Buying & Selling: Vultures Plague Foreclosure Sales

From Reuters via Yahoo, we have a look at the "gold rush" brought on by eager buyers looking to make a killing in the foreclosure market:

Beneath the shade of a magnolia tree, veterans and "newbies" crowd around auctioneer Gary Oberdalhoff as he lists a property whose owners couldn't pay the mortgage, one of thousands to go on the block in this sprawling, arid region 50 miles east of Los Angeles...A record level of home foreclosures has hit the U.S. housing sector after years of reckless lending to risky borrowers. To those on the courthouse steps, that spells opportunity. Unlike during the Great Depression, investors are still eager to enter the market. "A lot of people's misery is other people's gains," says investor Bryon Bettencourt. "It's just the way of the world, dog eat dog."

It's that exact same kind of selfish mentality that provoked the housing bubble in the first place, and now these parasites are looking to profit off its carcass. And yet, until prices come down to reasonable levels across the nation, buying foreclosed properties may be the only way for home buyers squeezed by the credit crunch to get into the market.

If you're a homeowner facing foreclosure and don't want to be preyed upon by carrion eaters, there is help available. Talk to your lender, get credit counseling, do whatever it takes to work something out. You should walk away if there are no other options--but only if.

Posted at May 12, 2007 01:57 PM

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From Reuters via Yahoo, we have a look at the "gold rush" brought on by eager buyers looking to make a killing in the foreclosure market: Beneath the shade of a magnolia tree, veterans and "newbies" crowd around auctioneer Gary Oberdalhoff as he lists a property whose owners couldn't pay the mortgage, one of thousands to go on the block in this sprawling, arid region 50 miles east of Los Angeles...A record level of home foreclosures has hit the U.S. housing sector after years of reckless lending to risky borrowers. To those on the courthouse steps, that spells opportunity. Unlike during the Great Depression, investors are still eager to enter the market. "A lot of people's misery is other people's gains," says investor Bryon Bettencourt. "It's just the way of the world, dog eat dog." It's that exact same kind of selfish mentality that provoked the housing bubble in the first place, and now these parasites are looking to profit off its carcass. And yet, until prices come down to reasonable levels across the nation, buying foreclosed properties may be the only way for home buyers squeezed by the credit crunch to get into the market. If you're a homeowner facing foreclosure and don't want to be preyed upon by carrion eaters, there is help available. Talk to your lender, get credit counseling, do whatever it takes to work something out. You should walk away if there are no other options--but only if.