Matt if I were in Wisconsin I'd team up with you to get these rehabbers into these great deals!  You find them the properties and I'll handle the financing.  Unfortunately me being in WA kind of makes that hard!  I must say that wile I think in a perfect world the ideas presented in the other blog are good ideas I agree with your statements.  But then if it was a perfect world those people wouldn't have gotten foreclosed on in the first place.

Know any good mortgage brokers in WI? I have done a few rehabs in the past, but usually financing is hard to come by now.

And exactly... if things were perfect, then the bank wouldn't have the property to begin with. I would actually guess that some of those same agents chiding the banks are responsible for helping "unqualified" buyers get qualified and into that predicament to begin with.... just so they can get commission on the buying end.

All I say is the more foreclosures, the more opportunities for investors, and the more opportunities for me as well to provide them great service. Plus, I think that all the renovations they do actually help the neighbors in the not-so-long long run.

There is one flaw with your reasoning.  The banks have tightened up lending and are loaning less and less money each year to potential buyers.  Why?  Because they are losing money and don't have it to lend!  Cut the darned losses - help out instead of hurting, that's all I'm asking.

Yes, Banks have tightened up their lending, but only in relation to the recent history. They still have many financing options to those that are actually responsible and can prove so (credit score and other ways). They still are very open to lending to responsible people and are just putting in the checks'n'balances that they should have had before.

Your idea that they put a little into a place to increase their profits, and comparable sale value is a novel idea. It would benefit alot of people. Investors are doing that as we type though. They are purchasing these 'rehab' properties and fixing them up to increase not only the value of the home, but the surrounding community as well. Sellers shouldn't worry so much that the dump down the road sold for $X less if it needed $X amount of work to bring it up to par. Yes, it does give the Buyers more options, but most Buyers are not interested in a rehab project. Agents need to be careful when pulling their comps to use apples and apples, not apples and oranges. (one reason why if you ever do a BPO, the asset manager doesn't want you to use foreclosure comparables - they want what should be market value) To fix up properties, it just isn't worth it to the lenders. It isn't as simple as hiring local people to do it... They would need someone to hold the contractor responsible, handle paperwork, track expenses, report the process in a committee meeting, etc... There would be a large amount of cost and overhead involved for them(or the asset manager who would pass that on to the bank) Banks are better financially served, business speaking, minimizing their loss quickly, moving on with the lending process, and letting people who specialize in rehabbing earn a profit for all the work involved. 

Maybe instead of focusing on the banks, we should either continue to do that ourselves, or find more investor clients that we can help create a win/win/win with. (investor/agent/buyer) And I guess you could make that a 4 way win situation when you account for the other homeowners and teh positive effect that the rehabbed house has on their community value as well.