Kris and I were talking yesterday about the usual…short sales and the economy. You would think that we could find something else to talk about!
Our conversation started as we left a listing appointment. Imagine this…a nice, newer home surrounded by other nice homes with green grass and only 1 “For Sale” sign in the entire neighborhood! In our area this is unusual, most hard hit areas show signs of foreclosures and short sales as you drive the neighborhoods. Dead grass, empty houses are just a few tell tale signs.
We were not expecting to hear what we did from the seller of the home. The scenario that lead to the short sale was nothing out of the norm for this economy… less wages earned and increased costs. What was shocking, was that during our conversation with the seller we learned that no less than 5 homes on the street were in foreclosure!
Without getting too personal, the seller explained that the homeowners in these homes are just waiting out the foreclosure. Just not sure of what to do or where to go.
So, there you go…we said our good by’s and started talking about “If we could change the world”…LOL
That’s when Kris compared the show “Pawn Stars” to Short Sales! I’m not sure if you’ve seen Pawn Stars, it runs on the History Channel. It’s all about a Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, people bring in their stuff and sell it. It’s typical negotiations…the seller wants more than the item is worth and the Pawn shop owner wants to pay less than half of what the item is really worth. Everyone involved wants to make some money, eventually what happens is the seller will accept the negotiated sales price…About half of what the Pawn Shop is going to sell it for the the next buyer. Sounds like pure Capitalism, right?
Kris had me laughing as he passionately pointed out that if lenders today would step up and sell all of these short sales and foreclosed home to those who want to buy at a price that leaves a little room to make some money…Investors…would be able to step into this spiraling dying housing market and put it back on track…Pure Capitalism….what America was built on…Right?
I laughed, but he’s right.
Why can’t a homeowner rent back the home they can’t afford any longer… if someone else wants to buy it and rent it to them?
Blessings
Kim
