Smorgasbord of Stupidity

From America's daily paper, USA Today, we have Noelle Knox giving examples of lessons learnt in the School of Hard Knocks: Sellers sing the blues as price drop sets record.

In 2004, Derderian bought a house in Las Vegas as an investment for $281,000. He found tenants, but he kicked them out after 10 months because their rent was always late.

He listed the house in the summer for $305,000. Having owned real estate only during boom years, he assumed it would sell in about a week. After a month, he cut the price to $289,900. Another week went by. He offered to pay nearly $9,000 toward a buyer's closing costs.

Then along came Johnson, a 38-year-old truck driver, who snapped up the house and boasts, "I got a great deal."

Derderian, meantime, lost about $25,000 from paying the mortgage on an empty home.

Oopsie! It's called carrying costs, sweetheart!

That's what's hurting Bryan Rauch. In January, he bought a home in Anthem, Ariz., where Pulte Homes is offering a slew of incentives, including advice from re-sale experts to help buyers fix up and sell their current homes.

"The plan was to renovate it and flip it," says Rauch, 37, a nurse-turned-real estate-investor.

Nurse turned real-estate investor. How can it not end badly?

He put the home back on the market in February, at $284,000, then lowered the price repeatedly until he hit $270,000. Still no buyers. After six months, he rented it out at a $500-a-month loss.

"The problem is the builder is giving away homes," Rauch says. "Properties like this are now selling for the low $200s."

Ummm, no, douchebag.

The builder is not "giving away" homes. He's fucking you over. He can cut prices deeply, and still make a profit. And if you think he gives a crap about you, you're gonna learn a serious lesson.

But Rauch needs to cut his losses. So he's putting the home back on the market at $260,000 and crossing his fingers like a lot of other sellers around the country.

Yep, "faith-based" initiatives. That's definitely what makes this country so great.

Wow, it's raining idiots out there. I'm having trouble keeping up!