Prediction: Anti-Flipping Legislation

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Submitted by rockclimber on October 26, 2006 - 11:28am

Okay, so I'd like to throw this prediction out there.  We've talked a lot about who will be blamed when this bowl of ice-cream melts... It will be the flippers.  It came to me when I read this quote from an MSN article on housing…

Zandi says that housing prices will decline in 2007, which would be the "first decline in national house prices since the Great Depression." He adds that the catalyst for the unwinding of the housing boom is higher interest rates and that the unraveling of some of the markets is due to high speculation and short-term investors, or flippers with the objective of purchasing and then quickly selling those homes.

Oh, yes.  It will all be blamed on those greedy flippers.  Why?

  1. Someone must be blamed.
  2. Flippers are greedy unlike the poor sheep who took out an amazingly stupid loan to get into that $600k fixer upper. 
  3. Flippers aren’t organized with PAC’s like some other potential culprits.

Yep, they are the prime target to be a scapegoat.  Who knows, maybe NAR will come to there defense, but I expect not since they’ll just be happy the blame is being pinned on someone else.

By late ’07 the rhetoric against flippers will be high and “Flipper bashing” will be the norm.  Anti-flipping legislation will be passed in ’08.  In ’09 reruns of “Flipper the Friendly Dolphin” will be pulled from the air due to the negative connotation in the title.

‹ Hurtin' for Certain in Coronado Rents going up ›
No, I think flippers will be
Submitted by doofrat on October 26, 2006 - 11:50am.

No, I think flippers will be broke. Besides, weren't flippers were paying lots of capital gains and boosting property tax rolls?

They didn't go after traders after the dot.com bust.

I don't know who they'll go after, but if they do, it'll probably be somebody with money.

It's not about making any
Submitted by rockclimber on October 26, 2006 - 12:00pm.

It's not about making any real change or recouping any losses. It's purely the blame game, so that politicians can say they've done something to "protect" the poor sheep.

The fact that most flippers will be flipping burgers instead of houses (if they didn't get out in time) makes it even more likely they will be blamed.

What's the difference
Submitted by PerryChase on October 26, 2006 - 1:37pm.

What's the difference between a flipper and a couple purchasing a fixer upper in expectation of appreciation and moving up next year? Seems to me that 80% of that market was comprised of flippers.

Flippers are just pursuing
Submitted by Bugs on October 26, 2006 - 2:12pm.

Flippers are just pursuing the American Dream. Unless we vote Communist in 2008 I don't think Congress isn't going to penalize people who are working within the system to get ahead.

It'll be lenders and appraisers, and not necessarily in that order, who will be held responsible for the excesses.

You really think it will be
Submitted by poorgradstudent on October 26, 2006 - 2:29pm.

You really think it will be flippers who get blamed and not loose lending standards and ARMs?