The selling of the American Dream!

I was just watching a update on the woes of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae...the losses they are sustaining and all you can say is....it is going to get worse before it gets better. Anyway that is the way it looks and the stock market, housing market and GNP are all going to take hits.

I looked at it and somehow it seems as though we are selling off the American Dream at bargain prices and the bottom line is it is a loss. So every buyer that finds one of these homes to purchase is getting a discount for a home that should have been worth much more....or was it?

I just toured a foreclosure with one of my buyers. The sheriffs sale has already happened. The home was unsecured...anyone can walk right in....but once in you can see how little value the former occupants placed on the American Dream.

Every door has a hole kicked in it. Wire closet shelving ripped from the walls. Dog and cat feces left on the carpet and in the basement. Light fixtures pulled lose or taken.

All the appliances gone, cupboard doors missing and the sheriff sale had the home purchased by the lender for $148,000.....we wrote an offer for $100,000 and wonder if we went to high based on the repairs and cleanup required.

This type of owners needs to get a reality judgement with a long term cash payback for the damage...it won't happen.

When honest people who tried to do the right thing lose their homes I feel bad for them and will do everything I can to help them avoid foreclosure with a short sale or debt negotiation.

However, when people do this type of thing to homes...and they walk laughing at the mess they have left behind for other to clean up, I think they need to reimburse the lender for every penny that they walked away from without paying. It could take them a life time to pay off but they are not in jail and they gave up their chance to do the right thing leaving the home in the lowest possible condition. A mean spirit isn't going to change losing a home.

I decided not to show the carpet or the basement. These are some of the photos I used to get the lender to accept our offer. They were shocked to say the least. This is two days after the sheriff's sale. I did a BPO and our offer was right in line with estimates to get the home in livable condition.

Now this is the real tragedy...this is one of the better HUD homes in a nice neighborhood!