When some loses, someone else wins...

Dude that's foul stuff. I am close to loosing my home from this stupid mortgage industry so I would never want to leech off of someones misfortune like that

Before I stepped in to this situation these con men had already swindled my family into 250k of debt. It's a sad thing and not to be trifled with, karma exists.

depends on the situation

I'm game

I'm really sorry for you, but it's not the possible buyer ruining you. Like the stock markets, for everything someone wins, someone else must lose. It's not nice, it's maybe not fair, but that's how our whole economy and life in general works.

We buy cheap stuff because some poor chinese guy made it, for a few cents an hour, he probably sleeps where he works and sees his family twice a year. He'll die at 40 because the chemicals he's exposed to without protection ruin his health and the employer gives a fuck. That's a globalized economy....

So, you're saying, if you saw a bargain-priced home on the market and had the means to pick it up, you wouldn't?

I understand the problems with the mortgage industry, but there were also a lot of people who went with no-interest loans and ARMs and didn't plan ahead for when those things ballooned up. There were a lot of speculators too. Some made a fortune and some lost their asses.

It's no different than the stockmarket at times...if someone buys low and manages to sell high, the guy who bought high is probably going to get fucked. Is that his own fault if things crash?

I actually have a friend who's picking up foreclosed properties and renting them back to the people who are in foreclosure so they can keep their homes, but would it be wrong for him to try and make a profit from that as well?

Well, I have one thing sure. I'm saving lots of euro for when the US dollar goes even more down, so I can buy bargain properties in USA.

Buildenberg club (you should know who they are) said there will be a major crackdown on the USA real estate market, and after that there will happen a once in a lifetime opportunity to buy cheap real estate. In my case this will happen for second time because I already placed lots of money in properties in Bulgaria and now I'm starting to get the rents from them.

At the moment it's cheaper to buy a house than to buy a new car in Detroit. At the time the US dollar becomes near 1 euro = $1.75 and just when politicians start to talk about the pamer (the new USA + Canada + probably Mexico currency) it will be the perfect time to buy stuff in USA because the US market will be very untrustworthy.
I estimate that this will really start 14 months from now when the USA invades Iran in October or November 2008 and the dollar will really go down then.
Till then I'm just sitting and building new houses in Bulgaria and preparing to sell them when the prices raise a bit more

In an untrustworthy market there is usually a kind of panic situation. If you play your cards good you can make lots of money because of that "panic" situation.
In USA the situation has almost reached the boiling point, but it's still not enough. The Government cannot raise the price of money (interests) because then lots of people will be unable to pay their bills. But the government needs to raise the price of money (interests) because otherwise the US dollar loses value against the euro. Till now they still manage to maintain the situation, but that cannot go forever. There will be aperiod of 2 or 3 years when real estate prices will drop very abruptly, almost free fall. After that, if you have some saved money it will be the perfect moment to buy stuff in USA.
Just hope that happens near 22 December 2012 or after that date. Before that date it would be problematic from the risk point of view.

Oh I agree it's fair game, and the buyers are not bad people for buying. But it is just hard to look at from the other side of the fence. I have been on both sides and now realizing how the economy works it does bother me a little. It's just a fact of life that to be good in business you must be ruthless. I would probably have no problem with it at all if it weren't for predatory lending causing my own family's downfall. Anything else in my opinion is fine.

Why not? It's certainly not YOUR fault that someone didn't pay their mortgage. I have a friend who ONLY buys "distressed" homes. He has a contact at the bank who will let him know beforehand which ones are getting ready to go into foreclosure and if it's an attractive balance, he'll offer the owner's to buy them out or a short sale. This actually HELPS the owners as it keeps a foreclosure off their credit report. But he's also bought them off the courthouse steps.

The local banks around here regularly have repossessed cars out front you can buy.

I tried to buy the lot next to mine for years - they would have made a profit off it. But instead, they let the tax office take it for back taxes and I bought it for 10% of what I had offered them. I certainly can't control their actions but I WILL do what's best for me

Yep, time to buy... wish I was ready right now! I've got my eye on 2 different properties. I'll be ready within the next 6mths or so... buy and tuck away for the long term