A Sea Of Red

Check out this story (including video) from near our family farm in Ohio:

WLWT-5 Cincinnati wrote:Frustrated Owner Bulldozes Home Ahead Of Foreclosure
Man Says Actions Intended To Send Message To Banks

POSTED: 10:42 am EST February 18, 2010
UPDATED: 6:36 pm EST February 19, 2010

MOSCOW, Ohio -- Like many people, Terry Hoskins has had troubles with his bank. But his solution to foreclosure might be unique.

Hoskins said he's been in a struggle with RiverHills Bank over his Clermont County home for nearly a decade, a struggle that was coming to an end as the bank began foreclosure proceedings on his $350,000 home.

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Id like to know what exactly the legal consequences are in this case....

I'm not sure there are any until the house has been foreclosed. You are welcome to destroy your own property.

But is it really "your property" when the bank paid for it and you still owe them $160,000?

I'm not a lawyer, but that doesn't seem right, and I guess I don't have as much sympathy for him as some do. I have even less for the dummies who overextended themselves to live in big fancy houses they couldn't afford and now owe more than what the house is worth. Did they ever hear the expression "what goes up must come down"?

Moral of the story: Don't pay your taxes -- tear down your house and pretend the big-bad IRS is bullying you.

I wasn't having much sympathy for the man until I got to this quote:

Hoskins said he'd gotten a $170,000 offer from someone to pay off the house, but the bank refused, saying they could get more from selling it in foreclosure.

If that is true, and the bank hadn't foreclosed, shouldn't the sale have gone through?

There's something not right about this story. I don't really blame him for throwing this tantrum if he's got $200k of equity in this place and the bank is seizing it over $160k. There has been a lot of measures taken over the last year where people and banks are working things out to avoid foreclosure. I mean, give the guy a chance to sell it to get his money out. Both sides win. And therein lies the part of the story that I'm not buying. I bet this house was worth $350k 3 years ago. I'm definitely not going to take his word for it these days. On top of that, the fact that he offered to pay off the balance and the bank so "no we can get more money by selling it". Banks don't do that. They don't want to have to sell houses. That's why foreclosures and short sales are take forever to buy. You have to wait on the bank's approval of the sale and they are never in any hurry close.

From what I can tell, this is all coming from his perspective. Like the country song says "we all live in a 2 story house". I would be interested in hearing the bank's story.