Local builder gets five-year sentence - 2004-02-07
Paul Alexander Robertson, 30, of Benton, owner of PAR Homes, was dealt a five-year sentence in the Arkansas Department of Corrections on Tuesday, according to a press release from the Saline County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

In connection with the federal charges, Robertson admitted that he had defrauded five different lending institutions on 31 separate mortgage loans that he obtained from March 2001 to December 2003.
Read the full story at Benton Courier

Mortgage lender woes halt home construction - 2004-02-07
Rhody Hayes has wondered why so many homes being built in his Desert Estates neighborhood in Pasco have not been unfinished for the past year.

It's a situation with an uncertain cause, involving a mortgage company in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, Partners Mortgage Corp. of Seattle.

John Frankenfield, a real estate agent doing business as Tri-Cities Realty Inc. in Richland, said he brokered construction loans from Partners Mortgage for the contractors about 18 months ago to build homes in the Desert Estates II tract.
Read the full story at Tri-City Herald Online