Sacramento Real Estate Writes Letter to All Banks

Dear Banks,

The streets are full of your irresponsible lending practices. When checking the MLS this evening and  pulling up homes built from 2004 till now in just Sacramento County, there were 182 homes listed as short sales.

This figure doesn’t account for those homes that have already been repossessed and are now owned by the Bank, nor does it account for the homes that you have sold when hiring an auction company. The figure only accounts for today’s actively listed houses that are new and in short sale.

The families that bought these homes bought them in good faith, thinking that they had a place to raise their families and begin wonderful memories. They are not bankers but trusted that no one would give them a loan if they weren’t going to be able to pay for their homes. Boy, have you ever let you them down! Most of these loans were from new home builders who associated themselves with you, as a Bank providing loans. Oh yes, no incentives would be granted on these houses unless the home buyer went through you, the Builder’s Lender. I wonder if we asked these displaced homeowners if those incentives were worth it…I think NOT!

What baffles me, is why Mr. Banker you won’t re-negotiate these loans…

Yes, I know there is no tax write off for you in a short sale which is probably why you are not accepting short sales. But, by the time you’ve kicked the home owner out and repossessed the house, tried to sell it on the Court house steps, unsuccessfully and then placed it in the hands of a Realtor as an REO, you actually don’t get what is owed on the house plus there are countless attorney fees that have been wracked up. And of course, then there’s the auction companies that you’ve invited to auction off the homes for sometimes far less than what is owed on the loan.

How many of these houses do you want to own? How much of a tax write-off do you need?

Who is making these decisions? Young whipper snappers with little or no experience? Are they the same people, who made these hideous loans, that are now in a position of authority at the Bank?

It’s time that a little common sense prevail. Not only is this effecting the families that you have destroyed and displaced but it is effecting each of the neighborhoods just like the car wreck pictured above. Is this what you want a neighborhood to look like?

Re-negotiate these loans and let the families remain in their homes…this would be a win,win for everyone. Do the right thing. It’s really very simple.

I know families who have tried to sell, knowing that they could not meet the new escalated payment and couldn’t sell, then when they called you, Mr. Bank you wouldn’t refinance because they had been on the market trying to sell. You told them they would need to wait 6 months after having been on MLS in order to refinance. Wake up, yes I’m talking to you Wells Fargo (for one). You gave them crummy loans and if you haven’t noticed prices are going down, not up. Start trying to help these families and not make it impossible for them.

FYI: If you are a home buyer who is thinking of purchasing a new home from a builder, be extremely careful of those incentives that you are so excited about…they come at a very high price! Many of these homeowners used the Builder’s perferred Lender and now they are losing their homes.