DallasDirt » real estate and crime

Jeanmarie Geis Home Goes on the Market

Candy Evans — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:45:43 +0000

Probably the saddest chapter in Dallas real estate news, but 7217 Blairview, once the home of Jeanmarie Geis and family, is looking for a fresh future. The 3324 square foot ranch is on the market for $489,000. Four bedrooms, three baths, newly remodeled with travertine and hardwoods, two living areas, great kitchen with stainless appliances (look at how clean it is!), lovely back-yard pool in a beautiful little close-in ‘hood called The Meadows. Listed by Linda Graham, Virginia Cook Realtors.

Texan Dan Sparks Once Headed Goldman Sachs Mortgage; Who Got Burned the Most?

Candy Evans — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:45:21 +0000

People who work for a living and try to save for retirement. Like the Dallas couple I know trying to get a loan on a home they really want to buy but they are self employed and most mortgage companies THESE DAYS don’t like K-1 incomes. And how did the credit crisis in the market start?

According to a lengthy report written by Greg Gordon at McClatchy Newspapers last fall, experts in securities law said then that Goldman was headed for deep doo doo if securities officials could prove that GS execs knew about the alleged mortgage default shenanigans even as they were peddling them to clients.

“The Securities and Exchange Commission should be very interested in any financial company that secretly decides a financial product is a loser and then goes out and actively markets that product or very similar products to unsuspecting customers without disclosing its true opinion,” said Laurence Kotlikoff, a Boston University economics professor who’s proposed a massive overhaul of the nation’s banks. “This is fraud and should be prosecuted.”

This report details just who some of those clients were: pension funds from Mississippi’s Public Employee Retirement System, CALPERS, New Orleans’ Public Employees Retirement System and New Jerseys Carpenters Union, as well as several insurance companies:

“The full extent of the losses from Goldman’s mortgage securities isn’t known, but data obtained by McClatchy show that insurance companies, whose annuities provide income for many retirees, collectively paid $2 billion for Goldman’s risky high-yield bonds.

Among the bigger buyers: Ambac Assurance purchased $923 million of Goldman’s bonds; the Teachers Insurance and Annuities Association, $141.5 million; New York Life, $96 million; Prudential, $70 million; and Allstate, $40.5 million, according to the data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.”

Meantime, a Texan named Dan Sparks headed up the GS Mortgage division:

“Dan Sparks, a Texan who oversaw the firm’s mortgage-related swaps trading, also served as the head of Goldman Sachs Mortgage from late 2006 to April 2008, when he abruptly resigned for personal reasons.”

Wonder what those reasons were, and where is Dan Sparks now?

Make My Day: SEC Sues Goldman Sachs For Securities Fraud

Candy Evans — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:04:32 +0000

Though this is not a local story, it is one piece of the very complex financial puzzle that has had us all scrambling about real estate these past two years or so while we watched the housing market collapse and the credit market basically go to hell. Goldman was, according to the New York Times report, urging clients to invest in mortgage-backed investment products while, at the same time, they were betting against the very product they were selling and profited handsomely from that bet. And as we all know, some people profited bigtime from this mess, including a guy named John A. Paulson, who is virtually worshiped in the investment world. Get this:

According to the complaint, Goldman created Abacus 2007-AC1 in February 2007, at the request of John A. Paulson, a prominent hedge fund manager who earned an estimated $3.7 billion in 2007 by correctly wagering that the housing bubble would burst.

“Goldman let Mr. Paulson select mortgage bonds that he wanted to bet against — the ones he believed were most likely to lose value — and packaged those bonds into Abacus 2007-AC1, according to the S.E.C. complaint. Goldman then sold the Abacus deal to investors like foreign banks, pension funds, insurance companies and other hedge funds.

But the deck was stacked against the Abacus investors, the complaint contends, because the investment was filled with bonds chosen by Mr. Paulson as likely to default. Goldman told investors in Abacus marketing materials reviewed by The Times that the bonds would be chosen by an independent manager.

Mr. Paulson is not being named in the lawsuit.”

Of course, one could argue, where was the S.E.C. when all this was going down?

Security Beefed Up at Preston Forest Shopping Center, Watch This Video of the Attack!

Candy Evans — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 01:30:26 +0000

Security has been beefed up at the southeast corner of Preston Road and Forest Lane, at the Preston Forest Shopping Center and Whole Foods Market, where a friend was brutally attacked and robbed Monday evening — watch this video of the attack which shows how the attacker(s) worked in tandem, drove by the victim, crept up on her and made his getaway! A police tower went up today, and Whole Foods now has security posted both inside and outside the store. The property owners have doubled up on security guards, placing more on foot and in golf carts around the clock. And Whole Foods will have non-uniformed off duty police officers on the outside premises.

Meantime, more reports of shopping center crime — an armed robbery at NorthPark Mall and another at The Galleria Mall less than 24 hours after the NP incident… and the City of Dallas today released a report saying that crime has actually gone down. But a Dallas Morning News investigation revealed…

…that as a result of changes made in 2007, the Police Department misclassifies many aggravated assaults, meaning they don’t go into the city’s violent crime tally.

Seems like the newest must-have accessory if you want to shop these days is a bodyguard! Meantime, jump for rock-solid security tips from the folks living in The Meadows:

PREVENTION

Don’t put purses in the trunk: the trunk lock is the easiest of all the locks on a car to bash in.

Try NOT to carry a purse.

Put credit/debit cards in pockets and walk briskly into the store.

Always go in broad daylight with hands by your sides not in pockets.

If it is sunset or darker, take your husband or a friend if you MUST shop.

If going at night, try parking under a light — the bad guys HATE lights!

Love fashion? Enjoy dressing up?

Now, intentionally dress down: jeans, loafers, sweaters, “quiet clothes.”

Use a tiny purse for one credit/debit card and a driver’s license; put it in a pocket or under clothes.

The goal is to slip in and out of stores almost unnoticed:

When returning to your car, jump in quickly and LOCK THE DOORS.

Don’t drive around (night or day) with car doors unlocked.

If talking to clerks or mechanics, do not mention daily habits or info as to trips, vacations.

Do not advertise on FACEBOOK that you are going out of town on such-and-such date.

Stop wearing ‘big jewelry.’

A woman with lots of ‘good’ jewelry went to her car one day; she “woke up” on the ground.

All her ‘good’ jewelry along with her purse were gone.

Someone had come from behind and put a hold on her neck so hard she passed out.

Another benefit of not wearing jewelry is that you are hassled less in the stores especially in those where the clerks work off of commission.

ANY of us can become a victim anywhere, anytime.

When the economy is weak, more people take drugs to medicate their pain.

On drugs, people do things they might not if they were ‘clean.’

A serious drug habit can cost $1000 a day or more.

People on serious drugs are more likely to get laid off.

The only other way is “dealing and stealing.”

We ALL must be vigilant and do everything possible NOT become a target.

We must fine tune awareness of our surroundings and be much more mindful than before.

This may be the year to take a martial arts class!

Be soooo careful.

Crime Alert for Uptown and Really, Just About Everywhere

Candy Evans — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:58:10 +0000

Tim posted this crime alert from the folks at Uptown Dallas warning us of a rash of robberies (and more) along McKinney Ave recently. Don’t just be extra careful there, be careful everywhere, even in North Dallas/Preston Hollow. I was at Tom Thumb Preston Forest last night, carrying a few groceries to my car and as usual, thinking about real estate. Suddenly this young kid comes up to me and – yes, I was jolted — asks for fifty cents. My first reaction: sure sweetie, here’s a dollar. Then I recalled that he could be looking for something else, like waiting for me to get in my purse so he could grab it. Or worse. So I got mean, really mean. I became Regan from The Exorcist. He scampered off. Made me recall how we all have to be super cautious now — parking lots, McKinney Ave., just everywhere. Recession plus holidays plus darkness equals more crime everywhere.