Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Crisp (and new partner) default on Stockdale Highway Office

From the Bakersfield Californian:

by VANESSA GREGORY and GRETCHEN WENNER

Once-prominent real estate salesman David Crisp last week received two new default notices on the Stockdale Highway offices he bought in April and was named in a lawsuit demanding repayment of more than $160,000.

The Stockdale offices are the latest addition to a growing list of delinquent properties associated with Crisp.

The properties carry first mortgages worth more than $44.2 million and second loans totaling more than $9.3 million

The lawsuit follows others filed by collection agencies in recent months. Two loans totaling nearly $1.9 million taken against the 8800 Stockdale Highway building acked up default notices last week, records show. Crisp, who turned 28 this month, once touted the space as a showcase for a now-defunct giant towers development with Cal State Bakersfield.

The two default notices on the Stockdale building include a $1.37 million loan from Lone Oak Fund LLC and a $505,000 loan from David and Debra Rosenberg of Gardena, public records show. Crisp co-owns the property with George Hawatmeh, a real estate agent in Woodland Hills.



Be sure to read the letter from Chicago Title asking for their money back.

23 comments:

subsonic22 said...

Just read the full article. Wow. Did he really think the loan just went away because the title company missed it when they ordered the payoff? Will he argue in court that he is not responsible for paying back the loan because of the title company's oversight? As a seller, he has to sign the HUD-1 statement, shouldn't he have noticed that the loan he took out was missing from the final figures? Good luck to Chicago Title getting $160k from someone with a negative net worth of at least 8 figures by now. How he is a free man at this point is beyond me.

Bakersfield Bubble said...

subsonic22-

Recall we were wondering who would allow this guy to take out a 5th (IIRC) loan on this building, I wondering if they are worried about getting paid? LOL

Bakersfield Bubble said...

Did you see the letter from Chicago Title - Uh we F'd up and now we need our money back. Please pay us because we screwed up.

What else does a title company do besides check for encumbrances??

Rob Dawg said...

Unlike Casey, David needs to remain free for the time being. There's no way the Feds are going to give him the excuse that he was a going concern until arrested. It won't be long before he begs for protective custody.

In all seriousness I don't know who he may owe what to and for but all those trips to Las Vegas and the size of his deals and the way so many obstacles melted away it would not surprise me if he never makes it to a courtroom.

Peripheral Visionary said...

Nine million here and forty-four million there, pretty soon you're talking about real money.

My favorite quote from the article:

"Crisp co-owns the property with George Hawatmeh, a real estate agent in Woodland Hills."

Is there a second definition to the word "own" that I'm not aware of?

Bakersfield Bubble said...

"the way so many obstacles melted away"


Rob-

$53.5 million of defaults. And this is what we know about. How can their be no oversight to this kind of activity for a town this size?

Anonymous said...

LOL Rob
"it would not surprise me if he never makes it to a courtroom"

This goes a long way to explaining the drunken, crying jag in Barcleys. Perhaps he only feels safe in a Bond street fortress full of security cameras.

Rob Dawg said...

Uncle Vito: "David, you really need TWO kindeys?"

Rob Dawg said...

How'd you like to be someone associated with the City or University who accepted a reduced closing costs arrangement as a professional courtesy from the smooth talking Crisp? The way he greased palms overtly tells me there must have been a lot more under the table.

WaitingToBuy said...

Subsonic

On the same note, Crisp's story saddens me in the same way any stories of parent-criminals does. When you have kids, you gotta put them first. Crisp has obviously put money first and his kid is probably going to grow up with his daddy in jail because of it.
I honestly hope that Crisp hasn't dealt with mob types and that jail time and fines are the most he gets (if he's guilty of anything, of course), if only for his kids sake.

WaitingToBuy said...

Also, can the Californian please get another photograph of Crisp besides the one with him at the computer? Get one of him running away from the cameras or something...geez.

xs10shell said...

I like the way Chi Title suggests moving the lien to another property. Not only did they miss the encumbrance, they must have missed all the media reports on Crisp of the last year. Maybe they can grab some of that line of credit from the middle east connection.

"it would not surprise me if he never makes it to a courtroom." Sounds very ominous.

xs10shell said...

Gee, I miss the old days. Crisp & Hawatmeh just doesn't have the same ring...

WaitingToBuy said...

I like "Crisp vs Hawatmeh Prison Yard Battle Royal!" Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

subsonic22 said...

BB,

I reread the July article and checked public records the Stockdale Hwy property. The 5th lender isn't named in either report. Want to bet Hawatmeh is the lender? Hawatmeh wasn't on the original deed nor any of the mortgage notes Crisp took out. Maybe a condition of granting the mortgage to Hawatmeh was to give him an ownership position in the property. I guess Hawatmeh could work out a deal with the other lenders to purchase the property on the cheap at an FC sale, but he better do it in cash.

Mike said...

Hello? Anybody smell what the Crisper is cooking?

How does a Title insurance company NOT ONLY miss $149K in liens against a property, but also miss it for almost an entire year?!?

THEY DON'T.

My prediction- this is Chicago Title's way of covering the fact they were involved too.

You don't think Chicago NEVER saw these amazing appraisals and deals and thought to themselves, "I wonder" ?!?

When a kid has their hand in the cookie jar, chances are another kid is watching the hallway!

Lone Ranger said...

Interesting what you can find out from a 5 minute Google search.

"George Hawatmeh is a Woodland Hills, California Real Estate Agent who is licensed in the State of California and works out of the LRP Capital Corp Office in Woodland Hills, CA."

Concerning LRP Capitol Corp. from the Ripoff report.....

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/208/ripoff0208378.htm

LRP Capitol seems to be just a scumbag, middleman, telemarketing, mortgage broker.

Ripoff report states that George is just a manager there.

Hmmm.

Birds of a feather I guess.

subsonic22 said...

Ichabod,

I don't think Chicago Title would intentionally want to pay $160k. If there is a guilty party along with Crisp and Co., it would be the local title agency. I think Crisp & Co. got cash back on a few of these deals. Lenders prefer to be notified when this occurs. Something about not wanting to lend more than the property is worth.

In Tampa, there was an infamous case last year about a newbie RE agent/mortgage loan officer who had all these deals closing. She was a RE wunderkind, a superstar, sound familiar? It turns out she was helping her boyfriend and his crew purchase properties at inflated prices, giving the seller what they were asking for and pocketing the difference. The local title company was used for every one of her deals. Eventually, the story made the front page of the Tampa Tribune. It turns out there were two sets of HUD 1 statements. One for the lender, the other for the buyers/sellers. The lenders were never told the buyers were getting back 5-6 figures in "assignment fees." When the title insurer, Stewart Title, found out about it. They refused to underwrite any more of the local companies transactions. The local company went out of business. The owner blamed the paper for all the bad press, not her own actions for participating in mortgage fraud. Check out the stories if you haven't already. The second link is the older one, it's a long article but well worth it. The first link explains what happened to the title company.

www.tbo.com/news/money/MGBGHK9GQTE.html

www.tbo.com/news/money/MGBXTU3SKTE.html

BubbleBoy said...

FYI
1381909

CL: Ivory Construction & Design

C= SAA

O= Irene & George Hawatmeh Site: 23030 Collins St. Woodland Hills Lien $408,440



http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Mechanics+liens.(DATA+BANK)-a0167346874

keepitcivil said...

Criminals. Absolutely disgusting how Crisp & Cole did so much damage to our market.

Lou Minatti said...

Out of all the tales from around the country, I think Crisp is at the top of the fraud heap.

It's pretty close to orange jumpsuit time.

Perfect Storm said...

David Crisp is a bitch!

Rob Dawg said...

You wonder if Crisp reads this blog?

Anyway, I think the ChiTitle letter is how you handle a big customer in a delicate situation. Sure they made an "error" but the "error" could very well have been Crisp criminally concealing material information. Chicago Title doesn't want to sue and they don't want to expose the extent of their entanglement so they politely ask to be untangled quietly. This is the shot across the bow to tell David they mean business and cannot let this one slide.