I was reading through some blog posts this morning and came across one on housingdoom.com that just reaffirms my anti-bailout position. The blog post is simply a rental listing that was posted on Craigslist in Tampa, and while a rental listing in itself is nothing to rant about, you really need to read this particular one.
Here it is:
I HAVE A 3 BEDROOM HOUSE THAT I AM LETTING GO, IT SHOULD BE ATLEAST ANOTHER YEAR BEFORE THE COURT WANTS THE KEYS, SO I AM RENTING OUT THIS HOUSE WITH NO CREDIT CHECK AND ON A MONTH TO MONTH TERM, SO NO ONE IS LOCKED IN, IT IS A CHEAP WAY FOR YOU TO SAVE MONEY. THE HOUSE HAS NO APPLIANCES BUT YOU CAN GO TO CRAIGS LIST AND GET FREE ONES UNDER THE FREE STUFF. CHECK OUT THE LINKS BELOW. IF YOU ARE INTRESTED PLEASE E-MAIL ME. ALSO THERE IS NO SECURITY DEPOSIT AND THE HOUSE IS ON A 1/4 ARCE. YOU CAN E-MAIL ME DIRECTLY AT JOEYCARLO@******** FIRST COME FIRST SERVE.
THANKS JOE
The actual listing can be found here: http://tampa.craigslist.org/hil/apa/958697241.html
This guy Joe is asking $499 a month for this house, which is ridiculously low, so I’m sure that he won’t have a problem finding a tenant to take him up on his offer. Obviously he has no intention of using the rental proceeds to pay his mortgage, and is planning to take full advantage of the system for as long as he can.
This is one of the reasons why I am so adamant that a foreclosure moratorium is a bad idea. Sure a lot of homeowners really want to stay in their homes. However, many have no intention of staying in a house that is thousands underwater, and a majority of those homeowners who do want to stay in their homes probably can’t afford it, so they would just be delaying the inevitable. Then you have guys like this, who plan to milk the system for every dime they can get. He already stole the appliances, and now he plans to take advantage of the lenders some more. Since taxpayers are basically on the hook for many of these lenders, he is also taking advantage of taxpayers.
If we can figure out a way to limit the bailout to only those homeowners who actually want to stay in their homes and who can afford to do so, I might be more inclined to support it. But any bailout, or other measure, that supports guys like this, will never get my backing. This guy may be an extreme example of the potential problems at hand, but I can’t help thinking that there are tens of thousands of people out there doing this exact same thing. They probably just aren’t disclosing the situation outright like Joe here. Just reading this listing makes me angry. If Joe isn’t going to live in the house or at least try to make the payment, then he needs to return the keys to the lender. Anything short of that should be illegal, especially when taxpayers are ultimately on the hook for the bill.
6 comments:
It appears that he took down the ad, maybe if didn’t want the bank to use it against him. I have to say however, I see a lot of renters blindsided by landlords that are not as forthcoming as this one so it is a bit refreshing (less repulsive) to see the level of honesty. We have a site for renters out there whose landlords are not quite as upfront with their tenants. It is free for renters to use to find out about their landlords.
I think it's great that the guy is taking full advantage of the situation. It's not like anyone will ever see the hundreds of billions of dollars that the government is pouring into the banks. The banks are cleaning up their record books and literally paying nothing for being the primary cause of this disaster. The banks knew damn well what they were doing was bordering on criminal and that the houses they were financing were not worth 1/2 of the value they were lending.
We need to stop pointing fingers at each other - you don't know the guys whole situation. Appliances don't always come with the house (for example). He's going to lose whatever money he had in the place - which could have been tens of thousands for all we know. At least his profit will go back into the economy to buy things where the banks will only lend to each other - keeping the money to themselves.
The bank will take possession of the land and re-sell it to someone else who will make a tiny profit while the bank writes off the huge loss and add it to their "bailout fund" which in turn will show the government that they need more money.
Give the little guy a break. He'll make a maximum profit of possibly $6000 or so - not a great return on the investment he's likely paid to the banks and state over the past 4-5 years in interest payments, taxes and insurance. He's not getting rich any time soon...
It took help from the banks to make all of this possible. We all need to stay focused on the big problem - the banking industrial machine - that is currently walking away with literally BILLIONS of times more money than we can all pocket collectively through any means. Don't get distracted by the blame game - The money ALWAYS leads you to the culprit. The little guy ain't getting rich right now - we all know who is - and need to focus on that point and not let it fade out of view.
We're all going to be paying for this for decades - we need to know where the TRILLIONS of dollars are going - not chasing the penny change we hear clinking in each others pockets.
"Give the little guy a break. He'll make a maximum profit of possibly $6000 or so - not a great return on the investment he's likely paid to the banks and state over the past 4-5 years in interest payments, taxes and insurance. He's not getting rich any time soon..."
Since the taxpayer is ultimately paying the price for this guy's loss, you and I won't be getting rich any time soon either.
I'm not going to blame the bank for some sleaze bag's like lack of character and integrity.
Meanwhile, Mr. Scambag prolongs the disaster for all those of us who were responsible renters and buyers.
Torches and pitchforks.
We should bail out homeowners that are living in there house or called primary residence and that's all
I think you hit it. The government can't solve everyone's problems. Sometime you need to fix it yourself or accept the consequences of your mistake. I used this example in my own blog capitalistmarks.com because it shows the hypocrisy of the system. thanks
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