Foreclosure Feeding Frenzy

http://www.minyanville.com/articles/index/a/21546

The hot ticket in New York on Sunday wasn’t for the game between the Knicks and Nets. Instead, people vied for entry to the highly anticipated foreclosure sale at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in midtown. About 1,000 people attended the auction; even more bid online. The event was a dystopian circus, made up of fast-talking auctioneers, jubilant buyers and angry protestors.

It's hard to imagine such scenes playing out several years ago, even for those who predicted a housing downturn. Foreclosure sales and tours are being held regularly around the country. This is what fills in as sport these days. Think of it as a different version of March Madness.

The auction in Manhattan presented more than 350 condos, single-family houses and duplexes in the New York metropolitan area and Pennsylvania. A company called the Real Estate Disposition Corp., or REDC, hosted the sale, only its second one in the city. REDC is doing brisk business these days: auctions are scheduled later this month in locations including Georgia, Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan and Puerto Rico.

At the auction Sunday, some homes started at $1,000. The auctioneer described some of them as fixer-uppers with problems like mold, water damage and vandalism. Many buyers paid in cash. Outside, protestors chanted, “Evictions are a crime! It could be your house next!”

The vultures make money when things are going up and when they are going down.

Us? We just slog along.

The banks own those houses. Either they sell them or they stand vacant, increasing crime and further depressing values in the area.

Why is somebody who buys one of these houses suddenly a bad person?

And what will they do with these houses that they buy for pennies on the dollar?
And who makes up the losses that the bank sustains?
the answer is that they will rent them out to the ones that were evicted and lost all the equity in them and the taxpayers will bail out the banks...a win win for the investor class. And a loss for the average working person.

thinking WAY outside the box...

By bailing-out banks, we (taxpayers) bought a huge train-load of bad mortgages... and it is doubtful we'll ever see a substantial return on our investment (which... in like manner to what banks are now doing, we should raise the interest rate to 30% or so?)... possibly even not get repaid. So, what should we do with OUR millions of homes? Ummm, howz about we JACKUP the taxes on these obscenely wealthy cretins (who've caused this mess)... as a method of obtaining repayment. Then, at the same time, we take MILLIONS of homeless families and VETS... and put them in those vacant homes/apartments/condos.

Too radical? Well, maybe so for some... but NOT for me... I am MAD AS HELL, and I am not gonna take this B.S. anymore... ok, who is with me? (listening to the silent pause as people consider such a "new" deal)...

Why let homeless families sleep in their cars when we have all these vacant houses.