended deed of trust, an abstract of judgment, an affidavit, an assignment of rents, an assignment of a lease, a construction trust deed, covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs), a declaration of homestead, an easement, a lease, a lien, a lot line adjustment, a mechanics lien, a modification for deed of trust, a notice of completion, a quitclaim deed, a subordination agreement, a release, a reconveyance, a request for notice, a notice of default, a substitution of trustee, a notice of trustee sale, a trustee's deed upon sale, or a notice of rescission of declaration of default, or any Uniform Commercial Code amendment, assignment, continuation, statement, or termination.