Marysmith
CLEARWATER,#2Consumer Comment
Sun, May 31, 2009
I am a realtor in this area. ALL homes and townhomes, including Beazer properties, have dropped in value due to the real estate bubble bursting. This area experienced higher than usual inflation in home values. The year 2006 was the last of the great prices; everything went downhill from there. In my opinion, there was no fraud or "rip off" on the part of Beazer any more than there was fraud perpetrated by every other seller in Pinellas County Florida in 2006. Every person who signed a pre-construction contract with Beazer expected the value of their not-yet-completed home to go up during the construction period and were planning on having thousands of dollars of instant equity in their homes when they finally moved in. Instead, prices went down. No one expected the housing bust. A lot of people walked away from their deposits on pre-construction contracts with Beazers. I walked away from my $5,000 deposit on a home with Beazer rather than take a $20,000-$40,000 hit on equity between the time of contract signing and closing on a completed house. Walking away was the lesser of two sad choices. I wasn't the only one. Beazer was left holding the bag with hundreds of unsold homes that were now worth much less than the previous year. Talk about lost profits! Beazer makes a good home and I'm just glad they didn't go out of business. This buyer is upset just like every other person in the county, including myself. Join the club! Every home in every corner of this county experienced severe deflation of its value. Foreclosure rates are high from both buyers who cannot afford their homes, as well as from investors who are "choosing" to walk away from their upside down investment. There is no simple solution to turn around the real estate market and no single party to blame for the bust happening. It's sad, but that's the reality of life today. This complainer should "Get over it, already!" and get on with their life like everyone else.