Vulture investors

I just ran across this name for the investors coming in to "clean up" in a market going through turmoil: vulture investors.  I'm not sure about the rest of you, but this really seems like a negative title to apply to any one who is working in an ethical and moral manner.  While I am generally favorable to investors, this name may be quite descriptive of a class of people taking advantage of some of our neighbors.

If the recent encounter I had with an "investor" who likes to "push the envelope" is any indication of the group identifed as "vulture investors", we Realtors (and other professionals in the industry) should stay clear of them.  I felt like I needed a shower after spending 20 minutes with the man.

The encounter started simply enough: I was to contact a person as the point of entry for an interior BPO.  As we spoke, he indicated he was the purchaser of a distressed property in a small town in Vermilion County.  He was in business to "help people" who were no longer able to make payments on there homes due to bad circumstances.  When he was through refurbishing these homes he would list them with the agents who were willing to "play ball."  While I tend to look @ property with a more critical eye than many, I will not violate any ethical standards.

When I got to the house the next morning, the buyer told me there had been a mistake and I would probably have my BPO canceled.  We made an inspectiom of the property.  As we were walking through, he told me that he thought the home was worth $15K.  Even in our low-price market, that is a real "fixer upper".  He gave me the comps I should use.  I thanked him and indicated that they probably wouldn't work due to age.  I had actually seen two of the sale comps ... they were in much worse condition than the home we were touring. 

Later that afternoon, I got an e-mail and a phone call advising me that the buyer had called in to report I hadn't called him to arrange the interior inspection.  I notified the BPO vendor immediatley.  After a short conversation, the BPO rep told me it was obvious the "investor" had lied about me not speaking with him.

I see this situation as no different than a mortgage lender pressuring an appraiser to support an inflated selling price.  He was asking me to falsify my report to increase his profitability with the promise of future listings and therefore commissions.  If we are participating in this kind of activity, we are not looking out for the best interest of the public.

Maybe it is just me, but the smell of that encounter sickened me.  I recently had an acquaintance relate a story of having hit a vulture as it was feeding on road kill.  He said the freshly killed animal was the most disgusting thing he had ever smelled.  He described an animal who's feather glistened in the blood of the carion on which it had been feasting, and that were covered in the larva of the flies that accompany it everywhere.  Come to think of it, that is kind of what that "investor" remind me of.