I can't help but laugh a bit. I honestly hope nobody get wiped out, but they deserve a spanking for sure. People that never invested in real estate suddenly become pro flippers. Too funny
When will it stop? First, there was the Centex 12-hour sale (February 11, 2006). Save $50,000-150,000! "Homebuyers who have been considering a new Centex home won't want to wait a minute longer," said Patrick D'Arcangelo, vice president of sales and marketing. "Our 12-hour sale is their one and only opportunity to save up to $150,000 on that new home they have been dreaming about. Next, came the "extended" Centex weekend sale (February 17-18, 2006). Save $50,000-150,000! "Our 12-hour savings event was a huge success," D'Arcangelo said. "Because the response was so great, and we were unable to spend quality time with everyone in the 12-hour period, we are extending the special incentives through Sunday. We still have a good selection of homes available, and we want interested homebuyers to be able to take advantage of the savings." Now, comes the Centex end of fiscal year sale (March 4-31, 2006). Save $50,000-150,000! Beginning today, homebuyers can save $50,000 to $150,000 on specially selected homes that must close escrow by March 31 - subject to availability. "Homebuyers interested in a quick move-in home won't want to miss out on the opportunity to save up to $150,000," said Patrick D'Arcangelo, vice president of sales and marketing. "These specially priced homes won't last long, so we are encouraging interested homebuyers to visit this weekend." Any bets on what April will bring?
A builder here in Florida this past week was advertising on the radio what they called their "110% off sale." 50% off interior upgrades; 50% off exterior upgrades; 10% off pool packages.
If it was such an incredible success, wouldn't they have sold out that day like in the past??????? Maybe it's my sense of skepticism kicking in...
these ads sound a lot like car dealer clearance sales. is this behavior by new home builders typical before a housing slump?
A little pleasure reading...this Seattle investor is blogging his "investments", his vacations, and his debt. Wonder if he will continue writing when he is going down in a ball of flames??? OWP http://seattlerei.blogspot.com/
I'll give it a read. I just started, and this gem jumped out at me: "I've not entered anything in Quickbooks for 6 weeks or so. Fortunately, my wife is great when it comes to bill paying, so none of our 10 mortgages are ever late." 10 frigging mortgages??!!! If the housing market and/or the economy so much as burps this couple will be so screwed (unless they have loads of cash kicking around to get them through the rough times).
Update, I skimmed down to this: We have a house in West Seattle on a lease/option where the tenants were the original owners, but who were facing a foreclosure and wanted to keep their house. Our mortgage guy brought the deal with us, and he is the type to try and structure win/win situations. In this case, our purchase price included $14K that escrow distributed to pay off the sellers' debts. The goal was to start seasoning the title so that in a year or two, the sellers/tenants would be able to finance the buy back of their house. The tenant was a few days late with her rent check. We cashed it only to have it bounce. This is not a good sign. Emotions are mixed (especially for my wife...I can separate the emotions from it more than she can), since these tenants are an older mother/daughter where the daughter had a bout with cancer and fell behind in her mortgage payments. They are good people, but a bounced check? According to our purchase option contract, the definition of a default event which would revoke the purchase option is not well defined. I'm sure some unscrupulous landlords would (and have...check out this article on the problems of lease options from the Seattle Times) immediately revoke the option. We didn't go that far; however, I did clearly communicate that this could never happen again, and that rent checks had to be in our possession (and with funds) on the due date. We also charged her - per the lease agreement - a 10% late penalty of $200. We did modify the schedule to twice monthly payments of $1000...this was easier for the tenant, and we want to help her succeed. There's a limit, though. And that's the slippery slope that emotions can grease even further. Deep down within me, in a place that I loathe to admit exists, a part of me is wishing for a valid reason to revoke the option. Why? If the tenants exercise the option, we'll make around $50K. If they don't exercise, or lose it otherwise, we'll make around twice that on the sale of the property, once the tenant's lease is up in two years. I can keep that little devil under control. I won't let it act hastily to pull the rug from underneath the tenant's right to purchase the property. But he's there... -------------------------------------------------- I'm not going to comment on his musings about the value of the purchase option. Based on my own experience with servicing mortgages, this guy's tenants are going to cause him further problems. Restructuring the payments might help a small bit, but at the end of the day, they are probably right near the edge already. Also, $2K per month to rent the damn house??? A $200 late penalty? Edit - okay, I will comment on his valuation of the purchase option. While he can arguably put a value to what he will make if the suckers...I mean tenants...buy the house back from him, I find it kind of amusing that he seems to know with certainty what his profit will be if he sells the property to someone else in two years.