Weird Housing Tales, Part 11

Posted In: Foreclosures, Homeowners, Housing, Weird Housing Tales

Is this one screwed up housing market or what?

In some areas of the country, residential property prices are reaching new lows. The Associated Press wrote last night:

With a winning bid of just $1.75, a Chicago woman has won an auction for an abandoned home in Saginaw. Joanne Smith, 30, recently was the top bidder for the home during an auction on eBay, The Saginaw News reported. Her bid was one of eight for the home.

“I am going to try and sell it,” she told the newspaper. “I don’t have any plans to move to Saginaw.”

Smith said she hasn’t seen the property or visited Saginaw, which has been hard-hit by economic troubles in recent years.

There’s a notice on the door of the home saying a foreclosure hearing is pending, the newspaper said. She must pay about $850 in back taxes and yard cleanup costs.

However, in other parts of the United States, not only are prices holding up, but homeowners actually still see themselves as part of some exclusive club— with the “unclean” not welcome.

From the latest issue of HOMESPLUS, a free monthly real estate magazine:

A Texas homeowners association says a nearly new Ford truck isn’t good enough to be left out in a driveway overnight.

Owner Jim Greenwood has gotten three notices telling him to get the truck out of the driveway or face a $50 fine per event, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

The homeowners association of the gated community called Stonebriar Village in Frisco, Texas, does, however, allow more prestigious brand trucks such as Lincolns to be parked in driveways. Greenwood tried to explain to the board during a July meeting that his truck and the Lincoln Mark LT were constructed on the same assembly line and basically the same vehicle. He claims a board member responded by telling him that “Lincoln markets to a different class of people.”

Chalk one up for Chevy lovers and snobs.