Vacant homes do not stimulate the economy........and their "ungy"
I am optimistic about all that the government and banks are doing to try and make homes and loans affordable, and make short selling a property easier for a homeowner who has no other sensible alternative.
As we all know, homes that sit vacant over time, on the simplest level, are just not attractive (or as my little neice would say, they're "ungy")
But not only are they an eye sore and a cause for depression within the neighborhoods that they are in, more importantly they do not help stimulate the economy, which is really needed right now.
A homeowner living in a home who is paying their mortgage are contributing in many ways:
- They are paying interest to the banks, who in turn invest their money in the national markets
- They are consuming goods for the home - personal property, appliances, furniture, cleaning supplies, plants, electronics, etc - and by doing this they are helping to keep the employees of all those companies employed.
- They are paying for utilities - helping keep that sector of the economy going and keeping those workers employed.
- They are homeowners, so not only did they provide a transaction for 2 real estate agents, a loan officer, an escrow officer, title officer, etc., but they will most likely need to either upgrade or relocate, which will require a transaction all over again. This also keeps those professionals in the real estate business going.
- And very importantly, especially here in California, a homeowner pays property taxes. This is a huge source of revenue for the state and local government to be able to fund programs and public works projects
When you help your client short sale their property to avoid a foreclosure, or when you assist your buyers in purchasing that REO, you are actually doing your local and national economy a huge favor.
So it is vitally important that we do whatever we can as a society to keep the home ownership principal available to everyone.
Any empty house means empty pockets to many people.
