Posted on 09/24/2009 6:45:15 AM PDT by Portnoy
We are not exactly sure what is going on with the producers over at NBC News and the TODAY Show, but the quality of people they are digging up for their news and interview segments has certainly been lacking.
Yesterday, The TODAY Show featured a segment detailing the latest “trend”: people in foreclosed homes are stripping them bare and selling the contents before turning the property over to the banks, going so far as even selling the toilets for $20.
In this video clip, NBC Reporter Kerry Sanders is talking with Zorene Brodek (sp?) who justifies her actions:
Sanders: What about the banks? Foreclosed Homeowner: Well, It’s their tough luck. They (the bank) are the ones who gave me a loan that was really ridiculous in the first place, so they are stuck with it.
See the entire clip HERE
Many banks will pay you a couple thousand bucks not to do this, which is more than you’ll get for the stuff.
I don’t think this is really a new trend. I had a neighbor that did this about 20 years ago. They also dug up the shrubs when they left.
Actually, it's common in some countries to remove everything down to the barewalls when you move ~ Nederland, for example, where the government owns about 90% of the land, has a housing industry that works with an overwhelmingly "rental unit" base. When they move, so do the kitchen cabinets, the floor, the light fixtures (tape off the hot lines), and I've heard of areas where they remove the interior walls leaving nothing but brick, block and timber to look at.
The FHA/VA review sheet includes notations about what must be conveyed at sale ~ but in these foreclosures, it's not an FHA/VA inspection that has to be passed to convey ownership. Under those conditions it may well be the case that removal of all fixtures ~ and I mean ALL FIXTURES ~ may be permitted by law. Be good for someone to dig all the info up for each state and territory and let us know what we can strip when we walk away from the mortgage.
Yep, the stuck a gun to your head and forced you to act like a moron and sign without reading or understanding.
I’ve also heard of people pouring cement mix down the toilets/drains, supergluing lightbulbs into the sockets and other such shenanigans.
In some places it’s customary for the neighbors and friends to dig up the shrubbery.
Sad. No one wants to take responsibility for their stupid decisions anymore. If the bank hadn’t given her the loan, what would she have done then?
A friend of mine started a business after he got layed off. He cleans houses but markets his business to banks and real estate companies. He goes in and cleans foreclosed houses after people are evicted. He is just a run-of-the-mill cleaning service but has “foreclosure restoration and cleaning” in his busines profile.
BRILLIANT!
Sued, of course.
That's racist.
These people should be branded on the forehead and made unemployable social pariahs.
Actions should have consequences. They signed loan documents for a mortgage they knew they couldn’t make in the hope the ponzi scheme would continue increasing 10-15% a year.
You would think that this would, in some way, be illegal and punishable through the courts.
The owner of the home did not strip it. The person who stripped it was a person was NOT the owner. The owner was the bank. The person who stripped the home is nothing but a vandal.
This was done in a foreclosed home in a small town in Maryland, They sold all the fixtures, but left 3 stolen cars in the garage.
The banks should prosecute for destruction of their property. There should be a blacklist of scumbags who do this sort of thing.
People like this should never be allowed to be homeowners. I hope the banks learn a lesson from this, never give a loan unless the buyer has a downpayment of their OWN money or the money of a close relative (NOT taxpayer money). The only exception to this should be the VA loan.
Nope, he’s not a vandal until the final t is crossed and i dotted. If the bank hasn’t gotten a judgment when this is done it’s just “rehab” ~
Really is sad, destroying value to get a tiny return. It reminds me of a report I saw a couple of years ago when the copper value was through the roof, about the growing numbers of people tearing down infrastructure to sell for scrap. The road to Somalia, and an example of why community and shared resources should be valued over extreme individualism.
Now that’s style.
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