Disclaimer: This is a rant from a frustrated person attempting to purchase real estate in the State of Florida. If you're not in the mood for a rant, please exit now.
To me, since I moved here, one thing has always stood at the center of this mythical phrase known as "The American Dream": Owning a home. The one thing that everyone, whether you've lived here all your life, or just got here a week ago, is striving for, the ultimate goal, almost the very definition of "living the dream!"
Well, let me tell you something, in the ten years that I've lived here, I've seen that dream so thoroughly go to the dogs, that I can't help but wonder, what it will take to get people to riot in the streets and reclaim the "American Dream".
In the past six years I've had to watch friends and family lose their houses to foreclosure, selling their houses for way less than they paid, those who used to own houses, now being forced to rent houses, being forced out of rentals because their scumbag landlord neglected to mention he was being foreclosed on, their children being forced to switch schools because of moving, even some that came from countries like the former Eastern Block and Mexico going back to their countries for better opportunities... you name it, I watched it happen, in my direct circle of friends, family and loved-ones. American dream? More like American nightmare...
Personally, I can't really complain, I never lost anything, not, because I knew what other's didn't, but plain and simple, because I lucked-out and was at the right places at the right time, coincidentally, following my own personal "American Dream". That dream of mine led me to sell my condo in Florida right before the market went down the toilet. I moved to Boston, because once upon a time, my 13-year-old-self dreamt up Boston to be the end-all-be-all awesomeness personified. Thank goodness for that, in retrospect, because I was willing to put my head through a wall for that dream to come true. Had I not, I would've lost my shirt with the best of them... on a condo that is coincidentally right now on the market again for less than a third of what I paid in '04 and for a fraction of what the poor schmuck paid, who bought it from me at the peak of that bloated market in '06. (In fact, a realtor unknowing of my purchasing history offered it to me the other day, depressing, really....)
I was extremely lucky back then. Right now I find myself confronted with a completely different problem in real estate. I cannot find a house to buy. I know what you're thinking. That's ridiculous, half of Florida is vacant or foreclosed or bank owned, there's literally property available left and right. Hell, from where I stand right now, I can see 3 vacant units without even leaving my doorstep...BUT yet, I still cannot get my hands on it.
I have been playing this game for 6 months straight now. I have simultaneously consulted 4 different Realtors with specialties ranging from foreclosures to auction and everything in between. That was my first hurdle. In '04 when I was buying, realtor's would have held prize fights against each other for my business; Back then, used to do research for you, cart your butt around town to look at houses, hell, they'd take you to lunch, if it meant getting your business, ---falling over themselves, literally...
Nowadays, I do most of the work finding a place myself, I have to call 15 Realtors until one can be bothered to respond at all, and wait a week before anyone shows me anything. At one point, I was actually contemplating just taking the class and getting a license myself...... In a market that is seemingly flooded with available real estate, for the life of me I cannot buy a house. No, it's not because I'm picky, (well I am, but still!), not because I don't have the money, I simply cannot get an offer in to save my life. (I have that same cartoon popping up before my mind's eye all the time, me, chasing a realtor down the street throwing wads of money after him and he is running from me, funny but tragic at the same time....). Investors seem to rule the market right now, Realtors are so desperate for work and money, they'd rather sell many units with minimal profit to the same investor, who may throw them a bone under the table here and there, than to get the average American family into a house they can actually afford and pay off in their own lifetime..
My community is called "little Russia" not like little Italy, like all cutesy, where there's pizzeria's and gelato places or Chinatown where there's Chinese takeouts and jui-jitsu parlors, ---nope this community got its name, because it is almost exclusively owned by two or three Russian investors, they buy sight-unseen. The listing of an "Active" or "available" unit is simply a formality for their Realtors, who legally have to list it, but in reality already know that they never will show that unit to anyone other than the investor, whose pocket they're in and, whom is always their first choice. Little old me, I feel like I'm this little rat caught in the wheel chasing the opportunity that never really existed....
I would bet my hide that the banks are in on this procedure by now too. A surefire way to sell more units quicker and probably for more profit than they could have hoped for, after they lost their shirt in the foreclosure crisis (which they brought upon themselves in the first place)
Now the neighborhood stabilization act was put in place, a band-aid on an already gashing and out of control wound, and will end in another ridiculous crisis, just a little ways down the road. The act, supposedly giving homeowners, who actually want to live in a house they buy (there's a shocking concept), is waaaay too easy to circumvent.
Supposedly it was put in place to now prevent all those investors from buying up every available piece of property for dimes on the dollar, like they've been doing for several years now. Finally, but as always way too little too late, the government has become afraid (or aware, considering their awesome ability of being in denial) of the Frankenstein monster it created, the almighty investor. It seemed like such a good idea, bring some investors in, people with lots of money, to save the day by buying up all this empty property, so it doesn't rot away from being vacant with no power and no A/C.
What they didn't see coming though, is that those same investors are now on track to create a foreign-owned housing majority. Congrats and bye-bye to the dream that once was, unless someone actually has the balls to enforce that law. If not, I or you won't own a house for quite some time. And then when we finally get to buy, probably in the midst of another bloated housing bubble, from a foreign investor, who will take that money right out of the country faster than you can say "American Dream" the government's faces will be long and sad !!! But that's alright, as long as the banks and Wall Street stay rich, everything's OK....
If you hadn't noticed, I'm a little fed up, just having lost another condo I was "bidding" on, to a rigged offer on a unit that never was really "available", but sold before it even went on the market.
I come from a country where these things are simple. I thought back when I moved here, Germany was so bureaucratic and I was fed up with it, but really things are pretty simple over there: You are ready to spend money, you get to buy stuff. There's something offered in the market, you give money, you get goods, a simple concept really, in a free market.... makes you wonder if that much hailed freedom in America really still exists or if it's only....well....a dream.....
To me, since I moved here, one thing has always stood at the center of this mythical phrase known as "The American Dream": Owning a home. The one thing that everyone, whether you've lived here all your life, or just got here a week ago, is striving for, the ultimate goal, almost the very definition of "living the dream!"
Well, let me tell you something, in the ten years that I've lived here, I've seen that dream so thoroughly go to the dogs, that I can't help but wonder, what it will take to get people to riot in the streets and reclaim the "American Dream".
In the past six years I've had to watch friends and family lose their houses to foreclosure, selling their houses for way less than they paid, those who used to own houses, now being forced to rent houses, being forced out of rentals because their scumbag landlord neglected to mention he was being foreclosed on, their children being forced to switch schools because of moving, even some that came from countries like the former Eastern Block and Mexico going back to their countries for better opportunities... you name it, I watched it happen, in my direct circle of friends, family and loved-ones. American dream? More like American nightmare...
Personally, I can't really complain, I never lost anything, not, because I knew what other's didn't, but plain and simple, because I lucked-out and was at the right places at the right time, coincidentally, following my own personal "American Dream". That dream of mine led me to sell my condo in Florida right before the market went down the toilet. I moved to Boston, because once upon a time, my 13-year-old-self dreamt up Boston to be the end-all-be-all awesomeness personified. Thank goodness for that, in retrospect, because I was willing to put my head through a wall for that dream to come true. Had I not, I would've lost my shirt with the best of them... on a condo that is coincidentally right now on the market again for less than a third of what I paid in '04 and for a fraction of what the poor schmuck paid, who bought it from me at the peak of that bloated market in '06. (In fact, a realtor unknowing of my purchasing history offered it to me the other day, depressing, really....)
I was extremely lucky back then. Right now I find myself confronted with a completely different problem in real estate. I cannot find a house to buy. I know what you're thinking. That's ridiculous, half of Florida is vacant or foreclosed or bank owned, there's literally property available left and right. Hell, from where I stand right now, I can see 3 vacant units without even leaving my doorstep...BUT yet, I still cannot get my hands on it.
I have been playing this game for 6 months straight now. I have simultaneously consulted 4 different Realtors with specialties ranging from foreclosures to auction and everything in between. That was my first hurdle. In '04 when I was buying, realtor's would have held prize fights against each other for my business; Back then, used to do research for you, cart your butt around town to look at houses, hell, they'd take you to lunch, if it meant getting your business, ---falling over themselves, literally...
Nowadays, I do most of the work finding a place myself, I have to call 15 Realtors until one can be bothered to respond at all, and wait a week before anyone shows me anything. At one point, I was actually contemplating just taking the class and getting a license myself...... In a market that is seemingly flooded with available real estate, for the life of me I cannot buy a house. No, it's not because I'm picky, (well I am, but still!), not because I don't have the money, I simply cannot get an offer in to save my life. (I have that same cartoon popping up before my mind's eye all the time, me, chasing a realtor down the street throwing wads of money after him and he is running from me, funny but tragic at the same time....). Investors seem to rule the market right now, Realtors are so desperate for work and money, they'd rather sell many units with minimal profit to the same investor, who may throw them a bone under the table here and there, than to get the average American family into a house they can actually afford and pay off in their own lifetime..
My community is called "little Russia" not like little Italy, like all cutesy, where there's pizzeria's and gelato places or Chinatown where there's Chinese takeouts and jui-jitsu parlors, ---nope this community got its name, because it is almost exclusively owned by two or three Russian investors, they buy sight-unseen. The listing of an "Active" or "available" unit is simply a formality for their Realtors, who legally have to list it, but in reality already know that they never will show that unit to anyone other than the investor, whose pocket they're in and, whom is always their first choice. Little old me, I feel like I'm this little rat caught in the wheel chasing the opportunity that never really existed....
I would bet my hide that the banks are in on this procedure by now too. A surefire way to sell more units quicker and probably for more profit than they could have hoped for, after they lost their shirt in the foreclosure crisis (which they brought upon themselves in the first place)
Now the neighborhood stabilization act was put in place, a band-aid on an already gashing and out of control wound, and will end in another ridiculous crisis, just a little ways down the road. The act, supposedly giving homeowners, who actually want to live in a house they buy (there's a shocking concept), is waaaay too easy to circumvent.
Supposedly it was put in place to now prevent all those investors from buying up every available piece of property for dimes on the dollar, like they've been doing for several years now. Finally, but as always way too little too late, the government has become afraid (or aware, considering their awesome ability of being in denial) of the Frankenstein monster it created, the almighty investor. It seemed like such a good idea, bring some investors in, people with lots of money, to save the day by buying up all this empty property, so it doesn't rot away from being vacant with no power and no A/C.
What they didn't see coming though, is that those same investors are now on track to create a foreign-owned housing majority. Congrats and bye-bye to the dream that once was, unless someone actually has the balls to enforce that law. If not, I or you won't own a house for quite some time. And then when we finally get to buy, probably in the midst of another bloated housing bubble, from a foreign investor, who will take that money right out of the country faster than you can say "American Dream" the government's faces will be long and sad !!! But that's alright, as long as the banks and Wall Street stay rich, everything's OK....
If you hadn't noticed, I'm a little fed up, just having lost another condo I was "bidding" on, to a rigged offer on a unit that never was really "available", but sold before it even went on the market.
I come from a country where these things are simple. I thought back when I moved here, Germany was so bureaucratic and I was fed up with it, but really things are pretty simple over there: You are ready to spend money, you get to buy stuff. There's something offered in the market, you give money, you get goods, a simple concept really, in a free market.... makes you wonder if that much hailed freedom in America really still exists or if it's only....well....a dream.....
