The specu-vestor trend started in Vancouver and Calgary, then when the big gains were made (2006 or so), the action moved to Edmonton, Red Deer, then eventually Saskatoon and Regina (2008, late to the party).

There were investment groups that ordered houses by tranches – $4M of SFH for instance, never even meeting the realtor let alone seeing the houses. People in Calgary still have money, still think their houses are worth what they sold for last year, and still refuse to believe RE could be dead money for any length of time. These are the originators of the Phoenix model.

At the risk of repeating what Mark states above, cheap houses are selling like hotcakes. But you really need to see some of these beauties to really appreciate how stupid these investors are. It’s just the next wave of knifecatchers about to get neutered. There is no “Phoenix Model.”

As to this notion that the former “owners” might have improved the property, based on my experiences in actually looking at these homes, it’s hogwash. 10 yr old homes have 10 yr old fixtures and appliances. 30 yr old homes look 40 yrs old inside.

During the bubble, you didn’t have to improve your home to sell it, now, the banks refuse to make even minor repairs.

Once in a while you encounter a half-done flip, but those aren’t usually eligible for financing because of missing fixtures.

As to these out-of-town specuvestors, I suspect they’ll get their butts handed to them. Meth/grow/drop houses are all over town, even the locals get fooled – In fact, I believe our own “pink underpants” sheriff had a drop house next door. An out-of-towner doesn’t stand a chance…

The thing that really concerns me, is that the foreclosures are cleaned up by outside crews without the bank ever looking at them. You never know if a given house was a “cooker”, because all of the the evidence is taken away by low-wage, untrained cleaning crews.

Since meth houses are highly toxic, I suspect a wave of articles on people buying bank-owned homes and finding out later that the places are killing them.

only plan for all the government foreclosures that we the taxpayer now own will be to rent to own,

show a paystub and you have a 30-40 year loan WITH A BIG FAT FEE FINANCED ON THE TOP

the government is swimming in foreclosure supply,

they now OR SHORTLY will own all the bad debt of the banks WHICH MEANS FORECLOSURES

butts in houses………..

That said, it someone offered me a reduced “rent” that also meant I didn’t have to pay for major upkeep or taxes, I’d take them up on it.

Homeownership is not what it is cracked up to be. If there is no conceivable payoff at the end of the road, it is hard to justify the hassle and expense. This is starting to dawn on millions of us. We’re a bit slow on the uptake.