Who's riding the foreclosure bus?

It seems in recent months that there are some interesting innovations in marketing coming to our industry. The advancement of the web has put potential homebuyers right on the sofa of their new living room through the use of virtual tours. The use of call capture has homesellers knowing who is interested in their property. Partnering with the travel industry has developers bringing in buyers worldwide. Even the market we are in has brought about a need for adaptation. Now, we have the foreclosure bus!

Entrepreneurial agents are contacting investors, rounding them up and putiing them on a chartered luxury bus. They are catering a nice lunch, hyping their resumes and leading them on a get rich guided tour.

Sounds smart right? Wind the clock back 2+ years. If the houses that these agents are showing are vacant speculative houses, then guess what? These same agents are the ones who probably sold to the so called investors in the first place! They combined with a like minded mortgage person and told these speculators "buy now at this inflated price with 0 dollars and I will flip it for you at completion for an even greater inflated price!". When things went south, they were nowhere to be found...until now.

So what if this is an owner occupied property? The person who is already suffering humiliation from foreclosure, potential bankruptcy, possible employment contraction, social ridicule and enormous stress is now going to have a brightly painted bus pull up in front of his house. That bus is then going to unloada group of strangers walk through his living room walking on his carpet and dignity at the same time.

I realize that post will be polarizing, those who do this type of business will grill me like a burnt sirloin. But let's face it, if my comments draw that kind of wrath could it be that I touched a raw nerve? Could those that are doing these tours actually look in a mirror and like who they see? Come on, let's walk a mile in the shoes of those who are hurting before we push them barefoot in the streets.

Thanks for reading, God Bless