It sounds like a pretty good case can be made for fraud.
And SUCH a convenient fire.


It's amazing what you can do with $1 and a little imagination.

Some comments:

Man of the people - yes he's a man of the people if the people to whom he's referring are regularly involved in real estate fraud. I think a little investigation would expose the fact that the sale of his home to his sister was a sham transaction (Nothing would justify a property increasing in value from $200k to $350k in 3 years, even in a bubble economy). Whether or not the fire was accidental is questionable, however I'm sure that it was a welcome coincidence that a house that was over-mortgaged, burned to the ground. Finally, leave it to the Hudson County Democrats to fully vet potential candidates. With the cloud of this past summer's indictments still lingering over local politicians, they somehow found that this guy was a worthy candidate with a clean slate.

Property of Jersey City Dem Assembly candidate, Charles Mainor, up for grabs at sheriff's sale

By Ken Thorbourne/The Jersey Journal
October 21, 2009, 3:28PM



Charles Mainor, a candidate running for state Assembly in the 31st District, is characterizing the foreclosure of one of his Jersey City properties as a man-of-the-people moment.

"I'm in a beautiful position to understand what thousands of people are going through," said Mainor, who's running under the Hudson County Democratic Organization banner. "The situation that I am in, once I come through it, I'll be better capable of bringing through my constituents who face the same problem."

The property up for grabs at a sheriff's sale tomorrow is located at 90 Randolph Ave.

The two-story frame house that used to sit on the lot burned to the ground three years ago, Mainor said.

A 90,000-a-year detective with the Jersey City Police Department, Mainor said he had planned to rebuild the home where he lived from the time he was 14, but lost the will to do so after his sister died in April 2007. So he stopped paying the mortgage.

"I thought the insurance was going to cover it," he said.

According to Mainor and city tax records, he purchased the house for $1 in 1999 from relatives. In December 2002, he sold it to his now-deceased sister Dawn for $203,000. Then in December 2005, he bought it back from Dawn for $353,000.

Deutsche Bank National Trust Company holds the mortgage. Mainor owes the bank $275,368, according to the Sheriff's Office. But with taxes and other fees owed, the "upset price" for the property is $318,774.

Mainor says he lives at 64 Wade St., which he purchased from a former fiancee for $350,00 in December 2005 -- the same month and year he shelled out $353,000 for the Randolph Avenue property.

The two Assembly members currently representing the 31st District -- L. Harvey Smith and Anthony Chiappone -- both face corruption charges. Mainor was tapped by the HCDO to replace Smith. Election Day is Nov. 3.

The 31st District covers all of Bayonne and a southern swath of Jersey City.