General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"The top 1% is buying up all the real estate.”
“I’ve never seen it like this before,” Nordine said. “There are so many investors buying right now it’s insane. The top 1% is buying up all the real estate.”
Big-money investors, including Wall Street hedge funds and private equity firms, are positioning themselves to snap up foreclosed homes and convert them into rental units. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, for instance, said in a recent cable news interview that he would buy foreclosed homes if he could find the right way to manage those properties.
http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-southland-home-sales-20120314,0,6234067.story
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mmonk
(52,589 posts)I got a house for sale that i can't get rid of even at a discount of over 100Gs from what I paid in '03.
laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)They'd prefer to kick you out first and then pay pennies on the dollar later.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)However, the rich have been buying up all the real estate in California for a long time. It seems now it's on steroids. Soon we will be serfs living on our Liege Lord's estates, not only paying rent, but working for him for peanuts to make him even richer.
Mosby
(19,491 posts)Many potential homebuyers who sat on the sidelines watching metro Phoenix's house prices fall during the past five years are back in the market, ready to take out a mortgage and move in.
But many are finding they cannot buy.
Armed with a preapproved mortgage and even enough cash for a hefty down payment, they bid on foreclosed homes and houses up for short sale -- but are outbid by investors buying houses for cash on the spot.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2012/03/06/20120306az-real-estate-investors-squeeze-out-buyers.html
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)But B of A's bulk offerings are in six states: California, Florida, Arizona, Texas, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Junkdrawer
(27,993 posts)Shocked! I am Shocked!
rfranklin
(13,200 posts)Won't the neighbors be happy!
Fire Walk With Me
(38,893 posts)Tenants paying more than $2,000 a month in rent say their home has no electricity, holes in the bathroom where rats get into the house, mold and unrepaired windows. Randy Paige reports.
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/video/6800769-tenants-claim-fannie-mae-properties-run-like-slums/
flamingdem
(40,891 posts)
liberal N proud
(61,194 posts)Sell people these extravagant homes they can't afford with shitty loans, and then boom, the bottom drops out. Let it ride to the bottom sweeping millions out of their homes before swooping in to snap it all up.
Now they can sell it all back again at a profit.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)It all appears to be a fraud on the populace.
Carlin was right.
Mr Dixon
(1,185 posts)Agreed
Poll_Blind
(23,864 posts)I wish I could remember some of the names of the posters, but when the housing market burst there were frequently folks who would comment about the "long game" of what was going on. Lend to people who can't make payments, when they default, you can write off the loss, take possession of the property and rent it.
PB
SoCalDem
(103,856 posts)Congrats Middle Class, George Bush has a plan for your future
Posted by SoCalDem in General Discussion (1/22-2007 thru 12/14/2010)
Tue Oct 30th 2007, 02:57 PM
That comfy well-paying job you still have or may have recently lost, or fear losing, is no problem to worry your pretty mind over anymore.
George has a $6 Billion plan for your future.
He has apparently decided that a "European style" extended unemployment compensation plan just "won't work" here, so here's his plan.
George's plan is for Re-training™ for the "Service Economy™" .
Yes, that's right, folks. That degree that you slaved to get, and are still paying for 15 years later, may no longer be part of the globalization plan. It just is not practical or profitable anymore..
Outsourced jobs are just a fact of life in the New Age™ .. it's nothing personal.
You may start salivating when you see ads for Fancy Feast on tv, but don't worry, George has your back.
The beauty of the plan is that while you are "Re-training™" you use your Visa and or Master Card to make that house payment, car payment and other bills. When you are though with your Re-training™ , you can sell that house to the many entrepreneurs who will be eagerly buying up houses in this bargain-housing extravaganza. Maybe one of them will even hire you to distribute flyers to other soon-to-be sellers.. In a Service Economy™ there are many ways to make money.
if you give him/her a good enough "deal" on you former house, you might even be able to rent it, and never again have to worry about the upkeep on it. It's a win-win.
The job you originally trained for may have come with a health care benefits program and some paid vacation, but surely your "new career" as a "service worker" will afford you adventurous living like you've never experienced before.
Multiple part time jobs offer you the opportunity to get to know a wide variety of new people, and the experience of learning how MANY businesses do their business. It will definitely cut down on the old one-job/one-career stagnation that so many Americans have suffered from for far too long.
You may have the opportunity to learn to cook..(and, in some restaurants they even give you a discount on food for your break), or to make reservations to exciting destinations.... or to discover the inner workings of a developing child's mind and personality, as you do daycare,....or you could become an environmentalist as you carefully test automobile emissions...you could bridge the generation gap while you tend to the needs of the Greatest Generation™ ..(imagine the stories they will tell you as you change their bedding)
Like to work outdoors? The Service Economy™ offers you opportunities too...School children will always need to cross streets carefully... commune with nature as you do leaf removal...cars need TLC too, and that cool water on a hot day feels pretty good... Lawn care is a highly sought-after job, and by taking one, you are doing your part in "Border Security™"..(Every anglo who washes cars & does lawns, eliminates the need for a guest worker to come here for that job)
Fruits & vegetables are good for you, and as a fruit extraction engineer, you will have easy access to many nutritious foods, all day long.(be sure and wipe them off before you eat them as you pick them, though)
Even our president values manual labor, and he works in the great outdoors, cutting brush, as often as his busy schedule allows.
This is an opportunity... a challenge..a widening vista.. It's an adventure..so embrace it without fear.
Money is the root of all evil™, and downsizing is good for the soul. That big house you used to fret about, and struggle to keep the lawn mowed, and to keep the house maintained..? well fear not.. A nice tidy, personal-sized apartment is the wave of the future. You will be on the cutting edge of the "new way forward".
No more need for those wasteful gym memberships.. Take an apartment on the 3rd floor.. Who needs a Stair-master™ when you can climb those stairs for free? (add groceries and/or laundry, and think of the pounds you will lose)..
An apartment also has other advantages.. It will encourage those obnoxious kids to finally move out on their own. They can surely find a service job , and an apartment of their own.
Younger kids will thank you, since they will now get the opportunity to really get to know their siblings, by sharing a room, and by spending quality sibling-time as they prepare meals together and wait for you to come home from one of your jobs. They will be so happy to see you, and will hang on your every word, as you recount the vivid experiences of your day.
Apartments also are often conveniently located near medical services. When you look for your apartment, be sure to look for signs that advertise their services. They often say "Clinica Familia"..
Which brings me to the best part. Diversity.. You too can experience the excitement of living abroad as you downsize.. WITHOUT EVER HAVING TO LEAVE THE GOOD OLE US of A.
It's a well-known fact that the most recent immigrants to our country , tend to cluster in apartment-zones, so you can even learn a foreign language, and never have to pay high prices for those Berlitz™ tapes..
Apartments are also usually located near bus routes, so you can get rid of that pesky car, too. Your new service job providers will be happy to work with you to accommodate your new exciting schedule.
The transformation to the Service Economization of America™ will be like nothing we have ever seen before, and you will be a pioneer on the brink of the future..
The New Middle Class™ is lean, and fit, and hungry for the New Success™ that awaits them.
Congratulations!..You've earned it
flamingdem
(40,891 posts)So what comes next?
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)The lies are coming home to roost...
SoCalDem
(103,856 posts)Lies & more lies...
laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)I started it because of the huge amount of planted (IMO) stories on the news about how renting was SO much better than owning! It was like a big propaganda push to get people used to the idea of renting forever. I think it's becoming obvious. This is just another piece of the puzzle leaking out. I suppose there are also moderately well-off people buying who have read 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' and think this is their ticket to riches. 
Wind Dancer
(3,618 posts)from the NYT, too!
snip
With home prices down more than a third from their peak and the market swamped with foreclosures, large investors are salivating at the opportunity to buy perhaps thousands of homes at deep discounts and fill them with tenants. Nobody has ever tried this on such a large scale, and critics worry these new investors could face big challenges managing large portfolios of dispersed rental houses. Typically, landlords tend to be individuals or small firms that own just a handful of homes.
...
Waypoint executives say they can handle large volumes because they have developed computer systems that help them make quick buying decisions and manage renovations and rentals.
“We realized that there is a tremendous amount of brain damage around acquiring single-family homes, renovating them and renting them out,” said Colin Wiel, a Waypoint co-founder. “We think this is a huge opportunity and we are going to treat it like a factory and create a production line to do this.”
more at link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/business/investors-are-looking-to-buy-homes-by-the-thousands.html?pagewanted=all
It's quite a disturbing read!
arikara
(5,562 posts)Crooks.
Fire Walk With Me
(38,893 posts)Why is the market for foreclosed properties-turned-rentals poised for a boom? In the aftermath of the housing bust, demand for owning homes has fallen, pushing rents up and home prices down. In response, everyone from big banks to smaller firms are increasingly taking advantage of the disparity by turning foreclosure properties into rental homes.
Bank of America is currently running its own pilot program to rent homes to families that have been foreclosed on, called Mortgage to Lease. In addition, private equity firms and hedge funds are now spending hundreds of millions of investment dollars and racing to buy up foreclosed properties.
In turn, Bank of America and government mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are responding to the demand, selling off their holdings of foreclosed homes by the hundreds. Just this week, Bank of America announced a bulk offering of 500 foreclosed homes in six different states, following up on an offering of 200 properties late last year.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/13/foreclosure-rentals-100-billion_n_1424055.html
Cleita
(75,480 posts)If Jerry Brown could get a law passed limiting the number of purchases of residential properties by one owner or corporation.
I'd say maybe either three single family homes or duplexes. Apartment houses could be considered commercial so maybe they would need another law covering that.
Gidney N Cloyd
(19,847 posts)
Junkdrawer
(27,993 posts)Betcha
cojoel
(1,027 posts)How, when there was a run on the bank and Potter was going to offer 50 cents on the dollar, George Bailey said. "Potter isn't selling. Potter is buying!".
Mr Dixon
(1,185 posts)Mr Dixon
(1,185 posts)[img]
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KansDem
(28,498 posts)Isn't the tax rate "updated" each time a home is sold and resold? So if a foreclosed home is resold, doesn't its tax rate increase to current appraisals?
xxqqqzme
(14,887 posts)If the foreclosure is held by a corporation, they can pass it onto a subsidiary and it is exempt. One of the problems w/ prop 13. I would dearly love to know what the property taxes are on Disneyland given the purchase date, prop 13 and all the improvements/expansions.
WinniSkipper
(363 posts)Now what happens after they buy them - that could prove an issue. Firms have proven they have lackluster ethics. However, if people (individuals) and firms are jumping back in, that means there is a consensus we have reached bottom. Which could prove excellent timing come November.
The renovation industry is hurting here in CA. There is no room to improve a house and still make a profit right now. Foreclosures have depressed the market so that you could put a 100K into a house and only increase the value by 100K (or less) because of foreclosures. Maybe this will allow some room to get people back to work in the industry.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Suggested buying large properties, building large homes, get land with water, stock up on seeds, farm implements, animals, all they could for self-sufficient living, with some laborers to live on the property. Most likely the kind of labor that is hypnotized by religion. Also, it suggested they buy ammo.
I wish I could find the article, but since Scroogle is no more, it's hard to get full search results. The article wasn't that far off from the conspiracy buffs. There is a lot of this on the net; teabaggers love this stuff, but they're not the only 'back to the land' types. But then, since the one-per-centers have been working so hard on implementing feudalistic societal mores, why not have the estate and peasants to go with it?
The world doesn't have to take this road, but it may.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)ladjf
(17,320 posts)Whisp
(24,096 posts)Has it anything to do with the Twin Peaks old tv series?
I didn't watch it at the time of it's release but just lately did on Netflix and I really enjoyed it a lot.
your name appears in it.
Speck Tater
(10,618 posts)...they'll have hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place and we'll be lucky to find cheap lodgings on Baltic Avenue between the times we get "Go To Jail. Go Directly To Jail. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect $200." And still they will somehow manage to avoid ever landing on "Luxury Tax".
OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)
Harriety
(298 posts)Recently I have been looking at houses for a friend who lives out of state and wanted to move here, and I couldn't believe the amount of foreclosed houses that already had bids on them before I could get a bid in. I would be looking at listings every day and newer ones would quickly get taken got off the market within a day or two.
Our realtor told me, that there tons of investors out there that have access to all the listings. They will bid low and sometimes attend auctions to get these houses. They then fix them up to meet housing codes, and either rent them out (the rent is usually quite high) or they will sell them for a big profit.
DaveJ
(5,023 posts)Fine upstanding individuals can't buy homes because some credit card company, student loan company, or some auto credit company, would put a lien on it, so no bank will offer home loans to these people.
Credit for homes should be totally separated from other credit lines and be readily available to those who pay their mortgage.
penndragon69
(788 posts)Unfortunately, they will wait until the old owner is kicked to the curb
before they pounce on their prey and devour it.
caseymoz
(5,763 posts)I thought when this housing crisis hit the extremely rich would end up, literally, owning the whole country.
And when were all paying rent directly to them, along with interest on everything else, the sucking, black hole of the "free" market will then be in its last, disastrous phase.
CoffeeCat
(24,411 posts)Is that these are psychopaths who are orchestrating our demise and their party. A landlord can make your life a living hell and has power over you. He can do what he damn well pleases. He dowsn't have to fix anything, he can boot you out with little notice and he can double your rent.
I am concerned about the further abuses that will happen to the little guy with the world's biggest thugs owning so much and having so much control.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)One of the reasons the wealthy don't mind a good depression now and then.
Joe Shlabotnik
(5,604 posts)
lovuian
(19,362 posts)they will be holding land
Boudica the Lyoness
(2,899 posts)Investment groups are buying up crop land....then leasing it back to farmers.
Prometheus Bound
(3,489 posts)They are almost all fully rented. Even after paying the rental agent who rents out and collects for them, they make a pretty good return, more than they can make in any other investment. And there's always the possibility that prices will go up one day.
I find it really sad.