Huge $160k jump in home prices explained

A Baltimore rowhouse sells for $US40,000 ($A56,000). Just months later, it changes hands again for around $US200,000 ($A281,000). There’s just one problem: According to a new lawsuit, virtually nothing happened to the house in between. That dramatic leap in value was allegedly repeated across dozens of Baltimore properties as part of a sprawling mortgage fraud scheme that one lender says left it with more than $US14 million ($A19.6 million) in losses. AmeriTrust Mortgage Corp. filed a federal lawsuit in Maryland, accusing a network of real estate investors, a mortgage broker, appraisers and title companies of working together to make inexpensive properties appear far more valuable than they really were, the New York Post reports. The alleged playbook was surprisingly simple. Companies tied to the scheme would buy homes in and around Baltimore for roughly $US40,000 ($A56,000) to $US50,000 ($A70,000), according to the complaint. Within months, and allegedly without making improvements, the properties would be sold to other shell companies for around $US200,000 ($A281,000) — a roughly 300 per cent mark-up. MORE: ‘No idea’: Woman cops $30k bill, loses home ‘F***ing tax them’: Man’s $3m...