One at a Time

When I go to my email host, I always read the real estate and business news … for obvious reasons.  This article caught my attention.  It describes a white bus that rumbles through neighborhoods touring homes that have been foreclosed on.  People pay $45 p/person or $65 p/couple to ride it and on board is a Realtor (the host), a lender and a home inspector.  The bus drives by homes in foreclosure so buyers and investors can see this market in a 6-hour tour. 

The bus drives by homes where people live and empty homes.  They don’t stop at the ones that are occupied because it would “embarrass” the owners.  The bus only stops at empty homes for the passengers to get out and look around.  At these stops, the inspector points out water damage and gives them a guesstimate of required repairs to make the home inhabitable.  In between stops, the lender talks about different types of mortgages for the purchase. 

The passengers find the tour to be beneficial, but neighbors aren’t “enthusiastic” about the bus driving through their neighborhood and people gawking.

I was somewhat appalled when I first read this article because to me it feels like these business people are in the profession of carpetbagging.  Carpetbagging is a derogatory term for northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War to make a profit from Reconstruction.  So profiteering, then.

However, one person on the tour addresses this saying they didn’t feel bad for the folks who lost their homes because it was their own bad decisions that got them into the mess.  Maybe.  But perhaps not.  Every person has different circumstances that led to the foreclosure.  What about predatory loans that jack-up rates to the point that working class people are unable to pay.  Or perhaps there was a job loss.  Maybe the rising costs of everyday expenses (gas, bread, milk) did them in.  It could’ve been a single medical emergency that wiped out finances.

The foreclosure bus does seem like a very smart way to make money, but I find it deeply disturbing.  By being troubled by this concept, I recall some of the sales classes I’ve taken where the instructor says people are afraid to make money… that we hold ourselves back because we think we “deserve” to live in poverty or we think that barely making ends meet is our way of life.  Or we think we belong in middle class rather than being rich.

You know they might be right, but I honestly think that being afraid to make money is NOT what is holding me back.  I personally prefer to earn my money by going back to basics.  One house or one sale at a time.