What Is Ugly? Ugly can be horribly ugly it can be an odor, mold, roof leaks, insects, animals, foundation problems, structural problems or vandalism. Over the past years the ugliest homes Ive seen are the foreclosure properties where the families have left behind the kids toys, the school books, clothes, childrens art work, trophies, pictures, Christmas ornaments the things your parents saved for you from your early years. I dont think it gets any uglier than that. A home we saw this past spring, one that we tried to buy at pre foreclosure was pretty ugly. The neighborhood was not bad $130,000 to $175,000 ranchers and 2 stories. This home had a mortgage balance of $150,000 and a $14,000 second the owners refinanced a couple of times once to add an in-ground pool and another time to buy an RV for cash. What were they thinking? Mom called us in two weeks before the foreclosure sale. The bank would not talk with us. We FedExed the whole package over to the bank color photos and all the paperwork they werent interested in working with anyone. The process had been going on for over a year the owners had delayed the first foreclosure by filing bankruptcy and did not make any court ordered payments it was just a stall and now there was no stopping the bank and the foreclosure. It all started 3 years earlier, Mom and Dad like to party somewhere along the way Mom and Dad got into drugs. Mom stayed with the drugs lost her job, lost another job, went into and out of rehab, lost another job, and sat home. Dad was having a good time for himself he bought the RV, moved his girl friend into the RV which was parked in the driveway. The 3 kids 12, 9 and 7 were getting a real education from these two. The kids loved the pool. Occasionally the power would be shut off because the bills werent getting paid. So one time smart Dad decides he can run the pool pump and filter from the RV. Maybe you can. But not this time something didnt work right not enough power, too much power, AC/DC he didnt know it just did not work and burnt out the pool motor. That was 2 summers ago. This year when we looked at the pool it was 3/4 full with a brown, green, slimy purple sludge and a big crack at the diving board side. I bet the kids had a great time with that pool. I dont know what happened to this family if you want to call it a family. But this is the real ugly stuff you run into dealing with residential investing. Sometimes you can help sometimes you cant. Most of the time its just way out of your control and theres nothing you can do no matter what you offer. Be the Best Mom or Dad you can. Merry Christmas |
