Buying repossessed property. Does it somehow feel wrong profitting from anothers misfortune?
by 
steelhamster@aol.com
ANSWERS: 25
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I suppose it depends on how and why it was repossessed if it was due to the death of a spouse and their partner could no longer keep up the payments then i think i would feel a little uneasy,on the other hand if it was someone who wouldnt keep up the payments then i wouldnt feel as if i had taken it from them so to speak.
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it does a little bit but then again, whether i buy it or not, it still isn't their's anymore. i know that sounds really cold hearted but the only way i can make it their's again is to buy it, find out who it belonged to and give it to them.
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no.because if you don't,someone else will.humans have been doing this since the begining of time and it is impossible to stop now. question>would you prefer someone else benifit?
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yes and no...someone will buy it after all
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If someone was to say to me, wear this fur coat the animal is dead anyway, I wouldn't see it as a good basis for an ethical argument for wearing fur. However we are talking about a building, bricks and mortar and you purchasing that building bears no relation to the cause of it being repossessed. By not buying it you won't have prevented the foreclosure. I'd say if it's a bargain go for it and let their misfortune be a warning to be financially careful (ie if it can happen to them...) :)
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Absolutley not. They got themselves into the finacial mess that lead them to losing their property. They knew going into owning the property that there was the chance of this, so their actions leading up to the reposession justify them losing it. I'm sure there are a few exceptions where the repossession was wrongly administered, but you get the point.
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Only in a death situation if they lost it due to losing a loved 1. Besides that no because it actually helps the person that had the repo they only have to pay what the balance is after the sale, instead of the full debt at the time of reposession
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I can be sorry for their misfortune all day - but it won't restore their luck, will it? If someone buys a house at the very limit of their income, and their interest rate goes up, that isn't MY fault. If their job evaporates, that isn't MY fault.
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No! You are actually helping the person by purchasing the property. In this situation the original owners are still liable for the bank note and your purchase actually lowers that note. In essence if they have plenty of equity in the property the purchase may pay off the note. Not likely though, most people in this situation have refinanced and haven't got enough equity to play with and get the property sold quickly.
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I am actually in the process of buying a foreclosed property. It's been sitting for over a year, and the realtor that currently has it is the 3rd realtor in a year, so she has no idea what happened that caused the previous owners to lose their house. I did ask, because I DID feel badly about it. Not badly enough to NOT buy it, because not buying it isn't going to get them their home back, but still a little bad. I don't think I really wanted to know, though, because if it WERE something sad, I would have felt genuinely bad ! But the realtor told me that, at least in our area (small town, rural state), most repos and foreclosures are due to an increased interest rate on homes purchased with an ARM (adjustable rate mortgage), which brought the mortgage up to an amount they couldn't afford. I think the bottom line for me is that I will be able to rest easier knowing I'm not profiting in a pure sense from someone's loss - I will be living in the house, not flipping it to resell.
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No. A person should know how much debt they can carry, if they are unable to make their house payments then they should not be allowed to hang onto their property.I do not feel like it is profitting from someones misfortune, it is your good fortune to profit from a property that would sit empty and make the neighborhood houses go down in value. It is just good business sense.
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its not wrong at all. think about it. the person is about to be foreclosed on the property. The bank is going to kick them out of their house, they'll lose all of their equity if they have any. and they'll have a foreclosure on their credit which is REALLY BAD. someone who then buys the foreclosure (if done properly) will give them out of the obligation of their mortgage & possibly save their credit score
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You are buying a house that someone sold to the bank and promised to buy back over a number of years, then failed to keep their promise (possibly not through any fault of theirs). It's no different than buying in any other situation.
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Buyers have absolutely to do with the misfortune of the previous owners being dispossessed. I'd rather be lucky than smart and all the foreclosures that are happening to easily have happened to many people. You see a house you want, the bank qualifies you for the payment and says, "Don't worry, when the 1 percent interest rate expires in 2 years, if you've kept your credit good, you can refinance. Well, maybe their credit still isn't so good and they can't qualify for the best rates or best loans. They're between a rock and a hard place. They never should have been given the loan in the first place. The lecherous mortgage lenders made the money and now they're broke as well.
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Not at all. It's not wrong to appreciate that they lost thier home but it is all very mechanical. Once the bank takes it the home is no longer thiers but it is the property of a non-feeling corporation. Don't get confused... You didn't go to the bank and say "would you please forclose on a home so I can buy it cheap". The bank didn't forclose on it because there was demand for it to do so... It forclosed on it either because the owner decided he didn't really want the house (too expensive) and stopped making the payments or the homeowner was irresposible with his money and couldn't pay or the homeowner lost his capacity to pay for it. You wouldn't expect the bank to say "oh, don't worry about it" and let it go. Once the bank forecloses the previous owner or why the bank took it is irrelevant. It sounds cold but it is very fair that the bank forecloses.
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I have purchased foreclosures for years, in fact, over 500 of them. The answer is that it depends on how you go about it. My philsophy has always been to work in a win-win situation. Have compassion and empathy and not greed and you will not only feel good about what you are doing, but you can help somone in need. For example, often I purchased homes the evening before a foreclosure. The seller's previous deal fell thru for some reason, or they just finally got out of denial. I was able to give them cash (sometimes as much as $200,000 if there was a lot of equity) and payoff their liens, plus give them 2 months or so to relocate. That's a great win -- the seller got cash vs. losing their home and time to get re-situated. An example of greed would be if you saw that as an opportunity to take advantage of the person by offering them $10,000 for $300,000 of equity, or if, say you promised to sell them back their home even though you knew they couldn't do it, etc. If you treat people the way you want to be treated you will earn good profits and feel good about yourself.
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It is unfortunate for the bank, as well. Don't you think? I have to tell ya, I used to feel bad about it, but I no longer do after seeing the condition many of these homes are left in...and I know in many situations, the horrible condition of the house that was foreclosed on, did not happen over night. So truthfully, I now feel bad for the house, though less so for the former owner. Many of the houses I have seen, are total dumps! I personally don't think the person who lost the house had any sense of responsibility whatsoever or the house would be in better condition. My friend just bought a foreclosure home. It has been a nightmare to clean it up. The entire house was absolutely trashed, and I know it happened over time, not over night. Not all foreclosure homes are due to job loss or personally bad situations. Many are lost due to a persons financial negligence. In fact, if you look at the stats, that is the majority of homes foreclosed on. People taking on a mortgage they could not handle to begin with. Poor house!
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It is the same feeling I get when walking into a pawn shop.
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It's simple supply and demand. Increasing demand (buyers) increases the price. If there are more sellers than buyers, prices must decrease to entice more buyers. Why do you think many markets have seen a decrease in sales prices over the last two/three years? Supply increased and demand decreased when people got scared that the so called "real estate bubble" was about to pop. So no, you shouldn't feel bad about buying anything! It only helps our economy.
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If it does just buy it and donate it back to the foreclosee.
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Not at all. The bank or mortgage company was going to foreclose on the house or property regardless of wether someone else buys it or not.
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Quite the contrary. You should view it as a buying opportunity. Someone else failed to live up to the terms of their mortgage contract and defaulted. The bank is the REAL loser, since the average forclosure causes the bank to lose $60K to $70K in write-downs. You, as the new potential buyer reap the benefits, at the expense of the bank NOT the poor fool who chose to live beyond their means.
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no
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Don't feel wrong about profiting from another's misfortune as they have learned a very valuable lesson in losing the property and will probably never make that mistake again. Someone needs to buy up these vacant homes anyway since having them sit out there with no occupant is bad for the rest of the neighborhood.
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I would not if I did make such a purchase. I would be sad for the folks who lost their home, but I would also know that I was doing a service to the economy and also to the neighborhood. Empty houses on a block effect everyone's home values and the morale of the neighborhood.
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