Now that the foreclosure epidemic is in full swing, it is not just home owners who are getting slapped in the face. Hundreds of tenants renting homes across the nation are being evicted and forced to move with little or short notice from the banks.
The renters have no idea the homes they are living in are in preforeclosure status and are scheduled to soon be sold at public auction. The renters only find out when they come home to a notice posted on the front door stating they have 30 days to move or be forced to leave the house.
It all started when investors purchased houses as investments speculating they would go up in the near future. They purchased high end homes with larger price tags so they could make more money in a shorter amount of time. After all when housing prices go up by 10% you are much better off to having a $500,000 house than a $100,000 house.
Now many of those so called easy money real estate investments are falling into foreclosure and the banks are the ones evicting the tenants. Many tenants are in long term lease agreements and have been paying their bills on time for months. They also put down large sums of money as a rental deposit for the home they have been living in.
I see this scenario on a weekly basis. Once the home owner or investor knows they can not afford the mortgage they keep collecting the rent checks but dont pay the mortgage and pocket the money. I do not think this is ethical and the investors are at fault for not being honest with the tenants. The problem is, the rental agreement has no information about what happens if the home goes into foreclosure while the tenants are living in it.
Most investors who leave their tenants hanging are not full time professional investors. They are people who jumped on the real estate, get rich quick band wagon hopping to make a quick profit. Professional real estate investors would not do this because they can not afford to have their reputation tarnished by such acts. They rely on reputation and referrals for business which is how they feed their family.
So the questions is,
Do you think the real estate investors or land lords are responsible for loss damages paid to the renter? After all moving your family in less than 30 days can be very hectic and these renters are also out their deposit. Is it ethical to have real estate investors making a profit off of renter and keep collecting the rent even when they know the renter will be evicted.
