I am so wrong...
The housing market crash has finally hit cable. I am sitting here watching "Please buy my house".
One woman desperate to sell her 3/4 of a million dollar home hired a feng shui expert, another family went on to a local real estate radio program and practically begged for someone to buy, while another couple hired their grandson to decorate.
Idiots. Lower the friggin price... this isn't 2005. The bubble is over. Homes are places to live, not investments.
Ok, I do feel a bit for the older couple... but its is a bit entertaining to see desperation in real estate instead of all those smug house flipper shows.
3 comments:
Please buy my house? Is that really a show?
We watch these shows, and I'm continually amazed by how stupid these people are. They buy a house for 215K in a neighborhood where the median house sells for 300K, the don't have the house inspected before they buy it because "it costs money," they end up having to replace all the electrical and plumbing, and half the time, the flooring, they refuse to take the advice of the experienced host or listen to the realtors, put granite counters in and high end stainless steel appliances in a neighborhood where the median house sells for 300K, then turn around and put the house on the market for 500K -- and don't sell it. Well, duh. I always wonder if we're supposed to feel sorry for these idiots. Is that the point of these shows?
Meanwhile in the real world, there are these people on the street behind us who last year put their house on the market -- well, they didn't, really, they just put a "for sale by owner" sign in their front yard. It didn't sell, of course, because we live up on the mountain ridge and the only traffic is local. No ad in the paper, no nothing but a sign in the yard. I see they've put the sign back up in the yard. I guess they figure if they do the same thing again, they'll get different results.
You've stumbled onto one of my guilty pleasures - I'm thoroughly addicted to Property Ladder on TLC. I love that one because it it's seems to be the only one of the 'flip' shows honest enough to reflect the downward trajectory of the housing market over the last two years. By my unofficial count, about 4/5 of the episodes they've shown this year have been complete disasters.
The hilarious thing is that, by agreeing to be on the show, the flippers have presumably watched the show before, yet they still continue to make the exact same mistakes as the other poor schmoes who preceeded them. "Ok, the other guy lost his entire life savings because he didn't have an inspection, didn't budget for labor costs, didn't get a permit for his construction, and overpriced his listing by 40%. But I'm sure it'll work out just fine when I do it."
"Idiots. Lower the friggin price..."
Depending on the seller, they may not be able to do so without declaring bankruptcy. If one overpays for a house and finances 100% of the price, selling for less than the purchase price (which *STILL* sets you back by 5-7% for the real estate commission) means you need to pony up the difference. I bet most people who finance 100% of the purchase price don't have much cash to pony up.
Additionally, they may need to get permission from the bank to do this (because of the bankruptcy issue) ... if they can't pay the bank back, the bank loses money, too. And, since the bank owns the mortgage, the bank can forbid a sale which costs the bank money. Of course, if the sellers are falling behind on their payments, this is just a matter of delaying the inevitable...
-Mark Roulo
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