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Evil Buyers Display Extreme Cruelty to Distressed Sellers


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2007 Apr 17, 5:43am   34,458 views  547 comments

by HARM   ➕follow (0)   💰tip   ignore  

buyer eyeing seller

Sadistic, Greedy Buyers Toying with Sellers Like Cats with Prey*
Copyright © 2007 UnReality Times®. All Rights Reserved.
by David Lereah, Leslie Appleton-Young and John Karevoll

As the alleged real estate bear market enters its second year of hitting bottom, some buyers out there are clearly enjoying this one-time market aberration --perhaps a little too much. Is deriving sadistic glee from other peoples' suffering a nice thing to do? The Germans have a word for this: schadenfreude (and we all know what cruelty the Germans are capable of!).

According to Donald Parisi, president of the Realtor Association of the Fox Valley (IL), buyer cruelty is reaching grotesque proportions:

"Parisi said he believes ‘doom and gloom’ media coverage has hurt the market. 'We’ve seen some very ridiculous offers,' Parisi said. 'People shouldn’t be desperate … The problem is some buyers are out there just to take advantage of the marketplace.'"

This view is further clarified by Jim Fox, manager of Realty One in Canton, Ohio:

“As unrealistic, said Fox, are some would-be buyers; they expect sellers to practically give their homes away. ‘Some people, … they want us to help them steal a home,’ Fox said.”

Even more to the point than Mr. Parisi, Florida Realtorâ„¢ Becky Troutt gets right to the heart of the matter:

"I think some of the buyers are out for blood! ...There is a difference from 'getting a deal' and 'trying to get something for nothing'! Just because the market is slow right now and homes take longer to sell.....doesn't mean that sellers are going to give their homes away and it doesn't give you the right to go for the jugular vein! How insulted would you be if you were that seller and someone asked you to come down off your price $90,000? Do you think you would say...ok sure no problem. I'm not spinning my heels in mud with an unrealistic buyer who only wants to try and rip a seller off!"

A note to home buyers: If you only want to pay $200,000 for a home......don't look at homes that are $90,000 more than you want to spend or can afford just because it's a slow market, and you think you can get a seller down that much.....because....IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!!!"

Now, that's telling 'em like it is, Becky!

While the unbridled greed and glee exhibited by these sadistic buyers (and the American Dreamâ„¢-hating press) are stomach-turning awful, they are not the primary causes of this upside-down market. The real culprit for this most unnatural and unhealthy market condition, is well understood in the industry:

"What appears to be driving the increase in foreclosures is that home values are not rising, DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage said. 'Take away home-price appreciation, or ratchet it down or even make prices negative, and all of those forms of (economic) distress start to result in increased foreclosure activity,' LePage said."

Clearly what's needed here is massive government intervention to protect homeowners and rekindle the normal 20%/year appreciation. This might take the form of a distressed homeowner mortgage buy-down, or federal underwriting for all the kindhearted subprime lenders who generously enabled low-income Americans participate in the American Dreamâ„¢ (often mischaracterized by Gloom'n'Doomers as a "bailout").

To proactively tackle this looming crisis, the NAR and CAR have teamed up with the MBAA (Mortgage Bankers Association of America) to sponsor the Save the American Dreamâ„¢ Act of 2007. Says NAR Chief Economist, David Lereah, "We are urging people to sign our online petition, and write, call, email and beg their Senators and Congresspersons to support this badly needed piece of mercy legislation. Home ownership is as American as apple pie --only you (and Uncle Sam) have the power to save it! Please do your patriotic duty and support the SADA. God bless."

[*Note: while the offset quotes and links are real, this 'article' is a parody]

#housing

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432   HARM   2007 Apr 18, 9:23am  

viably + vehemently = viamently

So he coined a new word, what's not to like? ;-)

433   HeadSet   2007 Apr 18, 9:33am  

a_k1947

Nice word play on the handle. I assume the 1947 is your birth year (since you are 60), but the a_k hits a note.

Is this a play with your real initials on the Soviet Kalishnikov 1947, aka AK-47?

434   Malcolm   2007 Apr 18, 9:33am  

Nice Harm. Criticize a typo from this morning. I'm the only one I know.

435   HARM   2007 Apr 18, 9:35am  

@Malcolm,

Hey now --it was Different Sean who pointed it out, not me!

436   Malcolm   2007 Apr 18, 9:37am  

How would you even know what he was talking about. I had to scroll up to see what you guys were talking about. Give me a break.

437   HARM   2007 Apr 18, 9:40am  

I did a page search just like you. Sheesh, why do I have to be the bad guy?

438   Malcolm   2007 Apr 18, 9:41am  

Just seems tacky to me.

439   HARM   2007 Apr 18, 9:43am  

I'm truly sorry. I make *plenty* of typos, so should not be one to cast stones.

440   HeadSet   2007 Apr 18, 9:44am  

Malcolm,

With that incredible keyboard pugilism you demonstrated in this thread in your battle with those econ heavyweights, I think we can forgive a mispelled word.

I did not catch DS's intent either. I thought maybe "viamently hee hee" was some sort of Aussie giggle.

441   OO   2007 Apr 18, 9:45am  

Anthony,

If you agree that FED is just an extension of the government, then we all know what a government is most concerned with: social stability, which means employment rate. Be it aristocratic, totalitarian or democratic, a society with very high unemployment will upset the very foundation of a government, which is an organism with its own self-interest.

FED has painted itself into a corner. It really doesn't have much of a choice. Dollar's status as the world's reserve currency has been waning since the 60s, it is just a matter of time that as we keep going down this path, USD will just lose its dominating power, so it is not a scenario that the Americans are entirely unprepared for, psychologically. We were at a crossroad choosing between inflation and deflation, but so far, the signs are clear, we are choosing inflation. The real inflation rate, for anyone who shops at grocery markets and drives a car to work, is far beyond the published "core" rate. FED is no dummy, the last time I checked, the FED governors are living in the same country as I do, so they know what the real inflationary picture is.

The most ideal case for America is to devalue slowly, 5% a year maybe, so as not to upset the financial system in general, and bring on the impact of a cheap USD to the US public gradually, while alleviating the real debt load of Americans. Let's face it, we are a debtor nation, each household in Amerca carries an average $9.8K credit card debt, much more in mortgage, and has a negative savings rate. We have a huge medicare and social security gap in the wake of baby boomer retirement. No democratic government is going to do anything (aka, choosing deflation and defending the dollar) to jeopardize the interest of its main constituents - debtors.

However, history has shown us that soft landing is hard. Landing in itself typically means hard landing. So while I recognize it is the wish of the FED to manage a soft landing for the dollar, I don't buy this scenario. Once the landslide starts, it is difficult to hold back and the market always overreacts in the short term.

If you believe in a seriously weakening dollar, parking your money anywhere outside of the dollar will benefit. While I am big on Euro, oil, agriculture, and gold as shorter-term bets as things are sorting themselves out, I am more bullish on US companies that will benefit from a weakening USD in the long-term. A weak dollar will rejuvenate lots of home-grown industries and most FBs and welfare deadbeats off their butt to start working again. I see a collapsing dollar as an essential step in the healing process.

442   HARM   2007 Apr 18, 9:47am  

Breaking news on the Virginia Tech shooter:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/18/vtech.shooting/index.html

CNN also learned Wednesday that in 2005 Cho was declared mentally ill by a Virginia special justice, who declared he was "an imminent danger" to himself, a court document states.

A temporary detention order from General District Court in the commonwealth of Virginia said Cho "presents an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness."

A box indicating that the subject "Presents an imminent danger to others as a result of mental illness" was not checked.

In another part of the form, Cho was described as "mentally ill and in need of hospitalization, and presents an imminent danger to self or others as a result of mental illness, or is so seriously mentally ill as to be substantially unable to care for self, and is incapable of volunteering or unwilling to volunteer for treatment."

Interesting to note that Virginia actually has some fairly stringent background checks on handguns compared to most other Southern states:

http://www.bradycampaign.org/legislation/state/viewstate.php?st=va#bgnd

BACKGROUND CHECK AT STATE LEVEL
Do state police perform a background check in addition to federal NICS check? Yes

Virginia: State law requires gun buyers to go through a state-based criminal background check in addition to the federal NICS check. This is the best system since it includes checking both state and federal records to prevent criminals and other prohibited people from buying guns. in 2000, 2,568 gun buyers failed the criminal background check and were stopped from buying guns.

ANTI-TRAFFICKING
Is there a one-handgun-per-month limit on gun sales? Yes

State law restricts gun-trafficking by limiting the number of handguns that can be purchased at one time. No more than one handgun may be purchased by a person within a 30-day period. This restriction on bulk-buying of handguns helps prevent gun traffickers from buying handguns at gun stores and reselling them on the street to criminals.

Basically, aside from banning firearm possession for people who have been declared mentally ill in the past but have no prior criminal record, I don't see what else the State of Virginia could have been expected to do to prevent this.

443   Malcolm   2007 Apr 18, 9:48am  

Headset, I was thinking the same thing. I typed in confrontation mode for about 3 hours and I have some clown pick out one misspelled word from the whole thing to ridicule?

444   Malcolm   2007 Apr 18, 9:49am  

But Harm, thanks.

445   HARM   2007 Apr 18, 9:51am  

Malcolm, you have my permission to pounce the next time I post a misspelling or eggcorn.

446   Malcolm   2007 Apr 18, 9:53am  

It's not you that irritated me. We're cool.

447   Peter P   2007 Apr 18, 9:53am  

I misspell all the time. But I am also able to brush off "attacks" against me easily.

448   Different Sean   2007 Apr 18, 9:54am  

Malcolm Says:
Nice Harm. Criticize a typo from this morning. I’m the only one I know.

I did it, it was me. Probably just my take on the preceding discussion full of sound and fury...

449   Peter P   2007 Apr 18, 9:56am  

Probably just my take on the preceding discussion full of sound and fury…

It signified nothing. :)

450   Malcolm   2007 Apr 18, 9:56am  

Guys it's not that big a deal, I just had a moment of irritation because, like I said, we had a hell of a discussion this morning and if all that comes out of it is scrutiny of one horrific spelling error that it is a small slap in the face. We're all ok, I didn't mean to overreact.

451   Malcolm   2007 Apr 18, 10:01am  

Now royalties are a true passive income stream.

452   EBGuy   2007 Apr 18, 10:01am  

surfer-x,

I am also income challenged (less than six figures). My mortgage is around the same as what you are looking at, and we get by okay. You should do fine (5.6%, yep, that's "free money"). What is your current rent in SB for those of us who are curious?

453   HeadSet   2007 Apr 18, 10:12am  

a_k1947

Sounds almost like you knew Mikhail personally! I did not know the Soviets granted patents to individuals. I thought the manufacturer would own the patents, and that would only apply to exports.

454   Malcolm   2007 Apr 18, 10:17am  

Different Sean, you have touched on what I was basically saying. I started out questioning if MLS was a monopoly and made the point that even if they are it is not necessarily illegal to be a monopoly. All of your examples are straight from any business textbook. Where Randy made a great point was in bringing up exclusionary practices which may be illegal under the Clayton Act IMO. I know for sure that you can't force a client to buy other specifc items from you to maintain the right to do business with you, but I am honestly not sure if an exclusivity agreement can bar other listing services. On that I honestly just don't know the legal answer.

455   HeadSet   2007 Apr 18, 10:22am  

a_k1947,

You may want to correct this Wikipedia article:

"Despite estimates that there are around 100 million AK-47 assault rifles in circulation, General Kalashnikov claims that he himself has made no money from the sale of these weapons and that he only receives a meagre state pension. He even has a share from a company which produces Umbrellas. And recently, he has said that he wished he had invented the lawn-mower instead."

456   Malcolm   2007 Apr 18, 10:24am  

I heard somewhere that the AK-47 holds some record for the largest number of human deaths.

457   Different Sean   2007 Apr 18, 10:25am  

I think a_k's remarks are some kind of confabulation...

458   HeadSet   2007 Apr 18, 10:38am  

DS,

Cool term, maybe we accuse those who disagree as "having a confab moment"

459   HeadSet   2007 Apr 18, 10:45am  

"I heard somewhere that the AK-47 holds some record for the largest number of human deaths."

Possibly for a single type, but the Soviet army lost 100,000 a week for four years during the Axis invasion in the Great Patriotic War. This was several years before the AK-47 was invented.

460   Malcolm   2007 Apr 18, 10:47am  

HARM your understanding of intellectual property law is pretty accurate. That is in fact how licensing agreements work.

461   HARM   2007 Apr 18, 10:49am  

Thanks, Malcolm. Just curious, do you work in a field related to corporate/IP law?

462   cb   2007 Apr 18, 10:50am  

As a Virginia Tech Alum, I just like to pass this on:

Virginia Tech family members across the country have united to declare this Friday, April 20th, an " Orange and Maroon Effect" day to honor those killed in the tragic events on campus Monday, and to show support for Virginia Tech students, faculty, administrators, staff, alumni, and friends. " Orange and Maroon Effect" was born several years ago as an invitation to Tech fans to wear orange and maroon to Virginia Tech athletic events. We invite everyone from all over the country to be a part of the Virginia Tech family this Friday, to wear orange and maroon to support the families of those who were lost, and to support the school and community we all love so much.

463   Malcolm   2007 Apr 18, 10:50am  

Headset, I think that is the record, the weapon with the most casualties. Just something I heard, maybe confabulating.

It's been in just about every war for the last 50 years.

464   Malcolm   2007 Apr 18, 10:53am  

BTW, to add to support Randy's point. You do not need to be a monopoly to be found to violate anti trust. All businesses are bound by the three main acts.

465   Malcolm   2007 Apr 18, 10:55am  

Skibum, do you remember under Clinton when they decided there were too many doctors graduating so they tightened medical school admissions to protect the livelihood.

466   cb   2007 Apr 18, 10:56am  

Any job that requires no specific training, education, or anything other than paying a fee to get in and taking a joke of an exam is not a profession.

I would have to agree, the agent who sold my house last time was totally incompetent and was engaged in borderline illegal activities. She made a lot more money than the law firm that did my green card application.

467   Malcolm   2007 Apr 18, 10:57am  

I would think a knife or a spear actually holds the real record for killing people.

468   Malcolm   2007 Apr 18, 10:59am  

I know it's a tragedy, and people died, but more people died in car accidents that day than the Virginia killings.

469   Peter P   2007 Apr 18, 10:59am  

I would think a knife or a spear actually holds the real record for killing people.

Fate is the #1 killer of all times.

470   HARM   2007 Apr 18, 10:59am  

I’d venture to guess even Realtors ™ would be reluctant to call themselves professionals in the strict and narrow sense of the word - “def: engaged in one of the learned professions” as in lawyers, doctors, etc.

skibum,

You would be wrong to assume that, sir!

http://www.webhomeusablog.com/2007/03/real_estate_con.html

Although we Realtors see ourselves as Professionals, like Doctors and Lawyers, we've never gotten our due from Hollywood with Doctor Shows like ER, General Hospital or Scrubs; and Lawyer Shows like LA Law, Perry Mason or Law and Order.

471   HeadSet   2007 Apr 18, 11:01am  

Lets not confuse, purposely or otherwise, monopoly. patents, and licensing

Monopoly is designed to restrict competition for the sake of restricting competition, usually as favors for the politically connected

patents and royalties are designed to encourage innovation by allowing the developer to recoupe costs and make a profit for a specific period

licensing is designed to insure competence in a profession

Just because all have in common the restriction of trade does not make them equal.

I just want to short circuit the "patents are OK, and they are a monopoly, thus monopoly must be OK, and since monopoly is OK, gov monopolys must be peachy also" brand of tortured logic I see coming.

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