"Up ahead, here on our first stop along the foreclosure tour, is a beautiful 3 bedroom, 2 bath home. The owners were a nice family and at the time I thought bidding $180,000 over asking made sense. Hindsight sure is 20/20. Okay, let move on, there’s hundreds more just like this."
So I’m sitting around our backyard grill with a group of friends after being gone for a week. Phil, a Brit who works on my British Car was in Vegas the week prior. He tells the group about the foreclosure bus tours he saw advertised there. He wanted to know what I thought of them.
I never got a chance to answer. Jose, a local architect, went for the jugular. Puffing his cigar, he called them vultures. Preying on the clients they screwed. Others chimed in.
Then, Jose turned to me and said, "Why don’t you do something about that?"
"Wait a second" I said, "What could I do? I don’t even know them."
"Realtors", Jose chomps. "Isn’t that what you do? You work with them."
Somehow, when you have a cigar in your mouth, everything you say seems to have more authority.
"First there are 1,200,000 Realtors out there" I explain while flipping burgers. 1,199,990 of them are not driving foreclosure buses. And second, I work with their brokers, vendors and association and…"
That painted me deeper into the corner. The conversation got heated. It wasn’t pretty, playing off their perception.
So what do I think of foreclosure bus tours? Well, I think they lack a certain air of diginity. At the end of a foreclosure is a family who was hurt by real estate. In some way. Even if they have only themselves to blame. It’s the epilogue to a tragedy. And cleaning it up for one’s benefit could be handled in a classier way. If for no other reason than to insure that the people who pick at the carcass of Realtor esteem are held at bay.
Or at least so I can have a barbecue with friends and not have to defend an industry.
"Caution is preferable to rash bravery" said Falstaff in Henry the Fourth. I think this is applicable here.
- Davison
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I could not agree more; it is heartbreaking to walk into a house once filled with joy and laughter only to find toy's left behind a grim reminder of a happy home destroyed either by ignorance or deception.
Imagine a world without vultures? With no one to pick at the carcasses and clean up the mess we'd all be living in the stink of past excess.
The foreclosure situation is a tragedy. But it was born years ago during the boom, when your friend Jose was too busy drawing house plans to care about the consequences.
On the way up everyone is a capitalist wanting their piece of the pie. On the way down everyone is a socialist fawning concern and demanding something be done.
I'm personally for the opposite. Capitalism, even expressed as foreclosure bus tours, is exactly what we need on the way down. Bring on the vultures… its time to clean up this mess.
I see the plot of a Disney movie here. Maligned vultures save the day after tragedy strikes – become heros.
If everyone that made money on the housing boom realizes it is time to roll up their sleeves, set aside the blame, forget the stigmas, and get to work, we'll get through this a lot faster.
A resounding yes! Perhaps, these "vultures" with a little makeover help, could emerge new and improved and viewed as saviors.
Great comment Sean.
Sean, great perspective it is unfortunate that we are at this point and as a result families were hurt however, your perspective offers hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Marc…
Your right on with this one. The whole idea of a bus is something we have toyed with. But it is really not going to work other than in areas where the deals are crazy and their are enough bottom feeders looking for a free ride and some booze before throwing a bid on something. I gte asked all the time on Trulia Voices "Where are all the good foreclosure deals?". The response is as easy as sending them online to a good IDX feed or customizing a new search for short sales and foreclosures.
For me I think there is a far more customer oriented approachthat can be employed by delivering rich search returns and detailed reports to a client in a one to one relationship. I get my clients better buys as a result. Being in a highly charged circus crowd atmosphere like a Bus Tour only insures that you will not get a good deal. This is probably the same crowd that hits the car dealerships on weekends for the free hot dogs and that love "Circus-Circus". Yuck! I can't get the schmoltz off me just thinking about it!
I just filmed my first 4 live walk throughs with my new Video Phone and they are sweet. We will be delivering this sort of footage to our customers and can actually be deployed to a property to report back to them live on the web. Cool stuff huh?
Anyway great post and I agree completely!
regards;
Dirk Knudsen
Re\max Hall of Fame
Portland, Oregon
The more I learn about foreclosures and its pitfalls the more I am believing that bus tour agents who lack the critical "how to" knowledge of the foreclosure sale could be party to yet another wave of irresponsible representation and more consumer woes.
I much prefer your approach. I love the video aspect. Far more classy than a bus tour.
Disney does foreclosures… I love it, but only if Robin Williams does the voice over of the evil-doer.
Great comments here that strike to the heart of the matter. Who will become the "Alladin-Nemo-Simba-etc." thoughout this debacle?
I think that what Marc and others are echoing here, and what the ongoing debate I usually have is, "Where is the heart at the center of capitalism?" I understand the essence of capitalism and if we didn't support it, we wouldn't be living here, but where has the "heart" gone. Few companies have embraced this (authentically) but I am often drawn to two… Patagonia and Whole Foods. (read John Mackey's letter here http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/112/final-word.html)
Scientists and other intellectuals understand the significance of the Vulture to the overall ecosystem, and it's dire impact if not included… the layman views it as an ugly rot-eating scavenger surviving off of the less forunate. Maybe it's time to Disnify our position in the capitalist ecosystem to the layman?
What is critical here is that this situation which has blemished real estate, stands to blemish it again if measures aren't taken to control how the foreclosure thing is handled.
Sean makes a great point above and should help us isolate the critical issues involved here. Having repo men and foreclosure vultures touring unsuspecting passengers around town is one thing. But what, if any responsible direction are they providing these potential customers? Or are they simply setting them up to be victims.
Right, I don't see how the foreclosure bus tour agent is any more irresponsible than the agent that put the owner into this house they can't afford. If anything, with the current price declines these buyers are actually more likely to have a better outcome than almost ANY buyer from 2005-2007 — at least in CA, FL and the other big foreclosure states.
This is the core of my original point: where were the concerns about "heart" and "responsibility" on the way up? Why do we find foreclosure bus tours so distasteful, while having willingly lined up to drink the koolaid of homeownership at any cost on the way up?
Why is no one up in arms about our association's continued predictions of stability and growth that run contrary to all credible evidence? David Lereah's book "Why the real estate boom will not bust" released in 2006 at a time when affordability was abysmal (at least using conventional loan products) particularly comes to mind.
Would show a lot more heart if NAR was on the hill pushing for affordability rather than Yun's latest call for stimulus.
Would have shown a lot more heart if NAR had been leading the charge against ridiculous lending practices rather than changing their affordability models to use those practices to justify higher prices.
This is my point. I think everyone needs to take a deep look inside and ask why they have no problems with capitalism on the way up, but worry about heart on the way down.
If we want to be perceived as professionals that serve our customers we'll get back to basics. Focus on affordability. Make sure our current clients are making sound purchase decisions. Gain a willingness to tell people who aren't ready to buy to just rent for a while and help them do it. Admit we knew all along that housing doesn't only go up. Call our clients who are losing their homes and offer to help – they'll be far more likely to forgive if you're there now when they really need you to find a rental, move, etc. Organize local support groups. Use our housing affordability funds to help homeowners in foreclosure pay rental security deposits and moving costs.
That would take some real heart and I have yet to see it.
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Imagine a world without vultures? With no one to pick at the carcasses and clean up the mess we'd all be living in the stink of past excess.
The foreclosure situation is a tragedy. But it was born years ago during the boom, when your friend Jose was too busy drawing house plans to care about the consequences.
On the way up everyone is a capitalist wanting their piece of the pie. On the way down everyone is a socialist fawning concern and demanding something be done.
I'm personally for the opposite. Capitalism, even expressed as foreclosure bus tours, is exactly what we need on the way down. Bring on the vultures… its time to clean up this mess.
I see the plot of a Disney movie here. Maligned vultures save the day after tragedy strikes – become heros.
If everyone that made money on the housing boom realizes it is time to roll up their sleeves, set aside the blame, forget the stigmas, and get to work, we'll get through this a lot faster.