This morning's Washington Post also covers the colossal mortgage fraud bust in Fairfax County first reported yesterday.
Local police have been investigating the operation since 2007, according to the Post. The alleged mastermind in the scheme is Ruben Rojas, 30, a Vienna-based real estate agent, who would recruit straw buyers—people who lent their name to purchasing homes, but never [...]

I just finished writing about one huge case of mortgage fraud, and now here comes another! Here's the story from ABC 7:

Update: The scope of the fraud could be up to $100 million, according to officials. As many as 200 properties are under investigation.

This week—well, really for the last couple weeks—I've been writing about Vijay Taneja, Bollywood producer, local mortgage broker, and generator of a flimsy house of cards, which ultimately collapsed last year.  Taneja is currently serving out a seven year prison sentence for charges related to a mortgage fraud scheme.
Thus far, I've written about Taneja's [...]

This mansion is in Potomac: This mansion is in Fairfax:
This story will appear in this week's print edition of the Washington City Paper. I've been blogging about Vijay Taneja since mid August. See these posts for more information on his Bollywood business background and his two nearly identical mansions.
Past the circular foyer, [...]

I've been writing all day about Bollywood businessman Vijay K. Taneja and his nearly identical dream houses.
But who is Taneja? That's a whole 'nother story.
According to a January 2009 ABC News article, Taneja was a legit producer, who'd worked with real Bollywood stars: Arjun Rampal, Bobby Deol, Himesh Reshammiya and Malika Sherawat. He has [...]

This mansion is in Potomac:

This mansion is in Fairfax:

Earlier today,  I wrote about Vijay K. Taneja, a Bollywood film producer and promoter, and his two sprawling former homes. In January, Taneja was sentenced to seven years in prison for his involvement in a multi-million dollar mortgage scam.
His Fairfax property was auctioned off in November. [...]

This house is in Potomac:

This house is in Fairfax:

Update: Comparing the dream homes, more pictures.
If you missed last November's auction for a 25,0000 square-foot mansion in Fairfax, have no fear: Virtually the same property—this time in Potomac—will be auctioned off in September.
Both homes were previously owned by Vijay K. Taneja,  "a Fairfax County mortgage broker [...]

Hudson & Marshall will be auctioning off 102 DC-Area homes on June 6 at 1 p.m. at Sheraton Premiere-Tysons Corner.
The properties are quite diverse, including quite a few in D.C.—I've been hearing a lot about the foreclosure jump here!—like this one in Brightwood:

1322 Missouri Avenue NW, Unit 405

One key indicator of the real estate market's health and competitiveness is inventory, aka the number of houses on the market.
Where it's dropping, a real estate turnaround seems more likely. Where it's staying stable or growing, people won't be hailing the end of the recession.
On that note, I recently received this e-mail from an agent [...]

Quite a few D.C. area suburbs made Forbes' "Top 25 Towns to Live Well." The rankings were compiled by ZoomProspector.com, a San Fran-based firm which specializes in business relocation. The group examined "the number of museums, parks, bars and restaurants, and cultural institutions per capita" as well as "factors indicative of a favorable business environment. [...]