Ohio is beefing up its enforcement of predatory lending. They hope to [add 14 additional staff to their [Valuation Review]](http://www.valuationreview.com/pub/news/headlines/4399-1.html?type=pf) 25 person department that overseas 10,000 mortgage brokers and loan officers. The small number of employees in Ohio as well as other states to oversee this industry represents the lack of commitment or understanding as to how big a problem this really is and what the cleanup will cost in the future.

A key dynamic here is that some states are not authorized to spend all the money they bring in. The VR story says that Ohio collects $5.8M but can only spend $4.3M.

This sounds eerily similar to the problem facing the states in regard to the appraisal industry. The average state has about three officials to enforce appraisal-related laws. With about 75,000+ appraisers certified nationally, these staffing levels would appear to be woefully inadequate for any meaningful enforcement.

As the real estate market cools, there will likely be more issues with appraisal and mortgage fraud as individuals need to make up the shortfall from the drop in business.