Wasted Homes and Brown Lawns

As a real estate broker it makes me uncomfortable to watch homes wasting away when a lender takes it back. When an owner can no longer make the payments and fails to get the lender to modify the loan terms (a common story lately) he gets the move-out notice and the bank takes over. But they don't do anything but shuffle paper . . . no painting, no mowing, no watering. The house begins a slow slide into disrepair.

Now the already-eroded value begins to sink even further because the brown lawn and the peeling paint take away from its curb appeal. Lenders evidently don't seem to understand this. They already have stopped receiving the monthly payment and tossed the owner out so now, with zero coming in you would think they would at least try to maintain what value is left.

But no, the banks continue down this imbicilic road of snatching property and letting it rot. It makes me furious that, for example, a lender would kick out a paying tenant when the owner quits making mortgage payment. Why, for heaven's sake would you kick out somebody who was paying rent to an owner? Wouldn't you, duh, maybe ask the tenant to start sending payments to the bank instead? Like, can't a bank be a landlord now and keep the place alive and breathing?

Remember, these lenders are the same ones we "lent" billions to because they were in trouble. I don't know where that money went but it never landed where it was needed and now it looks like we just bailed out some really, really dumb business people. And I don't think we'll get paid back, either.

Here's what the banks could do instead: can't make your payment this month? No problem, let's refigure your loan. We'd rather add months to the end and reduce the interest rate (longer term even at a lower rate could yield the same return for the bank so they wouldn't lose money on the deal) than take a loss on the house.

But oh no. Seeing at least to the ends of their noses these giants of industry want the quick fix. Get out of this deal at any cost. After all it's taxpayer money, not our's, right?

I'm hoping some reader was in this line of work and will set me straight but I wonder if I will hear from anyone.

The Blackbird is Coming

Actually I meant the Brewer's Blackbird. The bird, not the plane. That was just a teaser lead-in to get your attention.

Have you noticed that a)there have been fewer songbirds this season and b)the blackbirds are passing through. They seem to gather in small flocks and pretty much blanket a lot, going almost in line across the landscape looking for I guess, seeds and insects.

So what happened to the grosbeaks, the bluebirds, the finches even? Is something going on? Property taxes too high? Transient occupancy tax being applied to birds now? What?

Putting Our Resources to Good Use

This is called "cage fighting", where opponents attempt to bloody eachother into subission and thus gain some sort of prize. Personally, I think this is embarassing to our nature and civilized state. I mean, let's go back to Rome, shall we? Where gladiators killed eachother for praise and reward. So why, ten centuries later, are we still enamored with blood-letting?

Well, that's another subject. I'd rather address how this perversion could be adapted to our modern world . . . . make these people soldiers. I mean, who is more qualified? Physical fitness? Hummph. Motivation to kill? There. So why not use these testosterone mistakes defend us?

It's the money you see. If we could pay soldiers what these guys make it'd be different. But we can't. So let's move to the next level.

Pro sports makes millions in this country. Players get mega-million contracts and stadiums are awash with eager fans. The sports franchises appear to be the singlular exception to our present recession.

So.

Let's put our sports pros where our soldiers are. They are fit. They are motivated. All we lack here is the money. But maybe if we diverted the revenue from all the pro sports events into the military budget we'd come out even.

Then we could watch our wars on ESPN.