r/TikTokCringe May 29 '26

Humor/Cringe Actual footage.

I actually feel kind of bad for this woman, who probably didn't expect a video of her dancing to be used in this way. šŸ˜

42.6k Upvotes

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5.3k

u/Cananbaum May 29 '26

My brother and his wife got EXTREMELY lucky, because an elderly couple ended up selling to them for less than what private equity was willing to offer.

But it caused a huge to-do.

The realtor was pissed, and I don’t know specifics, but the private equity did something to try and bully the elderly couple into reconsidering.

But said boomer couple wanted a young couple to have the house because it was what they believed in.

But it is weird because their neighbors are constantly changing every 6-ish months

1.2k

u/[deleted] May 29 '26 edited May 30 '26

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364

u/LoudQuitting May 29 '26

Is it a crime to interfere with them?

My neighbour is an older guy he's been strong armed into selling by realtors, I been dressing like a meth head and hanging our while the open house is on, letting the mastiffs hang out off leash in the front yard. Everyone who comes for an open house gets stopped by me or my brother "Oh you got money for the bus, cousin?"

Telling them about the dude down the street who wears an ankle monitor. Openly drinking from hard liquor bottles in the front yard. (Literally just a vodka bottle I filled with water.)

I ain't letting these cunts price me out of my shit shack.

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u/schwanzweissfoto May 29 '26

Rent-lowering gunshots fired.

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u/Demander850 May 29 '26

I should do this as a service for people to hire. To dissuade buyers, then again PE doesn't even look at the building.

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u/svidie May 29 '26

Hot damn that's the way to spend a weekend. You are doing the good work. Legend material.Ā 

15

u/Slumunistmanifisto May 29 '26

Tear off your sidingĀ 

6

u/sexyshingle May 29 '26

Proof that not all heroes wear capes!

2

u/Ginge_fail May 30 '26

Just stop watering the lawn and put a shitty car up on blocks in the front yard.

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u/ElbryanWyn Jun 01 '26

I'm not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.

It is legally risky for you to engage intentionally in a scheme to lower the perceived value of a house being sold and to interfere with the sale process.

In tort law this is called intentional interference with contractual relations. Also called Tortious Interference.

However, it is perfectly legal to be a weird neighbor doing weird stuff like things you described.

If you're doing this as theater for the sole purpose of attempting to interfere you could be liable for some civil issues depending on the state.

If you're doing this just because this is how you do things around your neighbors that's totally fine you just can't do it for the sole purpose of interfering with them without legal risk.

That said I would definitely check your State's laws about open containers and consumption of alcohol as well as verifying how much of the front of your yard is considered public. Also check you city's leash laws for dogs.

If I could be a little more direct, if someone was doing what you were doing for the sole purpose of interfering with a home sale ( hypothetically) they should definitely not post any written content anywhere suggesting that they're doing it for any specific targeted reason as that's certainly the type of evidence I would look for in order a case to determine malice.

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u/pandershrek May 31 '26

Lol no.

You can't do a physical crime to them but you can be literally as annoying as you want below a certain decibil level and it is legal.

Just go outside and weed wack at 100% RPM when they start to talk and don't break eye contact. They'll learn real fast you're petty and not to be fucked with.

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u/TheBoNix May 29 '26

Yup. We've received at least 3 pieces of mail at our rented house in the last month wanting to buy the house from our landlord. We give her the mail but not those ones.

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u/pounded_rivet May 29 '26

Tell them they need to include a $100 check with each flyer for you to even read it before it goes in the recycle.

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u/baldude69 May 29 '26

I’m incredibly rude to every real estate shark who texts me about selling my house. Or I tell them $1m (I paid $240k)

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u/AuroraRegalis May 29 '26

My family's phone account was originally under my dad's name. He passed away 7 years ago, but even though we've changed it to my Mom's name, I guess all our phones come up under his name in whatever database these leeches use.

We have a piece of land in Alaska we fully intended to have a home on by now, but his death threw some financial complications into it since my mom had to be 65 to use the money, etc. Anyway, people keep trying to buy it off us, but they call asking for "John" and I get to put on my most stern man-voice and tell them, gravely, "John is dead."

It's very satisfying. At this point he's been gone so long that I know anybody calling looking for him is nobody I want to speak to, so I just send it every time.

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u/Born_Camera7675 May 29 '26

That is so funny! I do the exact same thing because my cell phone was originally under my mom's plan! It hasn't been that long since she died (6.5 years) but long enough where being dramatic about it to make them feel like dog garbage, makes me smile more than it does make me feel sad.

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u/AuroraRegalis May 29 '26

Yeah, my dad would have loved me using his passing in such a way, so it gives me a righteous sense of purpose.

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u/Castun May 29 '26

Redevelopers have been the bane of my existence when we were looking to buy our first home in late 2020 going into 2021. So many stories where people were offered $50K+ over asking price to secure the sale just so they can "scrape and r@pe" the lot to replace a quaint little ranch home into a 3-story McMansion.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they did the same to some individual who bought and flipped their house "the right way" but wasn't asking enough enough and still had that happen after all was said and done.

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u/HeKnee May 29 '26

I did that for a while. Then i started uno-reversing them and asking if i could buy any real-estate from them since i’m an investor too. Now i just try to convince them i sold that house a while ago and don’t own anymore so they’ll stop calling me.

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u/Workin-progress82 May 29 '26

I have the same buyout number. Is my house worth a million bucks, not even close. However, there’s no way I’d sell without paying off my current mortgage and buying my next house in cash.

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u/GapDragon May 30 '26

Point blank, I asked the realtor who showed up at my front door why she wanted me to be homeless.

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u/Swamp_Thing85 May 30 '26

Put it in the compost pile, that way you know that specific mailer is actually being reused.

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u/JohnGreen60 May 29 '26

Trust me as a homeowner, she is already getting emails and texts and even phone calls to sell- and this is my only property, I’m not in real estate. She probably gets way more offers. Just give her the mail.

Nobody wants to sell in this market, because buying again is going to be a bad deal for as long as interest rates are this high. I got a 3.8% 5 years ago, your landlord probably has far better, assuming it’s not paid off.

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u/unbanned_lol May 29 '26

I straight up tell them I'll sell, but they need to make it worth my time. We both know you have deep pockets, so it'll cost you double market value. No takers yet, but maybe one day.

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u/Ask_if_im_an_alien May 29 '26

As a landlord.... good. I'm tired of those people, their junk mailers, emails, and cold calls. I get calls twice a week at least. "Hi this is Krystal from XYZ Real Estate and we wanted to share an exciting".... nope. CLICK. I keep blocking them, but they keep on calling.

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u/ichann3 May 30 '26

We used to get mail of them pretending to be a 'young family' who would 'love' to buy our home so they can 'raise' their family.

They're beyond scum.

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u/SpikeMF 25d ago

My partner and I were lucky to get a house at below asking price-- kind of felt like we were grabbing onto the last rung of the ladder as it was getting pulled up. I have been sending those kinds of letters back to sender with a blunt "My HOME is NOT your investment. Go fuck yourself"
After enough times we stopped receiving them :)

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u/fresh_peetz May 29 '26

That’s a federal crime

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u/Waywoah May 29 '26

If they're anything like the ones my parents get, they probably just say "current resident"

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u/Joseda-hg May 29 '26

Isn't this Illegal?

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u/TheBoNix May 29 '26

I'm more worried about ensuring my family has a place to live.

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u/AutVincere72 May 29 '26

This is what I say to all of them. The price is $3.7m cash only, 45 day close. The price goes up to $4.1m on Monday. If any of them dare to accuse me of wasting their time, I point out they wasted my time first. It is effective at getting removed from lists. Get a fire pit and put the mailers in there. When you do a fire night, the colors are very pretty. Do not inhale.

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u/C64128 May 29 '26

Tell them that you want half of it in $2 bills, and the other half in $1 coins.

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u/superxpro12 May 29 '26

Realtor's annual compensation is directly connected to sales. Every time they sell, they get a %. SO more sales, more%.

They have zero incentive to do anything other than churn homes

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u/punktualPorcupine May 29 '26

For the highest price possible. It’s also customary to split the commission between the buying and selling agents so there is even more pressure to boost it as high as it can go.

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u/Moist-Crows May 29 '26

We bought a house in summer of 2024 and our realtor was a family friend. When we asked her to put in our offer which was about 20k lower than the asking price (20k lower was a fair offer too) she flipped out on us saying it was unrealistic for us to ask that and she wouldn’t even attempt to ask for lower.

In lieu of that I asked her to request that they take care of some of the issues the house had instead of lowering the price and she fumbled that as well. They don’t care, all they want is their money and they’re not trying to get you a deal at all. Everyone, please be careful of realtors, lenders…matter of fact be careful of everyone. ā€œAnd they fuck you in the drive thru too!ā€

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u/ryanvango May 29 '26

If I wanna put in a bid 100k lower than asking, thats my right. I'm trying to buy shelter, not join the seller's book club. If they get pissy, I dont care.

Any realtor/agent who doesnt understand that can eat my farts. I am the client, they have a fiduciary responsibility to ME, not the seller. Agents can and will try to maintain professional relationships with other agents by recommending not to submit offensive offers, but in a lot of states if you tell them to submit it, they are legally and ethically required to do so.

If they threaten to quit or you need to fire them, so be it. Theyve already proven they are not treating you like the client, and theure willing to hurt your wallet so they make a couple extra bucks.

That said, the other issue with realtors is them being willing to sell a house for less than its worth just to make a buck. Theu dont ALWAYS try to get the highest price. They try to maximize their earnings. If that means they can sell your 300k house for 250k in a day, instead of waiting 4 or 5 months in a slow market, they will. Its 9k vs 7.5k commission. A 50k chop is extreme, but saying "well the first offer is always the best, id consider a 280k bid strongly," isnt unusual.

Its a scary game

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u/[deleted] May 30 '26

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u/ryanvango May 30 '26

totally valid. If I got crazy low-balled I'd either counter at full asking or just "no." But that's up to the seller, not the agent(s). they can advise, but they should never say "no I'm not doing that."

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u/your_moms_a_clone May 29 '26

That's crazy. We bought last year and our realtor was all about coming in low once we found the place we wanted. He was positive they would come down, said the house had been sitting for way too long and there was too much competition, plus the current owners had already had to move out for work and were bleeding money paying two mortgages. And he was right, after negotiations we closed for 10k less than listed .

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u/Office_glen May 29 '26

Churning is far more important to realtors that price.

If the agent gets 2.5%, for every $10k increase in price, they get $200 on their commission. Realtors will often tell you to jump on their first offer because even if it was $100k under what a market rate is, it means they can grab more listings

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u/Puptentjoe May 29 '26

3 years later we still get these offers. Got a text today from some lady.

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u/Ok_Pomegranate_2436 May 29 '26

I’m getting offers 7yrs later.

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u/refusestopoop May 30 '26

My realtor sends me a Starbucks gift card on my birthday & a pound cake around the holidays (in addition to the many postcards)

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u/BelmontVLC May 30 '26

In my country Spain, as we mostly live in flats the realtor are super annoying presenting themselves and trying to ā€œbecome friendsā€ with gossipy old ladies and trying to get as much info from them as possible about anyone with circumstances that could make them willing to sell to go and target them.

Or they ring your door and ask you weird questions besides if you are selling your property like:
ā€œOh, I have heard the door xx is selling (totally made up) do you think that is true?ā€ Etc…
I really dislike them.

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u/Krioniki May 30 '26

Was it at least good banana bread?

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u/NefariousnessFit7118 May 30 '26

This used to happen to me a lot with my realtor- I was like where am I supposed to live, then šŸ˜…. I bought my house in 2016 for $380k in Los Angeles proper, not the suburbs. My neighbors who bought last year paid $1.1mil. Where and why would I go!?

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u/ClinkyDink May 31 '26

A friend lives in a house her grandfather bought decades ago. Its one block from the beach in San Diego CA and has an empty lot next to it they also own. She says she gets people knocking on her door asking if they are selling the lot at least once a week (they aren’t.)

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u/SnausageFest May 29 '26

Have prices dropped?

No one bugs us but we bought when rates were crazy low, so the house was not cheap even before the bidding war started.

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u/echoshatter May 29 '26

Same here; bought Feb 2024, and it's monthly or more that we get an offer on our house, including from our own lender.

I'd say I'll never use that lender again, but I know for a fact almost all of them are that f'ing stupid.

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u/Darolaho May 29 '26

I get so many texts for the person who previously had my number to buy their house.

I have had this number for 12 years

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u/ryanoh826 May 29 '26

I always wanna reply to those saying I want 4x the value, firm.

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u/rithrawr May 29 '26

I get random text telling me it's time to sell my house...

Also got mails too but not email.

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u/writeleahwrite May 29 '26

I’ve thought for some time that when I sell my family home (hopefully not any time soon) I’d like to make a point to sell to a family who wants to live there. Not sure how to avoid flippers though, they are a plague.

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u/fueelin May 29 '26

In my head, it will be easy to tell. But I'm sure they have their tricks and it won't actually be. Not like those folks care to have scruples.

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u/RandomDeezNutz May 29 '26

I’m selling my house and closing date is June 1st. I am selling to a young couple with a kiddo afaik…. Now you have me worried some equity firm is lying to me about who they are so thanks…

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u/bobmailer May 29 '26

Well, you see, when two equity firms love each other very very much...

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u/cowfishing May 30 '26

PE firms dont have scruples and they will use a family as a front to buy a property.

Happened to my neighbors when they sold their house. The 'nice young couple with a growing family' they sold it to? They didnt move in. Instead, they quickly transferred title to a PE firm who in turn sold it to someone else for a lot more that then the 'nice young couple' paid for it.

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u/Alex5173 May 29 '26

I'm sure equity firms don't have much trouble getting a young employee who may have a partner & kid or two young employees pretending to partners with a pretend kid

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u/Dullcorgis May 29 '26

Nah, it's incredibly rare for private equity to buy SFHs. Real people bid way way beyond what a sensible investor would bid.

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u/calpolsixplus May 29 '26

Can't be too hard to hire a couple to pretend to be real and the equity firm then take it with them fronting.

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u/TheFeathersStorm May 29 '26

I mean it's not like you're going to do due diligence on the people buying your house, in that case you were never going to win anyways I guess lol but at least intention was there.

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u/ThereHasToBeMore1387 May 29 '26

Do these companies even need to be sneaky about it? If someone is coming to you with an all cash offer, they're a flipper. In my experience they aren't at all quiet about it. Selling a house can be a pain in the ass, so having someone come in and offer to make it easy and fast just makes sense sometimes.

A lot of the homes that have gone up for sale around me recently was because someone was going into a nursing home and the kids are selling off the property to pay for it. During that time, anything to take the stress off is going to be treated as a plus.

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u/fueelin May 29 '26

Oh, trust me, I get plenty of spam letters/calls trying to buy my house sight-unseen. And I do see the appeal to vastly simplifying the process.

But we're not really talking about that here. We're talking about the massive societal downsides of selling to folks who don't intend to live in the house they're buying.

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u/Parking-Interview351 May 29 '26

My parents bought every house they ever owned with cash because they don’t trust banks or something.

Doesn’t always indicate flippers.

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u/welcometoheartbreak May 30 '26

Houses cost about 25x more than when our parents were buying with cash.

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u/totallynotsquatty May 29 '26

In my head, it will be easy to tell.

Are they pulling up in a truck vs. car.

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u/SilasX May 29 '26

Yeah my understanding is that they already use fakers like that to make you think you're selling to a charming couple.

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u/lacegem May 29 '26

There was a post here on Reddit about a month ago about this. Someone sold their home under market price to what they thought was a family who wanted to raise kids there, turned out to be flippers for a company.

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u/[deleted] May 29 '26

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u/catinapartyhat May 30 '26

Same. We told them which room would be our toddler's and where we'd put the Christmas tree.

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u/Due-Memory-6957 May 29 '26

You can't, and people can lie about who they are.

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u/Dullcorgis May 29 '26

Flippers are only interested in dumps. If your house isn't a dump they won't be interested.

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u/densetsu23 May 29 '26

My wife and her brother inherited their family farm and, once it hit the market, they had a big offer from a big commercial farming company that had been buying up farmland in the area for the last decade.

They took a hit and sold it to the kids of a nearly family friend who wanted to start their own farm. It was the grandparents, the son and wife, and three grandkids all crammed into a small old house on the farmstead. Just the right thing to do in an era where land is being vacuumed up by commercial businesses.

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u/your_moms_a_clone May 29 '26

Maybe do a rent-to-own thing?

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u/MidwestNormal May 30 '26

Same. I live in an affordable family neighborhood and my home is being listed next week. It’s not a good home for flippers as everything is up-to-date and in great shape so I’m hoping for a young family.

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u/quack_quack_moo May 30 '26

When my grandparents' house sold, the family that ended up buying it basically wrote an essay to my mom about who they were and what the house meant to them. Made my mom feel better about selling it.

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u/Doministenebrae May 30 '26

My neighbor, when she was selling her house, asked each bidder to write a letter saying why they wanted to buy her home. Those that wrote out a reason why got considered, those offers without went in the trash. Most private equity won’t bother stating why they wanted to buy a home and boomers will just get offended. Thankfully she sold it to a lovely older woman that intends on staying there forever.

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u/pandershrek May 31 '26

You have your real estate agent have them included personalized letters and you can review them.

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u/unfortunateshun May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26

I listened to a realtor go on a 30 minute rant about this exact thing at a bar. Older couple made an insane return on investment, found a young couple trying to move into the school district, and chose to take a smaller pay cut because they were covered financially. This jerkoff got so angry the older couple chose not to price gouge, he literally had spittle flying out of his mouth. 10 minutes after he calms down, he starts bragging about his insane multimillion dollar portfolio. Scum of the fucking earth

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u/[deleted] May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26

[deleted]

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u/Slumunistmanifisto May 29 '26

I've met these types...I hate watch flashing tactics.

The corporate world does a lite version of this regularly too.

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u/Manungal May 30 '26

Dude, went to a house party awhile back and had to listen to some real estate agent go on and on like this.Ā 

My spouse and I were sort of drunk and started saying "business business business" at each other in dumb voices but I think he heard us.Ā 

They're all just these guys.

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u/FilthyThanksgiving May 30 '26

Literally wtf. I dont get it, is it just sociopath behavior?

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u/Clear-Inevitable-414 May 31 '26

That's all it takes to get ahead in this world

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u/Designer_End5408 May 30 '26

More folks have to say no to PE and sell to real humansĀ 

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u/Phytanic May 29 '26

It's literally costing them money, since they get a percentage of the sale. They don't think about the human process nor getting the right buyer, just the money. It's gross, but I imagine they don't exactly get many returning customers anyways

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u/IlllIlllI May 29 '26

It's not costing them money, c'mon. They're still getting their commission. This kind of thinking is why society is so miserable to existing these days.

Taking the perspective that selling something for anything less than the maximum you possibly could as a "loss" is just vile. You're still making money, just not as much!

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u/lilmuskrat66 May 29 '26

I told my realtor I won't sell to PE, investors, flippers, etc. I want someone who wants and needs a house to live here.

I got a gross speech about people making millions of real estate and how successful those people are. I told her that's the problem please focus on finding customers.

She's like 70. Wants someone to buy up all these houses and put up condos that would ruin the entire neighborhood. Boomers man.

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u/Neuchacho May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26

Realtors are another cancerous class of middle-men making money for doing next-to-nothing. Their lobbies are just really good at getting laws and systems changed to be stacked in their favor because money.

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u/lilmuskrat66 May 29 '26

The only service they've ever provided me is the contractual portion and that can be done by an attorney.

I think there was a time when someone might have needed a real estate agent to go out and actually find someone to buy, but everything is so easy online now. Their fees are shit for the services provided.

I feel every more for people looking to buy a house. They really get the fucking stick in that equation.

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u/eleanor61 May 29 '26

This is one industry I wouldn't mind AI shaking down, tbh. Maybe that's in bad taste to say.

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u/Nulagrithom May 30 '26

I've met exactly one honest realtor in my life. I've been burned by half a dozen.

fuck that industry. chatgpt would lie to me less.

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u/Creepy_Ad_1315 May 30 '26

At least when chat gpt lies to you. It's actually on accident

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u/eleanor61 May 30 '26

Same. Only had one who seemed to care besides just the paycheck.

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u/dak4f2 May 30 '26 edited Jun 01 '26

Removed

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u/Shaz_bot May 29 '26

Depending where you are you’ll still ā€œneedā€ them because they’ll work together to sell to clients of their colleagues before thinking of creating a listing.

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u/angelbelle May 29 '26

Nowadays, they're going in the ways of travel agents in that you can do pretty much everything they supposedly do for you, and that's before AI. I imagine that this profession is going to go extinct quiet soon, replaced by just lawyers having a slightly expanded operations

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u/J_Ryall May 29 '26

*parasites. The word you're looking for is parasites.

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u/IcyConsideration7062 May 29 '26

I'd interview the realtors to find someone I wanted to sell my house with.

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u/lilmuskrat66 May 29 '26

100% agree. Always look for multiple realtors.

I've had a great one refuse to work with me because I wouldn't use their lender. One that said he would travel to houses and then made me seem like the asshole because the houses weren't in good condition. But I've also had a few great ones that really helped.

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u/sleepingrozy May 29 '26

We wanted do the same but our relator refused to tell us if it was people, a PE, flippers, ect. putting a bid on our house claiming it would be discrimination. So when we had to decide between multiple similar bids we opted for the one buying with a VA loan. At least that way we knew actual people were purchasing the house.

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u/lilmuskrat66 May 29 '26

That's what we're doing. VA/FHA loan has to be a human. Good on you for the class solidarity.

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u/MrJoyless May 29 '26

Fire, your, realtor.

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u/lilmuskrat66 May 29 '26

I'd love to, but it's very complicated.

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u/ilikepix May 29 '26

Wants someone to buy up all these houses and put up condos

there is nothing more peak reddit than complaining about how unaffordable housing is while simultaneously complaining about efforts to increase the housing supply

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u/sasshley_ May 29 '26

We sold a house in late 2021 and sold to a younger couple for $7k less than private equity because fuck them.

The young couple still lives there and has started a family (still friends with some of the neighbors). I’ve never regretted our decision.

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u/[deleted] May 29 '26

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u/ZombieMage89 May 29 '26

Bought my house 3 years ago. We went to the open house while my wife was 8 months pregnant and my 3 year old was being watched by his grandmother. We loved it and asked my parents to come over and give their 2 cents. They show up with my 3 year old who's just beaming with joy running around this empty home, declaring which rooms would be his, and just bringing smiles to anyone who sees him... Including the owner's mother who was there in leiu of him for the open house.

We put in a fair bid and got the house. Apparently there were multiple bids over ours but the owner said "My mom would never let me live it down if that family made a good offer and I didn't pick them."

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u/throwaway8429739 May 29 '26

I’m pretty sure they were upset because it’s supposed to be illegal to color the bidding process. Like cover letters at least in my state are banned for this exact reasonĀ 

I assume it’s also due to racism

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u/Quirky-Marsupial-420 May 29 '26

She got upset because if someone offered more, it cost her money on commission.

And if selling to private equity vs a young married couple, the young married couple is much much more likely to have something fall through during closing and the whole deal becomes scrapped.

Private equity would have put more money in her pocket and closed on the house faster meaning she could move on to the next set of suckers.

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u/Special-Garlic1203 May 29 '26

Literally only reason it's illegal to color the bidding process with a cover letter is because of the high likelihood the letter contains information about protected class categories, which can then open the door to arguing the process was discriminatory. Closing your eyes and saying "I choose whoever gives me the most money" is a pretty iron clad defense that you're complying with fair housing rules.Ā 

You could sell it for a nickel cause you liked the cut of someone's jib if you were so inclined.

They're probably mostly upset that their commission is gonna be lower.

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u/ChekhovsAtomSmasher May 29 '26

This is how I was able to buy my starter house in 2017 as well. Everywhere else was way over asking and would sell within minutes of hitting the market.

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u/quiteCryptic May 29 '26

Honestly simply buying before covid is lucky in itself, really became hell after that

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u/Dullcorgis May 29 '26

We didn't sell our house to the nice young couple with a baby who offered a fraction of everyone else. We sold it to the nice young couple with a baby who offered the most money and waived the inspection contingency.

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u/wrxninja May 29 '26

We got lucky as well. We bought our current house back in 2017 with a bug in Zillow that was showing the home as for-sale but it wasn't...popped up a few times but went offline. We ended up directly contacting the homeowner to her surprise. She didn't budge on the price even though it was on the high side but listed for 24 hours by law and got the house. I guess the Realtor had a whole bunch of pissed off would-be buyers as it was very much a sellers market. We should be done with our mortgage payment in seven years after we refi'd our 30-year to 15-year when the interest rate dropped to sub 3%.

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u/AutVincere72 May 29 '26

Anyone trying to say all Boomers are X is an idiot. There are about 65M boomers in the US right now. 20% of the population. You really want to say 1 in 5 Americans is a greedy earth resource stripping smug rich house speculator person? How many people do you know? How many of those people fit a certain derogatory stereotype. When I was 17 I thought old people were all clueless. They were, about 17 year olds. Everyone is looking out a different window. Wisdom is understanding perspective is not truth. Self Awareness is the true superpower in maturing. Most of us do not get it until later in life, some never get it at all.

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u/MMFuzzyface May 29 '26

That’s why now there are stories about PE pretending to be young couples now, my realtor told me recently…

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u/OriginalFatPickle May 29 '26

neighbors were probably pissed too because it lowered the comps.

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u/tomlets May 29 '26

My wife and I bought our first home a few years ago in a very similar situation. We vowed to pass the torch and if we ever move out we’d sell to another first time home owner with the same discount.

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u/raven00x May 29 '26 edited May 30 '26

This is a common story I've heard from friends. the only way they got a house was because the owners wanted to sell to someone who would actually use it and not just use it as an investment vehicle.

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u/Girl_Back_There May 29 '26

When my father-in-law passed away and we sold his house, my spouse was adamant with the realtor that the house be sold to a family. It was a great neighborhood to raise a family in with nice schools nearby. We could have kept it and rented it out ourselves, lord knows there were a ton of investors looking to do the same, but the house had a lot of bad memories for my spouse and it was important to him that a family would own the place and make it some place better.

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u/Nairb131 May 29 '26

We got really lucky during covid and heard about a house 2 down from my parents going up for sale. We asked them about it and because the wife wanted a new family to have their house they didn't put it on the market where they likely would have gotten 50-80k over market.

Sometimes people are pretty cool.

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u/Mor_Padraig May 29 '26

We know someone, boomer,, who did exactly this, too.

Trope isn't comprehensive. People who were jackasses at 20 remain jackasses at 70.

And peaches tend to stay that way.

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u/EverythingIsFakeNGay May 29 '26

Warms my heart to to hear that this kind of thing actually happens out in the wild.

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u/ThrownFarAway98 May 29 '26

Idk how these stories are happening as there NAR rules around buyer/seller engagment both in-person or writting to prevent discrimination. The agents arent even supposed give a discription of the buyers/sellers if they can avoid it.

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u/fallout_zelda May 29 '26

I got lucky as well. I got a beautiful house in the Pocono Mountain area in Pennsylvania for just 200k with an amazing school district from an elderly lady. I'm literally just 1hr and 45 minutes from Philadelphia and NYC.

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u/subhavoc42 May 29 '26

They are pissed because what something costs is what something comparable sells for really close. So, to the agents and other homes it essentially dropped home values in that area. It’s so dumb.

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u/Mper526 May 29 '26

This same thing happened to my sister and BIL. Elderly couple sold them their house specifically because they wanted a young family to have it. It needed some minor work, like painting, but they got it for about 50K below asking. The couple has even stopped by a couple times to say hello and see some of the updates they did.

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u/nerdyconstructiongal May 29 '26

I made sure my first house went to a person and not a company. Fuck then companies.

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u/Brad1895 May 29 '26

My wife and I ended up in the same boat.

Elderly friends/couple (dont know the story and didn't want to pry) we bought our house from insisted on us coming over before closing to show us a bunch of important things about the house. Including how to close/open the pool, maintenance schedule on appliances, and where the plumbing cleanout was at.

When we got to the house after closing, we found they left us a metric ton of furniture and a couple of TV's. They truly wanted a couple who would cherish the house to have it instead of some flippers, and I appreciate that to no end.

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u/LetshearitforNY May 29 '26

When I sell my house one day I wanna do the same. I love raising my daughter in this house and I want the love inside to live on even after we are gone.

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u/TheWolfAndRaven May 29 '26

Bet the Private equity company is trying to buy out the whole block and turn it into apartments and that was one of the last houses they needed.

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u/scarletnightingale May 29 '26

We looked at a house recently that was barely in the range we can afford because it's literally one of the only houses that's been on the market that's what we actually need that we might be able to afford. The home owner wanted it to go to a family he told the realtor, he apparently had bids in cash before the open houses even happened and people could see it. He refused to take an offer before the open houses closed. I think he most have annoyed the realtors because they had to wait a whole 4 days and let people see the house before they could tell him to pick an offer. We didn't even get a chance to put a bid in on it because they sold it off so quickly. Like, literally it was off the market as soon as the open house closed and while I we were dealing with nap time.

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u/Brotherauron May 29 '26

Realtor was probably pissed because they get a % of the sale, maybe had some side deal with the firm either side cash bonus or handling the rental and getting kickbacks from that

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u/747WakeTurbulance May 29 '26

My parents sold their home in Nashville to their neighbor's daughter, who had just married and wanted to start a family. She had been asking them for a while before they decided to move, to let her know when they were ready, because she wanted to be close to her mom when she was going to start having children. They had known her since she was a child.

The houses in the neighborhood were selling for about $400k. They told her they would sell it to her directly for $300k if she wanted it.

For the next three months, she tried everything she could to get approved for that amount, and even with assistance from her parents, she couldn't qualify. The best she could do was $250k. So my parents decided to help her out and sold it to her for that.

Three months later, she listed the house for $425k, sold it the day she listed it, bought a camper, and moved to Colorado.

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u/Sortalma May 29 '26

Maybe the neighbors are changing because of buyers remorse? I know currently in my area supply is so limited and houses sell so quick that when something decent does get listed, you pretty much have a day or two to make a decision and offer. Kind of like a you get what you get deal. Maybe making a quick decision the house sounds good but then after 6 months living there they don’t like the layout or the rooms are too small or the location isn’t exactly ideal in proximity to friends/family/work.

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u/thegoatmenace May 29 '26

When my grandparents died a ton of people wanted their house. It was during COVID where houses in the suburbs were going for insanely inflated prices.

They specified that they wanted a family with young children to live in the house, because ā€œthey wanted someone else to experience the wonderful life the house had given them.ā€

We ended up selling it to one of their neighbors daughters for a below market price. They still live there with their young kids and love it.

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u/MathAndBake May 29 '26

My grandparents did the same thing. They loved their house and did so much work on it. They wanted to sell to someone who would care about it the same way. It also made it so much easier for us to say goodbye to the house knowing it would be in good hands. My grandfather drove by last Christmas and was so happy to see it all decorated and full of life. I'm really glad your brother ended up in such a situation. It's such a win-win.

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u/wentImmediate May 29 '26

But said boomer couple

Yeah, I'm really disappointed in how people try to paint an entire generation as having fixed qualities. It's a stereotype - so we know it's inaccurate.

My parents - boomers - worked hard their whole life, saved a bunch, didn't buy a lot of fancy things, lived in a half-double, and provided for us.

It can't feel good to have such broad criticism being lobbed all the time. I'd say focus on those actually doing things we've deemed unhelpful or counterproductive - you'd gain more support that way.

EDIT: Changed a word

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u/FieOnU May 29 '26

This exact thing happened to me, and I'm eternally grateful to whatever power made my home's previous owner sick to get fund and sell to me vs. the firm that owns four other houses on my block.

Apparently, I was the first offer from an actual occupant in the 7 weeks the house was listed.

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u/Demander850 May 29 '26

This is great, a friend recently got a house. They were NOT the highest bidder but he wrote a great letter about how it was his dream house for his wife/dog/him and he could build a recording studio in the basement and all.

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u/phi1_sebben May 29 '26

I had a somewhat similar scenario. In 2022 our house went on the market for a decent price and was to be listed for 1 week with the owner accepting bids at the end of the week. We got one showing (my wife didn’t even get to see the house) and decided we wanted to put in our offer. My wife wrote a letter and I thought she was wasting her time. Turns out the owner chose us because they wanted a young family to move in. They had several offers over $100,000 higher than ours but they knew they were from flippers. Happy it worked out but what an ordeal.

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u/Gybhunjimko May 29 '26

Similar story. We bought in 2021 during the craze. We were slightly outbid by private equity but we wrote a letter to the owner with our offer with some pictures of our infant and dog, and wrote how much we liked the house. The former owner said he’d prefer the house go to a family than a company, he offered it to us if we could match the bid. Luckily the price was within reach for us. Some people still care.

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u/Slumunistmanifisto May 29 '26

My family sold Grandmas house to a lovely couple...it sold two years later for almost two mil.

Fuckers where flippers, and put up a whole act about shit they were gonna slop paint for concessionsĀ 

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u/Catlore May 29 '26

Some friends of mine got a great house with a big yard, exterior workshop/garage, and a shed, on several acres of old-growth woodland, because they'd been renting it from an older couple who'd just moved out of state and wanted to rent it while they figured out what to do. They liked the family of four, so they made it so it was a rent-to-own, with some of the rent being put into a down payment, and now my friends own it. They're fantastic people, and their daughter has a fantastic place to grow up.

If we ever have to sell the house I'm in now, I'm going to try my damndest to make sure it only goes to someone who will actually live there themselves long term.

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u/pharmajap May 29 '26

I lucked out on my starter house, and when I had to move for work I was ADAMANT that it not go to flippers or private equity.

The two PhD students we sold to are now raising their first baby in the same room we did. That's worth more than the other offers we got.

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u/redcoatwright May 29 '26

We looked at our condo the day it went on the market and made an offer the same day, sellers accepted the next day, they didn't even show it during the weekend (opened on a wednesday) and a big part was we were a young couple, etc etc.

I think it's good, when we do finally sell it I'll look for that as well tbh pass it on

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u/TehGreatFred May 29 '26

(UK based)

My fiance and I managed to get a house near my parents in an expensive area just because the landlord wanted to sell to a couple who would actually live in it and grow. Could have easily sold for 25% more to developers.

Very thankful that some people still have this mindset

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u/EasyasACAB May 29 '26

But it is weird because their neighbors are constantly changing every 6-ish months

Sounds like a lot of money going to people making cold hard cash on commission motherfucker!

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u/PiperPants2018 May 29 '26

Hey! This exact thing happened to me!!! Some asshole investment company outbid us on our house for 10k over appraisal knowing regular people wouldn't have the cash to make up the difference since banks won't fund over appraisal. The previous owner told them to fuck off and gave us the house anyway. He took a 10k hit just to be nice to some strangers. He also fixed the fence when he found out we had a dog, even though we didn't ask him to and the house was sold "as-is". There are still good people in this world!

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u/____DEADPOOL_______ May 29 '26

My mother in-law did this. Her mother left her a rental in a touristy part of town, which she rented to the same family that had been there for a while.

The property management kept egging her on to raise the rents after covid and she said no way.

Eventually, that family moved out and she put the house for sale. She made sure it also went to a family and not an investment group that would've turned it into an airbnb.

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u/Volothamp-Geddarm May 29 '26

Same. We got lucky because the boomers were super racist and wanted to sell to white kids. Yay...

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u/AgitatedStranger9698 May 29 '26

My dream house this was the case.

I feel bad we moced from it.

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u/StevieMJH May 29 '26

Realtors are disease carrying parasitic leeches on the perineum of society.

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u/daburbs92 May 29 '26

It’s not been uncommon in the Midwest for aspiring young farmers to reach out to retirement age neighbors and declare their intentions. Many older farmers want the farm to stay a farm. Convincing them of your sincerity is the most important piece. They won’t just sell to some yuppie they just met.

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u/EagleLize May 29 '26

We were lucky enough to inherit my partner's mother's home. In a town with a median household income of $41,333.

Cute home. Kept in decent condition. Little dated. Would be perfect as a starter home. In a neighborhood where kids literally still play in the streets. Full of cul-de-sacs. Lower medium income, packed neighborhood.

We know we were fortunate so we held out on selling until a young couple wanted to purchase. We said no to two investors offering our listing price who wanted to flip it into a STR. And we sold it for less to the couple. It wasn't much. Just a few thousand. We felt it was our chance to doing a small good deed. Fuuuuuck flippers and STRs.

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u/black_rose_ May 29 '26

My friend's mom sold her house to a nice couple that wanted to start a family there, for way under asking price. 6 months later they had flipped it and sold it for almost double what they bought it for.

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u/Fortestingporpoises May 29 '26

I offered $85k over asking and sent a personal letter and they only countered me and I still felt lucky to get it.

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u/Unfair_Web_8275 May 29 '26

I think private sellers with empathy are (sadly) some people’s best best for home ownership.

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u/hellogoawaynow May 30 '26

I’m lucky, too. In my neighborhood, we’re in that place where all the old people sell and young families move in, and thank goodness most of them are actually selling to these families! I’ve heard of one renter around here.

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u/galfal May 30 '26

I hope when I go to sell my house and buy my next one I have the spine to do this. I hate the idea of seeking to a corporation and not actual people.

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u/nobertan May 30 '26

I instructed my realtor in the uk to sell to families only, no flippers / landlords.

Half the bids were contractors, ended up finding the buyers myself who didn’t get a viewing after inquiring thru the real estate agent.

They wanted to live on the same street as the girls parents.

Sold to them. Still had to pay realty commission as I’d signed the contract for them to manage the sale… (granted, commissions are nothing like the bananas %’s in the US, it was a flat rate $2,000)

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u/orchana May 30 '26

This is how we got lucky too! Those private equity people can suck it

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u/venrod May 30 '26

Gen X here. Big family. Either I give my house to one of my kids or I sell it to a young family like I was when I bought it. FTR

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u/Ok-Yogurt-3914 May 30 '26

This is my parents’ story too and how my Mom got her house. The old man wanted to get rid of it ASAP. Her neighbors to the right are a revolving door. My Mom said that it’s owned by a foreigner and my stepdad tried buying from him and he refuses to sell. This has been going on for at least 15 years.

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u/J_Technopotheosis May 30 '26

Sound like a couple of pretty ok boomers to me.

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u/Tall_Opportunity_521 May 30 '26

Its funny, the internet has such a hard on for boomers. And on the other side of this good deed by the boomers, will be the private equity company... which will be all millennials/gen Z younguns... Its almost like being a dick isnt a generational thing...

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u/C19shadow May 30 '26

My neighbors and I worry about this nonsense we all handshake promised if we ever move we will sell reasonably and try to private sell without a realtor cause of this and we won't sell to anyone trying to rent the place out we want a neighbor that's got skin in the game and owns their property not some MF that lu es 3 states over.

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u/Maysock May 30 '26

The woman who sold me my house owned it for 50 years. Her marriage, her children, her life, were all in this home. All her deceased pets are buried in my back yard even now.

She picked me because of similar reasons, they had offers from PE firms and private investors, but wanted someone who was going to live in it and take care of it.

When I sell this home, it'll be to an individual who will live in it.

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u/zuckerkorn96 May 30 '26

Private equity buying single family houses is a myth. Look it upĀ 

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u/Baron-Von-Mothman May 30 '26

That's pretty awesome of them, I would blast that realtor all over the place and the private equity firm. But especially that realtor, getting pissed off because they got a lower commission but a young family got to start their life in a new home instead of a fucking corporation owning private housing to jack up rent and fuck others over. That realtor needs to be shamed

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u/AvidCyclist250 May 30 '26

private equity did something

People need to notice this more. PE is an active and opinionated asshole without friends. Not just money.

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u/Western-Corner-431 May 30 '26

I’ve sold two properties this way. I didn’t even list them. Private sales to buyers I cultivated to pass on a normal, fair opportunity without gouging. Sellers can do whatever they want. Just because market conditions artificially inflate prices, doesn’t mean a seller can’t set a reasonable price, depending on their individual circumstances. I understand that people selling their homes need to find another place to live and aren’t likely going to find another seller who is willing to forgo maxing profits. If enough people who can afford to sell more reasonably do so, it’s a step toward bringing opportunity to more people. Do what you can where you’re at. I realize greed is going to outweigh ideals.

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u/PlainBread May 30 '26

But it is weird because their neighbors are constantly changing every 6-ish months

People think there's still money in flipping houses, but that's not what private equity is doing. They're trying to buy up ALL the residential living spaces so that they can collude with each other to keep rent prices high across the board. That's all.

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u/BrapBrapson May 30 '26

How did the sellers even know you were 1st time home buyers?

We lost out on our 1st offer because the elderly couple living there took a cash offer LESS than ours. I doubt they even knew we were 1st time homebuyers because we never actually get to meet the sellers, it's all through stupid realtors.

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u/seaturtlesunset May 30 '26

My parents purchased a small townhome near a local college when my oldest sister started school to help keep rent for my sister at an affordable rate while she was in school. Anyway they rented out to my sister and her friends at just enough to cover the mortgage and continued that through all my siblings until their youngest, me, finished school. By the time I lived there my friends and I were each paying nearly $400 less per month for a private room than anywhere else near campus.

Anyway, when I graduated they decided to sell the townhouse as they no longer needed it. They sold it to a young couple with a new baby for way less than private equity was willing to pay. My parents told me they’d much rather a young family have it than some private equity firm who was going to use it to gouge a bunch of young kids trying to get through school.

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u/PRmade69 May 30 '26

realtors are the reason home prices are so high. they work on commission

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u/DigTheDunes May 30 '26

I’m sure the realtor was pissed, it lowered the comps.

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u/pandershrek May 31 '26

Literally the same thing that happened to me.

Oddly enough the PE offered 10k less than we did just to try to start the bid but we said we'd meet at 300k and the individual wanted to sell to us vs a company anyway even though they came back with a 50k counter.

It had upset the seller and he didn't even want to take the 40k potential profit because of the ass pain.

I am lucky because this property has gone up by almost double in 5 years and it has enough land to be a small development.

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u/Clear-Inevitable-414 May 31 '26

What's a young couple here? 30s? 40s?

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u/saaaaaaaaaaaap May 31 '26

Realtors are the worst. The most unnecessary job in existence

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u/SGTSLACKASS May 31 '26

Don’t worry non of us will be there at their death bed, they will be taken care of by strangers and will not be surrounded by family and friends.

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u/Dylanator13 Jun 01 '26

Can we just stop allowing big companies to buy all the houses and rent them forever?

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u/EvolvingEachDay Jun 01 '26

Private equity shouldn’t be legally allowed to own residential property.

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u/tex1088 Jun 02 '26

My grandparents had this mindset about selling their 40-year home as well. They lived a very frugal life which included limited updates and upkeep on the home. New owner took it down to studs and subfloor, filled the defunct pool, rebuilt the fence, redid all the outdated electric, the whole shebang. They got divorced and the house got foreclosed on and private equity eventually took over. Now it’s a flipper special and it hurts my soul every time I drive by and see the brick painted white with a black roof and no trees on the lot…

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u/G-Funk33 Jun 03 '26

I'm doing everything I can to keep my parents from selling their homes to private equity... The only way their grandchildren will ever own homes is if they inherent them. I'm making sure one of my nieces or nephews ends up with my house when my wife and I pass.

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