This article is a stretch when it comes to being about real estate but, what happened to me yesterday at the bank was so dumb that it all makes sense.

I had hired three day laborers to help me with a small house project I have been working on and as I was driving them back to where they were picked up that morning, I realized that all I had on me was $100 bills. I needed $20 bills to be able to pay them the correct amount. I figured I would go into the next bank I saw and ask them to change out the $100 bills.

The next bank I saw was a Capital One Bank. I parked (rather than going to the drive-thru) and went in. The teller waved at me and said he could help me. I walked up and placed two $100 bills on the counter and asked if he could break them for me. His response was, “Do you know your account number?”

I was a little baffled and said, “What for?” The teller then told me, “Without an account, I can only change one of the bills.”

I know it must have only been a second or two but, it felt like time had frozen as I just stood there with a blank look on my face. I reached out with both hands to take back the two bills and said, “That’s alright, I will go to another bank and I will never use Capital One for anything.” As I walked out, neither the teller or the door greeter said a word.

The next bank I went into was Washington Mutual and the teller told me she would be happy to change out the $100 bills.

Wait… There’s more!

I drove back to the Capital One, snapped a few pictures with my camera phone and scribbled down the address before dropping off the guys and going home.

This morning I decided to have some fun and I posted the incident on the home page of my website. Then I looked up the number for that Capital One branch and called to speak to the manager. After a five minute hold the manager picked up and I asked if I could have the name and number of the regional manager that oversees that branch. The manager asked who I was and I quickly gave him my name and asked if he was currently online at a computer. He said he was so, I gave him the URL and he pulled the site up and was quiet while he read.

After a minute or so I said, “I have to admit that this is the first time in my life that a bank refused to make change.” He apologized for the inconvenience and went on to tell me that they like to keep a “cash reserve” for changing currency for their account holders. I started to laugh and asked if I could quote him on that. He did not respond right away so I told him to never mind that and could I have the name and number for the regional manager. He gave me what I asked for and decided to not call the regional manager to see what would happen.

An hour later I got a call (on voicemail) from the regional manager. This is what the message said, “Hi Mr. Watkins, my name is ____ ______, I am calling from Capital One Bank, I wanted to reach out to you, I received a call from one of my managers at the south Garland location. I understand that there was an opportunity that we had to provide you a little bit better service yesterday from one of our tellers and I wanted to get more details on it. If you could please give me a call at 214-xxx-xxxx, thank you.”

I’m sorry but, I just can’t keep myself from laughing when I think about how dumb this petty little situation is. To know that the manager must have immediately called his manager to forewarn them that someone had posted information on the internet about them refusing to make change for two $100 bills. I’d like to think that the regional manager called to get me to remove the embarrassing details from my site rather than attempt to convince me that this was really poor customer service on the teller’s part.

Less than three hours after Washington Mutual made change for me, I heard they went under. The first thought that came to my mind was, “Why couldn’t it have been Capital One?”

Its sad to see the government starting to bail out some of these lenders when really they should be calling them out for making such dumb mistakes.

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Tags: bank, banking, capital one, customer service, washington mutual

The BiggerPockets Real Estate Investing for Real News Blog is officially the first media outlet to announce the arrival of a new website dedicated to helping dogs and cats victimized by foreclosure.

Abandoned Animals of Foreclosure: Help Is On The Way

I have been working in the foreclosure market since I began investing in 1999 and I have run into animals affected by foreclosure. Some were going to be dropped off at shelters while others ended up being left behind in the house…Abandoned.

In fact, last year a homeowner told me they were planning to take their puppy to the pound after I left. Needless to say, I didn’t leave alone. I fostered that puppy for two months until I found it a new home. That’s just me. I have known that animals are abandoned at times but, I never thought I could do much to prevent it and certainly not enough to make a big difference.

In mid-August, I got an email from a woman I used to work with. It contained a link to an article published by the Dallas Morning News. It reported on the growing number of pets that are being abandoned by their owners as a result of losing their houses to foreclosure. It said the local animal shelters have seen an increase of foreclosure homeowners dropping their dogs and cats off with the hope that they will be adopted. An official with the Dallas area SPCA said it has been a growing problem and appears to be getting worse.

I read the article several times and I continued thinking about it for several days.

Two weeks ago… It hit me! I hope that I have come up with a way to make a BIG difference by saving thousands of animals. I have been hard at work transforming my idea into a reality. It is a work in progress and will likely be non-stop updating but, I am hoping that my idea will demonstrate how one person is capable of saving thousands of dogs, cats and other household pets that are or will be affected by foreclosure.

Introducing… HelpForeclosurePets.com

I have summarized how HelpForeclosurePets.com will be able to save thousands of foreclosure pets in Dallas – Fort Worth and maybe on a National level as well.

• A flyer will be mailed to homeowner’s currently in foreclosure in the Dallas - Fort Worth area. It will contain information posted on the website Help Foreclosure Pets.com such as, where owners can turn to for help with their pets like City Shelters, “No-Kill” Shelters, Temporary Boarding, Fosters and Adoption options.
• The site’s main feature is the Pet Connection Board. It will connect pet owners with others who may be able to save their pet by fostering, boarding or adopting foreclosure pets in need.
• Pet owners needing help are encouraged to post information about their pet, what type of situation they feel would be best for their pet and their contact information.
• In order for this concept to work, people interested or able to foster, provide boarding or adopt need to post their contact information on the Pet Connection Board, along with how they are able to help.
• The website also includes rescue information for specific breeds and other organizations & clubs that may be able to help.
• The website will be continuously updated with links to other sites that offer a service to needy animals.
• Help Foreclosure Pets needs donations from individual and corporate sponsors, to help save these voiceless animals. Those sponsoring the mailings will be listed on the flyers, envelopes as well as receive free banner advertising on the web site.
• In order to send a flyer to over 3,000 homeowners in foreclosure every month, a complete list is needed and in Dallas the list must be purchased.

I am happy to announce that Help Foreclosure Pets has its first major sponsor! Foreclosure Listing Service of Addison, Texas, will generously donate monthly foreclosure lists covering four Counties in North Texas.

A big “Thank You” to George Roddy Senior, President and owner of Foreclosure Listing Service.

I hope that anyone interested in saving these animals will contact Help Foreclosure Pets or other organizations dedicated to the same.

One of my mottos with DFW Mentor has been, “Investors Helping Investors.”
Help Foreclosure Pets is “My” way of providing a voice for dogs, cats and other innocent family pets needing help.

The motto of Help Foreclosure Pets is… “People Helping…Foreclosure Pets.”

Tags: abandoned pets, foreclosure, foreclosure pets, foreclosure rescue, Foreclosures

A few years ago I was in the office, when the receptionist said a gentleman was on the phone and had a question about the house he bought at the auction that day, and asked if I would talk to him.
I picked up the phone and asked what I could help him with.

Finding Great Deals at Foreclosure Auctions

The man said he bought a house that day and wanted to know when he would be able to go into the house and start working on it. I verified which auction he bought it at (Foreclosure or Sheriff sale) and told him that as long as the house is not occupied, he can enter the house right away but, it would be a good idea to wait a few days. This was to make sure the previous owner didn’t file a last minute bankruptcy — the Trustee would inform him if that happened.

The man got excited and went on to tell me that he got a “sweet deal.” I asked him what the numbers were and he told me that he bought a house that was worth $450,000 for $67,000.

My eyes grew very wide and I quickly asked him if he had done research on the title before he bought it? His response was that it was his understanding that the auction wipes out all junior liens so he didn’t see why he needed to research the title.

I remember shaking my head in feeling sorry for him and said, “I’m sorry Sir. I’m pretty sure you just lost $67,000.”

Be Sure You Know What You’re Bidding on at Foreclosure Auctions!

The man shot back in a loud voice, “What!? How do you assume that with what I have told you?” I replied by saying, “You bought a property in what I am assuming is a nice part of town for fifteen cents on the dollar or 85% equity, right?” He said that was correct. I continued by saying, “Can I assume that you were the only person who bid on the property?”

He paused a few seconds and cautiously said, “Yeah. How did you know that?”

I answered by saying, “There are a lot of investors down at the Dallas auction that aggressively bid up to seventy five cents on the dollar all the time but, not a single one of them bid against you on a house that had a huge equity spread. The reason they all passed on it which allowed you to buy it uncontested is because it’s a second lien. You are now responsible for the first lien which is likely close to 80% of $450,000.”

There was a silence on the phone for several seconds until the man responded by simply saying, “S*%#.”

I told him to call the trustee right away and pray that the previous owner filed bankruptcy and if they didn’t beg the trustee for mercy, ask if he will refund your money and explain that you made the bid without knowing you would be responsible for the first lien.

He said he would call right away and said he wished he would have talked to me before he went to the auction.

The man called me the next day and unfortunately, he said the trustee said he was sorry but, he couldn’t deem the sale invalid at that point and suggested he call the 1st lien holder and find out if they will do a short sale.

The man told me that he couldn’t come up with the amount of money it would take to satisfy the first lien and his credit wasn’t strong enough to get a loan for it.

Surely, that was the most expensive mistake that he had ever made but, entirely avoidable.

Tags: 2nd mortgage, foreclosure-auction, Foreclosures, lien, mortgage

Okay I admit it… I used to be an active “chatter” in a local chat room on Yahoo. It was a room where many people from the Dallas area met up to…Chat. Many of us had met outside of the cyber room at local restaurants, clubs and the like.

Yahoo had recently shut down a lot of the member created chat rooms in the wake of all the negativity and sponsor lawsuits. Lets face it…The public opinion of chat rooms was not good. I was a virtual unknown person to most chatters because I stayed away from the “in person” socials but, that all changed one morning. Here is what happened:

A room regular was talking on “voice” and venting about his house early one morning and I was listening a few steps away making my breakfast. This is what “Monte” said, “I got this letter from some attorney who says he is going to sell my house! How does he think he can do that? He doesn’t own MY house so, how can he sell MY house?” My head spun around so fast that I almost gave myself whiplash. I ran to the computer and grabbed the microphone to speak in the room and here is what was said…

Jim: Monte, what is the name of the law firm that sent you that letter?
Monte: Uhmmm, it says ummm.. Barnett, Burke & Associates.
Jim: Would that be BARRETT Burke?
Monte: Yeah, that’s it.
Jim: Monte, email me your number. I need to talk to you NOW.
(That law firm processes nearly 40% of all foreclosures in the state of Texas)

Within a few minutes I was on the phone with him and I told him that I was a local foreclosure expert and taught classes at Foreclosure Listing Service in Addison. I told him I needed to meet with him and his wife right away because, the letter he got was his notice that his house was in foreclosure and he had less than three weeks left before it would go to the auction. He was shocked and claimed he had no idea (I didn’t know how he could be shocked after missing nine payments). Two hours later I was at his house and explained all about the foreclosure process to him and his wife and what options he may have to save his house.

I remember how bad I felt while explaining the situation because his wife just sat there, staring at me with her eyes wide open, not able to say a word. She had no idea the mortgage was past due at all. She had not seen any letters from the lender or taken any call from them. Monte never told her early on and the situation only got worse as the missed payments added up.

After going over all of the possible solutions, I decided that bankruptcy was likely the best option for them and they agreed. I made a call to Hariett Langston, a friend of mine who is a bankruptcy lawyer in Dallas. Monte and his wife were overwhelmed with the situation and asked if I would go with them when they met with the attorney and I told them I would.

We met with Hariett that same week and everything appeared to be set to stop the foreclosure. All Monte needed to do was pay the bankruptcy filing fee.

A week before the foreclosure sale I went to their house and was a bit surprised to learn that he had not paid the filing fee. I asked him when he was going to file and he just shook his head and said he didn’t know. I remember pausing for a few seconds and it dawned on me why he had not filed. I said, “Monte… You don’t have the money to file, do you?” In a very humble manner, he looked down at the floor and shook his head. ($500 was the amount he needed to get the bankruptcy filed)

As I drove home I thought to myself that it would be simple if I just wrote a check for the $500 but, I thought that he really needed to pay something so important himself. I got an idea about that time and sent an email to one of the chat room regulars who organized the chat room socials. I recall stating in that email that online chat rooms have such a negative public image and went on to tell her about Monte, his situation and I asked her if she could set up a fund raising get together. It would be our way of proving that normal, everyday people go to chat rooms and this was a chance to show at least one chat room could do something good. I told her that he only needed $500 and all it would take is $5 here, $10 there and a $20 from a few… $500 could be raised.

She arranged to have a Dallas chat fundraiser social for that coming Saturday night. I called Monte and told him about the fundraiser. He asked me to not do it (his pride was the obstacle) but, I told him that we were going to do it anyway and it would be nice if he attended. He later told me he was so choked up that he couldn’t say anything but, he did finally say he would attend.

I expected a handful of people to show up for the fundraiser but, I was wrong. Much to my surprise… At least 50 to 60 regulars from that chat room showed up and contributed. At the end of the night, ordinary people from a Yahoo chat room donated more than $700 to help save someone from losing their house.

The next day I gave the proceeds to Monte & his wife and they quickly paid the attorney the fee to file their bankruptcy and their house…No…Their “home” was saved.

The story got another interesting twist a few days later. I got a call from a reporter who wrote for a well known local media outlet. They had heard about the fundraiser and thought it was a great community effort story that should be told and asked if I wanted them to write about it.

It took only a few seconds for me to process my answer but, I remember thinking that such publicity would be great for business and my classes would see a boost in attendance. Then I thought about the possibility of other homeowners that would read the story and what would my answer be to them if they contacted me and asked me to do a fundraiser for them as well?

I told the reporter that as wild as the story was, I never expected things to unfold as they did. I told them that I had to pass on their offer because, I had done it to help someone and wouldn’t feel right about profiting off of someone else’s stressful and humbling foreclosure experience. They understood and that was the end of it.

I have to admit . . . Of all the positive experiences I have had in real estate, helping Monte might rank as number one. What stands out in my mind was the fact that so many people pitched in to help save a family from losing their home and they did it for someone most had never met or only knew of by screen name…That’s what made it so great.

This happened in 2005 and two days ago I got a phone call from Monte. He just wanted to give me an update and I was happy to hear they still have their home.

During the call I told him about the reporter. He was surprised I hadn’t told him and more surprised that I turned them down. At the end of the call, Monte told me that three years was long enough and he encouraged me to tell the story of how a bunch of chatters from a Yahoo chat room, came together and did something good.

Thanks Monte.

Tags: bankruptcy, chat room, foreclosure, foreclosure rescue, home owner, NOD

In 2005, I bought a house at the Dallas County auction for a California investor friend who asked me to bid in his place. With the help of a Mentoring student, Gloria Stephens, I was given valuable information about the current owner. What type of person she was and whether or not she would willingly vacate the property if I ended up getting the house for my friend. The owner had accepted the impending foreclosure sale and had agreed to vacate the house within two weeks of the sale, in exchange for $500. The only catch was… She would not allow anyone to see the interior of the house before the auction. While that is not the norm, it does happen from time to time.

Had the numbers been tight, I probably would have passed on bidding for it unless I was able to see the interior.

The auction God’s were on my side that day as I was the winning bidder (the ONLY bidder actually) on the house and even I was stunned that I was able to get it for $0.48 cents on the dollar (or 52% equity).
I had done well and figured with the move out agreement in place, the deal appeared to be a “slam dunk.”

That’s when things turned ugly.

The previous owner would not return any of my calls. The move out date came and went with no sign of the tenant moving out.

I placed a letter on the front door as a last resort before filing the eviction.
No response.

I filed the eviction and found that the tenant didn’t bother to appear in court. The judge ruled for the eviction and I crossed my fingers that the tenant would not trash the house on her way out. The “put out” was scheduled for the coming Friday.

Thursday afternoon I got a call from the tenant. I had never spoken to her directly and was rather surprised at how polite, articulate and pleasant she was. She was overly apologetic for not returning my previous calls and claimed she had been out of town for the previous three weeks “having to bury” her brother. I have been told a lot of things by people facing eviction and family deaths were not new to me. However, she was flawless with her explanation and I hate to say it but, I bought it.

Her request was simple enough… Postpone the put out until the following Monday and in return, she promised to be out by Sunday night and leave the house in a broom swept condition.
I called my friend who owned the house to ask him what he thought and our thinking was the same. We delay the put out two days and she hands over the house in a non-trashed condition. I called the Constable and he said he would see me Monday morning.

That is when I really dropped the ball!

The tenant had been so convincing that I didn’t bother to drive by the house Sunday night to see if she had actually moved. OOPS!

To make matters worse, I didn’t bother to round up a crew of guys to move the contents of the house out to the curb while the Constable kept the peace.

As I neared the house that Monday morning, I knew that I had made a serious mistake. The tenant had the U-Haul in the front but it was obvious that nothing had been moved until that morning. The Constable shook his head at me and said, “Where the hell are your movers?” Still stunned with how badly I had handled the situation, I pleaded with the Constable to give me 30 minutes to get some movers. He told me to go home and luckily for me… He said to come back the next morning “WITH the movers.”

As I walked back to my car, I glanced at the tenant who was standing at the front door, snickering as she waved at me.

I showed up the following morning with six guys ready to empty out the house. The U-Haul was gone and it appeared the tenant took what she wanted and left a big mess behind for me to deal with.
The Constable had me wait outside while he went inside to make sure it was safe for us to go in and start moving all the garbage out to the curb.

He wasn’t in the house for more than 30 seconds before he was back out in front of the house, waving us all off. He came over to me and said he can’t allow us to go inside because the house was infested with… FLEAS!

I tried to reason with him that the fleas couldn’t be that bad. He only laughed and told me to see for myself.

I gave the guys a confident look and walked inside. I think I got about six or seven steps in before I knew the Constable was not kidding. I was being bitten by more fleas than I could fathom. I turned and ran out of that house, with my arms waving all over the place and my feet bouncing around like they would if I was barefoot, trying to run across a parking lot paved with searing hot black top. One of the neighbors who was watching me prance around, managed to hold back his laughter long enough to yell out, “The Gringo Flea Dance! You can’t buy entertainment this good!”

Within a few seconds, a stream of water from a neighbors’ garden hose hit me and about 30 seconds later, I waved my appreciation to the neighbor as the water had flushed the fleas off of me.
Also laughing was the Constable. He told me to have the house bombed before trying to empty it.

End of story, right? NOPE!

I returned later that day with boxes and boxes of flea bombs and clothing that was more appropriate. I went in to set off a flea bomb but, right before I set it off… I saw something move. I walked over to the doorway where I had seen the movement and stopped dead in my tracks. It was a cat! And the cat had friends. All tolled… There were seventeen cats! How nice of that sweet to leave behind seventeen cats. It was good that she wasn’t there at that time because she had left all of the windows and doors…closed! The temperature was easily 110+ degrees inside and she had left them in that flea ridden, sauna!

Thankfully the SPCA was able to round all of the cats up that same day. I still tell myself that all of those cats were adopted but, in reality… I doubt that was the case.

By the next day, the house had been flea bombed repeatedly and we were finally able to clear the house out.

It was still a good deal for my friend but, I have not bid on a single house since, without first seeing the interior condition.

I will end the Flea House story on a positive note… The previous owner, who had abandoned seventeen cats in the hot, flea infested house, was prosecuted for animal neglect and cruelty. It made me wish that she would have been forced to endure the same thing but, it dawned on me that she DID live in that house!

Tags: cats, constable, eviction, fleas, Foreclosures, real estate investing, real estate investor

In August of 2003, I was painting the exterior of a house in north Minneapolis. That area in general is considered to be the most dangerous part of Minnesota and it usually leads the way in crime statistics. It was a two-story, stucco house on Oliver Ave N. I remember that it was a nice day and a perfect one for painting.

The house was located in the middle of a block with about 30 houses.

I was painting the front of the house while standing on my ladder about 15 feet up when I heard a car screech around the corner, followed by the loud sound of the engine as it sped its was down the street. Keep in mind that this was north Minneapolis and a loud car was hardly anything that would make someone turn around to look at.

The car raced on towards the house and at about that time, I heard what sounded like four or five caps going off, similar to the sound of toy cap guns when they are shot. Since I had seen several kids earlier, playing in the yards across the street, I didn’t think anything about the cap gun noises I heard. The car quickly passed by as it sped on down the street.

At that same time, my attention was drawn away from what I was doing and over to the right side of the house. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed small chunks of stucco were falling about 10 to 12 feet away from where I was on the ladder.

Completely unaware of what was going on I leaned back and glanced down at the material that had fallen to the ground and back up to the area it came from. I didn’t see anything out the ordinary and continued on with the painting.

Within about 30 seconds, I heard the sounds of several screen doors slapping shut across the street. I turned my head to look over my shoulder and saw several of the neighbors walking briskly towards each other. Once they were gathered together I noticed most of them were looking right at me as several more people joined them as they walked up. I just stood there confused while watching the people across the street as they continued to talk quietly. Some of them pointed at me while some of them looked and pointed to both ends of the street. Within about 30 seconds, one of the neighbors from the group who had been pointing at me yelled, “You okay?”

I took an extra second to respond because I was still confused about what the commotion was about. In a baffled tone I yelled back, “Me?” The woman who asked if I was okay yelled back, “Yeah…You.” I don’t remember saying anything back to them as I climbed down the ladder and cautiously walked across the street to where they were standing. As I got close to the curb of the street, two or three of them quickly turned their heads towards both ends of the street as I walked towards them.

When I walked up to them one of them asked again, “You okay?” I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Yeah…Why?” The woman said, “Oh my God, you are lucky.” I looked at several of them still confused when one of them said, “Oh my God, you got shot at.” I didn’t know what to think and said, “I did?” All of them nodded and the one woman told me that she had been sitting on her porch, watching her kids play when that car had come down our street. She told me that she didn’t see how many people were in the car but guessed there had been at least three. “They were right about there (pointed to the street) when I heard them shoot. I ducked down right away until they were gone.”

I said to them, “What? They SHOT at me?” She replied, “They had to shoot at you because my kids pointed at you when I got back up to see if they were ok.”

To this day, I still don’t know how to describe the feeling that came over me right then.

I think it was a combination of feelings I got as several of us walked across the street to look at the house. I felt lucky knowing I was apparently shot at but I was okay. When we looked at the stucco on the ground and then up at the house where the pieces had fallen from, I got a chill that ran through my body because that is when the reality of what happened, hit me. We found three places where the bullets had hit the stucco.

I quickly gathered up my equipment, loaded the truck and left.

To this day, I have no idea why I was the target in a drive by shooting and I have not been back to north Minneapolis since then. Every time I think back about that incident, I get a sort of creepy feeling, thinking about how quickly it happened and had those three bullets been ten feet to the left…

Well, let’s just say that I am happy that those bullets ended up in the stucco.

Tags: dangerous, drive by shooting, investing dangers, Minneapolis, real estate, real estate investing

Minneapolis on the Decline: A Case Study

I have been following a fraud case that the city of Minneapolis has played a major role in. To be more exact, the Minneapolis City Council has been a driving force behind it. North Minneapolis has long been considered a high crime area and that part of Minneapolis is why the city has been nick-named “Murderapolis.” The foreclosure rate in the city has been setting new foreclosure records on a monthly basis and the abandoned houses that are left behind has caused a serious epidemic for the city to contend with.

Minneapolis is losing residents…Fast. The city has been very vocal with their efforts to get owner-occupied people to buy houses there to help solidify the city and rebuild the communities there. Most of the abandoned houses there have had the windows and doors boarded up to keep squatters from claiming a temporary place to stay. Even the city has acknowledged that the “squatters” are mostly “crack users” and with them comes the crime.

To summarize…Record highs in foreclosures has caused many homeowners to abandon their house. Cities have encountered increased crime with so many boarded up, abandoned properties. The Task: Do whatever is needed to entice people to buy and move into those abandoned properties.

The Cities want people to BUY the abandoned properties…BUY.

Cities such as Minneapolis are working against themselves, even though they claim to be working towards improving their cities as a great place to live.

That IS funny though and sure does make a press release sound good.

People Buying Houses Usually Need a Lender to FUND it.

Minneapolis, Baltimore, Cleveland and Buffalo are cities that have sued lenders that have foreclosed on houses in those cities. Those cities are claiming that the lenders are at fault for the abandoned houses and the increase in crime. Many of the houses the lenders own (REO – Real Estate Owned) are in rough shape and need to be fixed up. Historically, lenders sell their REO properties “as is” and have already lost a large amount of money and are not about to put more money into a house to fix it.

That makes sense. Properties like that are attractive to investors because they can represent a good deal.

It turns out, neighborhood associations in north Minneapolis approached REO departments of the lenders who own abandoned houses in that area. According to the reports, they “were unsuccessful” in buying those houses from the lenders. What does that mean? It means the city went to the lender and gave them a low-ball offer and the lender said, “No thanks.”

Cities can’t buy at a large discount so… Sue Them!

Those cities are losing the battle against crime and rather than increase their efforts to do something about it… They are opting to invest a massive amount of money into suing the lenders that own abandoned houses because, the lenders refused to sell to them.
That sounds pretty intimidating to a lender. They might see such a situation as “You can either sell us the house at a big discount or we will sue you because we feel the increased crime and run down houses are your fault.”

That sort of thinking is about as crazy as someone saying a mother is at fault for giving birth to her son, after her grown son did something wrong. After all, if that son had never been born, then he would not have done anything wrong.

I see two issues with those cities who are suing lenders.

1. It will (or should) deter would be home buyers looking to buy in those cities. If I was out shopping for a house and found out that the city has been suing lenders and claiming they are to blame for the crime & such… I would look elsewhere because if the city can sue a lender…What is to stop them from suing me and claiming that the reason houses are not selling on my block is because of the boat I have parked in my driveway?

2. What lender is going to want to give a loan to a buyer in an area where the city could sue them if they have to foreclose on that house?

I have never really seen a modern day “Ghost Town” but, if cities like Minneapolis, Baltimore, Cleveland and Buffalo don’t stop creating new “villains” to point the finger at, the problem will continue to get worse.

Here is a thought… Maybe those cities could try to accept responsibility for conditions they face and not blame every one else.

I hope the courts will rule in favor of the lenders with these lawsuits. If the courts side with the cities…parts of Minneapolis, Baltimore, Cleveland and Buffalo will become modern day Ghost Towns.

For a sneak peek, take a tour of north Minneapolis.

Tags: Buffalo, buying-foreclosures, city council, cleveland, foreclosure, Foreclosures, ghost town, lender, Minneapolis, mortgage