The American mortgage system is one of the largest and most intricate financial infrastructures in the world.
It relies on a vast network of borrowers, lenders, underwriters, title companies, insurers, appraisers, and global investors who buy mortgage-backed securities. Every link in this chain depends on one thing: accurate, truthful information.
When borrowers falsify occupancy status, particularly by pretending a property is their primary residence, they distort risk, manipulate pricing, and inflict real financial harm on both lenders and honest borrowers.
This is why prosecutors have long treated primary-residence fraud as a serious federal offense, and I believe it’s why Director Bill Pulte and Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) regulators are referring violators to the Department of Justice.
A Straightforward Example: Maxine Waters Told the Truth
California Election Code §349 requires its elected officials to maintain a “domicile” and “fixed habitation” in California, and the U.S. Constitution requires they be an “inhabitant” of their home state.
Congresswoman Maxine Waters complies. While she owns a home in Los Angeles, her mortgage documents for her Washington D.C. residence correctly identify 2105 1/2 S Street NW as a second home, both in her 1991 purchase and in her 2007 refinance.
As an honest public official, Waters accepted slightly higher interest rates than if she had lied and claimed her Washington D.C. home was her “principal residence” (or primary home), a designation which receives the lowest rates available because they are considered lowest risk by lenders.
Hellbound and Down 