Creative Resources Used by Homeowners

Posted on November 17th, 2008 by saman

The economic down turn only gets worse and worse, leaving many homeowners all over the country more and more desperate to save their homes from foreclosure or find a way to get rid of the property before things get that far. Thousands have already gone through foreclosure in the past couple years, but this year the numbers of people at risk of losing their homes one way or the other only grow by the day.

In such desperate economic conditions it should be no surprise that some homeowners are thinking outside the box to find ways to avoid losing their homes to foreclosure. The financial consequences of foreclosure for a homeowner’s credit could be devastating so selling the property before that happens is the best alternative for many of these homeowners. The problem is the real estate market is also crashing as less and less people are able to actually get a loan to buy a home anymore. Those who do have the money to potentially invest in real estate could not possibly buy all of the properties currently going into foreclosure, so many homes are sitting empty for long periods of time while lenders are waiting to be bailed out by the federal government.

The result is even more desperation for homeowners who would be willing to sell their homes for not a dime more than what they owe their lenders, but who have not been able to find a buyer for those homes even at that price. For some, the property they want to get rid of may have been sitting empty for long periods of time without care so finding a buyer is even more unlikely as it is not easy to sell a home that is falling apart or uncared for even in the best of markets.

The result of this housing disaster is more and more creative thinking on the part of desperate homeowners. Recently, one such homeowner in Saginaw, Michigan took a chance and put her abandoned property on Ebay. The home currently has a sign on the door stating that the property is in foreclosure and has been sitting empty for an unknown period of time.

A Chicago woman who has never been to Saginaw and apparently has no intention of moving there was the winner of the Ebay auction. Her winning bid was for a mere $1.75, but she must also pay around $850 for back taxes on the home and yard clean up during the time frame it has been sitting abandoned. That doesn’t seem like a bad deal if the Chicago winner is able to find a buyer and get rid of the property for a profit, but the chances are even higher that she will have to put a good bit of time and money into making the abandoned property structurally sound and attractive to the few homebuyers still in the market in Saginaw.

While most homeowners are not going so far as to list their almost foreclosed homes on Ebay, there are more listings for homes on internet sites such as Craigs List.