From the Federal Reserve:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/cqdm9k

Mortgage fraud is becoming more and more common.

To help you protect yourself, Freedie Mac released this video explaining common fraud schemes and how to spot red flags:
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This question was posted here, by a home-buyer.

Here is my answer to her question:

We are currently in an interesting market. Just as when the market was booming, here to, in a distressed market the competition is tough. When buyers saw the market increasing at a never seen before rate they were submitting offers on properties so fast that it was difficult to get our clients offers accepted because of the number of people wanting to buy and it was a sellers market. Now the worm has turned and many buyers that were priced out of the market before are out looking for a good deal. You are not alone. If you thought this property was a good deal so did many others. The result is that a “GOOD DEAL” property will have many offers and many interested buyers. Some are investors, some are home-buyers, and some are speculators. From the position of the Seller it’s all about how much and when will it close. [...]
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Need to save a few dollars?

Here is an excellent article explaining tax credits avalable to you for improving your home and making it more energy efficient: