The Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills is pretty typical for a troubled mall: it opened in 2005, but is now financially distressed. It didn’t have enough customers to support its retailers. While the mall still has anchors like Macy’s, JCPenney, and Dick’s, it recently sold at auction for $100. Sort of. [More]
adventures in depreciated real estate
What It's Like To Buy A Short Sale House (Hell, With Benefits)
By 5.3.10
With the housing bubble burst and evaporation of credit, short sales have grown in popularity as debtors behind on their mortgage seek to offload their depreciated property and avoid the derogatory effects a foreclosure can have on their credit report. Ads in the paper and tacked onto telephone poles at intersections scream about the great steals to be had.But what is it actually like to go through this process whereby the bank agrees for the house to be sold at a small loss instead of incurring the sizable fees a full foreclosure would entail? A lot harder than the brightly colored bold letters would have you believe. Long-time reader kyleorton walks us through what he went through to buy his a house listed at $274k via short sale for $229,000, a procedure complicated by Bank of America bureaucracy and a seller’s agent that didn’t feel like doing any work. [More]
