Buying Foreclosed Homes

[LaSorcia]

Do you think it's ethical for a rich person to purchase a 2nd home, one that has been foreclosed?

I don't have any qualms about someone with a low budget buying one, especially if they couldn't get a home otherwise.

Is it a sin to profit from someone else's misfortune? Does it matter what is done with the house after purchase?

 

[Aryeh Jay]

Do you think it's ethical for a rich person to purchase a 2nd home, one that has been foreclosed?

I don't have any qualms about someone with a low budget buying one, especially if they couldn't get a home otherwise.

Is it a sin to profit from someone else's misfortune? Does it matter what is done with the house after purchase?

What is the definition of a rich person? I had a home foreclosed on in 2013. At the time they had a lot more money than I did but they were not Bill Gates.

 

[W2L]

Do you think it's ethical for a rich person to purchase a 2nd home, one that has been foreclosed?

I don't have any qualms about someone with a low budget buying one, especially if they couldn't get a home otherwise.

Is it a sin to profit from someone else's misfortune? Does it matter what is done with the house after purchase?

If we love each other, would we not help each other keep our homes rather than profit from it?

 

[DaisyDay]

We don't know the circumstances that led to the foreclosure in the first place. We don't know that that was a person's only home or if it was a speculative rental property. It's better for the neighborhood for the property to be owned by a private owner than by a lender who may let it go to wrack and ruin and bring down the entire area.

 

[LaSorcia]

Thank you all for your input.

 

[joshua 1 9]

Do you think it's ethical for a rich person to purchase a 2nd home, one that has been foreclosed?

I don't have any qualms about someone with a low budget buying one, especially if they couldn't get a home otherwise.

Is it a sin to profit from someone else's misfortune? Does it matter what is done with the house after purchase?

We live in a throw away society and people just don't care anymore. They buy a house, don't take care of it, don't maintain it. Then when they run it into the ground they move out and leave it to a someone else to sell for them. The guy next door moved out and I had to fight with him not to rip the air conditioner and furnace out of the house when he moved out. That would have really made it a derelict house and it would have sat there all that much longer. Recently a lot of houses were on the market because the banking companies were ripping people off so they just walked away from it. A foreclosure almost by definition is considered to be a run down home in need of repair and fix up. There is nothing wrong with fixing up a home for people and if you can make a bit of profit for your effort then all the better. As long as you are honest and not just doing cosmetics. I looked at one house that needed new plumbing in the bath room. They had put in a new floor and they should have replaced the plumbing before they put the floor in. So they were dishonest people trying to make a quick buck and rip people off.

 

[LaSorcia]

We live in a throw away society and people just don't care anymore. They buy a house, don't take care of it, don't maintain it. Then when they run it into the ground they move out and leave it to a someone else to sell for them. The guy next door moved out and I had to fight with him not to rip the air conditioner and furnace out of the house when he moved out. That would have really made it a derelict house and it would have sat there all that much longer. Recently a lot of houses were on the market because the banking companies were ripping people off so they just walked away from it. A foreclosure almost by definition is considered to be a run down home in need of repair and fix up. There is nothing wrong with fixing up a home for people and if you can make a bit of profit for your effort then all the better. As long as you are honest and not just doing cosmetics. I looked at one house that needed new plumbing in the bath room. They had put in a new floor and they should have replaced the plumbing before they put the floor in. So they were dishonest people trying to make a quick buck and rip people off.

Well, that's exactly what I plan to do. I am nearly finished restoring one derelict home, which is my home. I was thinking of buying another one nearby. I had some qualms about whether to buy a foreclosed one or not.

Yes, you're right, contractors and house flippers are buying them up and doing surface repairs and selling them. I would not do that. I plan to keep it for my children and hospitality. I was also thinking of having someone 'between homes' stay there for a certain number of hours per month help with the work in lieu of rent.

 

[joshua 1 9]

Well, that's exactly what I plan to do. I am nearly finished restoring one derelict home, which is my home. I was thinking of buying another one nearby. I had some qualms about whether to buy a foreclosed one or not.

Yes, you're right, contractors and house flippers are buying them up and doing surface repairs and selling them. I would not do that. I plan to keep it for my children and hospitality. I was also thinking of having someone 'between homes' stay there for a certain number of hours per month help with the work in lieu of rent.

Some of us are building our mansion in heaven and the way we treat people here will show up there.

 

[Mudinyeri]

Is it a sin to profit from someone else's misfortune? Does it matter what is done with the house after purchase?

Depending on how your look at it, any form of profit is based on someone's "misfortune."

Another way of looking at it is that profit is no more than a business person's compensation. Is it a misfortune for your employer when they pay you every payday?

More specifically, you don't know the circumstances under which a home went into foreclosure so how can you know if it was truly "misfortune"?

I own a real estate investment company. We buy distressed properties, fix them up and sell them at a profit. The new owner gets a home that is in like-new condition at a fair market price. Some might consider me "rich". Is what my company does somehow wrong? We're simply selling homes at market price. Some of them are foreclosures. Most are not.

 

[joshua 1 9]

Depending on how your look at it, any form of profit is based on someone's "misfortune."

You get paid when you solve problems for people. I remember one job I did the ceiling fell down on the dining room table. He did not care how I fixed the problem, he just wanted it fixed and he wanted to know how much I was going to charge him, which was $300 at the time. To fix the ceiling and repair the water leak.

In general there are people that produce and there are people that plunder. Archeology found some grains that has been stored away 20,000 years ago. That is pretty amazing that they were able to hide their grains so well that no one found them for 20,000 years. The difference between those who produce is that they are willing to put more effort into it. I make it difficult enough for people to steal from me so they go somewhere else where it is more easy.

 

[Mudinyeri]

The difference between those who produce is that they are willing to put more effort into it.

Agreed. I grew up, literally, dirt poor. (Our basement had dirt floors. We had to pump water from a cistern in the ground outside our home into the kitchen sink.) I've worked my tail off my entire life to work my way out of poverty. I now have the good fortune to help others with the same struggle - whether it be through advice or other types of assistance.

 

[VanillaSunflowers]

Do you think it's ethical for a rich person to purchase a 2nd home, one that has been foreclosed?

I don't have any qualms about someone with a low budget buying one, especially if they couldn't get a home otherwise.

Is it a sin to profit from someone else's misfortune? Does it matter what is done with the house after purchase?

I think it opportunism of the worst sort if the foreclosure buyer is a millionaire. If I were blessed to have the monies say a Donald Trump has I'd buy the foreclosures when they come for auction. And then I'd hand the keys and the paid deed to the former owners.

If someone is less fortunate and that's the only way they can obtain a first home, God bless them. and God be with the families who are foreclosed on. It is a horrible feeling to think you may be homeless soon because you don't have the finances for some reason and so as to keep a roof over your head.

 

[Mudinyeri]

... I'd buy the foreclosures when they come for auction. And then I'd hand the keys and the paid deed to the former owners.

I've been involved in numerous, similar charities and have never seen a recipient take good care of the home afterward. There's a LOT to be said for actually earning the money to buy the things you need or want.

 

[DaisyDay]

I think it opportunism of the worst sort if the foreclosure buyer is a millionaire. If I were blessed to have the monies say a Donald Trump has I'd buy the foreclosures when they come for auction. And then I'd hand the keys and the paid deed to the former owners.

Lols, one of the ways Donald Trump got his billions was from forcing poor and elderly tenants from their residences so he could convert the property to luxury housing (with tax breaks due to his father's political connections).

 

[VanillaSunflowers]

Lols, one of the ways Donald Trump got his billions was from forcing poor and elderly tenants from their residences so he could convert the property to luxury housing (with tax breaks due to his father's political connections).

Why would you laugh before imparting that information here?

 

[Dave-W]

I make it difficult enough for people to steal from me so they go somewhere else where it is more easy.

But that does not solve the problem; it just shifts it somewhere else. The person is still stealing (or trying to)

 

[joshua 1 9]

But that does not solve the problem; it just shifts it somewhere else. The person is still stealing (or trying to)

It solves the problem for me. I try to help people and give them advice on how to keep the criminal out. It is really very simple. For the most part they are lazy and you have to make it look like work to steal. So they will just go where it is a lot easier. Also for them to carry tools is against the law. Even a felony. So you can secure things so they need some sort of tool to break in. Sometimes they go around with a pry bar to try to pop windows open. If it does not pop then they go onto the next window or the next house. So you have to make sure the widow is secure enough so they can not get in that easy.

 

[Colter]

Do you think it's ethical for a rich person to purchase a 2nd home, one that has been foreclosed?

I don't have any qualms about someone with a low budget buying one, especially if they couldn't get a home otherwise.

Is it a sin to profit from someone else's misfortune? Does it matter what is done with the house after purchase?

Foreclosed homes are purchased from the bank who is the owner. It provides a service for everybody involved.

 

[Dave-W]

Foreclosed homes are purchased from the bank who is the owner. It provides a service for everybody involved.

Indeed. The banks are the owners of foreclosures. Where it gets wonkey is when this happens:

Bank of America forecloses on house that couple had paid cash for

And it happened a LOT back 5 or 6 years ago. Especially in Florida.

To me - buying a house seized illegally is definitely immoral.

 

[LaSorcia]

Foreclosed homes are purchased from the bank who is the owner. It provides a service for everybody involved.

Thanks, I never thought of it this way.