Readers suggested mortgage fraud as a topic. "I’d like to see a discussion of how all the mortgage fraud and 'price puffing' will play out. I’m referring to the cases where buyer, seller, broker, and appraiser conspire to sell a property at an inflated value, with full intent of letting the home go into foreclosure and pocketing the money. Just a couple of months ago we didn’t really hear much about anything more than appraisal fraud (which seems rather innocent in comparison)."

"Recently there have been a number of news stories about large scale organized fraud (including Nightline, Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, and OCFlipTrack deserves credit for uncovering an apparent scheme in OC). One story quoted a realtor asserting that there might be enough fraud of this sort to impact the median sales price for his area."

"So my topic suggestion is - how much fraud of this sort is actually going on? And how will it affect the market long term? I assume that lenders will find a way to stop it eventually, but much damage has already been done - to lenders, MBS buyers, neighborhoods, the reliability of published data (not that the numbers were all that trustworthy anyway)."

A reply, "I am sure when it all comes out it will be shocking how much of this has gone on and how much it has helped drive prices."

Another said, "It’s a very serious problem and the lenders have to do their duty. I’m concerned that some real estate seminar groups might be a front for sinister purposes. Watch who you give your social security number to. In fact, there is no reason for anybody to request your Social Security number at a seminar.".

"Watch out for people that advertise that they are looking for someone to invest in real estate with them,(things like that). Beware of strangers that promise the world, beware of people you know that promise the world. Be careful of investment groups. I could go on and on."

"Mortgage fraud has been a problem in Georgia. In May of 2005 the Governor signed the Georgia Residential Mortgage Fraud Act into law. Among other things, this law amends the Georgia RICO Act 'to include residential mortgage fraud within the definition of racketeering activity.'"

"I have read that Georgia’s is one of the toughest residential mortgage fraud laws in the country. I would guess that as other states uncover similar levels of fraud, they will follow Georgia’s lead, and hopefully a lot of these criminals will be caught and brought to justice.'"

"The once booming housing market and rising popularity of nontraditional home loans have produced an unwanted byproduct: a 35 percent increase in suspected mortgage fraud."

"A new report by federal regulators indicates the fraud is being perpetrated by people seeking to buy homes or others in cahoots with brokers and agents who cheat the system."

"The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCen, undertook the review after seeing a significant rise in the number of so-called suspicious activity reports it received from U.S. banks that concerned mortgage loan fraud."

"The highest incidences of suspected mortgage fraud in 2005 were in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Texas."

"Increasingly popular unconventional loans, which let borrowers obtain mortgages with less documentation of their income and assets can inadvertently facilitate fraud. And the growing use of the Internet and telephone to process mortgage loan applications means that lenders may never meet borrowers, enhancing the potential for fraud."

"Although growth in the housing market appears to have cooled this year, 'opportunities for fraud are still present,' FinCen's study says. Mortgage fraud poses a growing risk to banks and other lenders, it says. Federal banking regulators have said that mortgage fraud is growing because it can be very lucrative and fairly easy to perpetrate, especially in areas where home prices have been rising rapidly."