Austin Real Estate Blog

Watch the whole thing. You’ll be glad that you did.

Looking for ways to cut down on that electric bill? Look no further than your child’s hamster cage and that annoying, squeaky wheel it’s so fond of. With a few minor modifications, and a hundred more hamsters and wheels, and you can kiss the grid goodbye forever. As an added bonus, hamsters seem to breed spontaneously so, as long as you have a good supply of food and water, you will be able to maintain a healthy, hard-working colony with little effort or cost.

As for the rural homeowner, the common dairy cow could not only be a source of milk but of fuel for the family car. Cows are fond of eating large quantities of hay and grass, which they are more than happy to naturally convert to methane gas, as is quite evident if you’ve ever visited a farm. Some minor conversion to the milking parlor equipment, as well as to the vehicles, and you have a ready supply of very potent fuel.

Dogs, and to a lesser extent, cats can be a viable substitute for that electric blankets that sucks up electricity. In fact, in ancient China, dogs were utilized frequently to keep master, mistress, and children warm during cold winter nights. The severity of the temperature was gauged by how many dogs were needed to keep the sleeper comfortable. A fairly frigid night, therefore, was commonly referred to as a Three Dog Night.

If you’ve read this far, and still think this is for real, then all I have to say is Happy April Fool’s Day!

Remember all of those stories back in 2000 about people who invested their life savings in Pets.com? Or the stories about successful businessmen who gave it all up to be day traders? Well the collapse of the real estate bubble has largely lacked those same kinds of implausible anecdotes…until now.Realtors and lenders are increasingly reporting on a trend that’s a sure indication as to just how far we’ve come. It’s called “taking the inside of the house with you” and it’s what happens when disgruntled homeowners trash their foreclosed homes before abandoning them. Think of it as a reverse housewarming gift for their bank.

Pigs left to trash house: Police believe homeowner left pigs in this home without food or water, hoping they would trash the place after he was forced out by foreclosure.

How crazy is this? I was watching the debates tonight when I heard some commentary from Glenn Beck. He was talking about the mortgage crisis and mentioned these photos from his website and I couldn’t resist. As an active agent who occasionally works REOs and HUDs, I have seen some dumps before, but this takes the cake. I understand how angry, demoralized, and scared people must be when going through a foreclosure, but when people start destroying other people’s property something needs to be done. We all end up paying for the damage in the end in the form of higher interest rates or less flexible terms.

What’s the worst damage a property has sustained from people losing their home to foreclosure that you’ve ever seen?

The worst I’ve seen was a home that had all the major AND all the minor appliances removed. Holes in the walls and ceilings where said appliances used to reside. Additionally, the owners must have gotten their rebuilt their motorcycle in the living room because the carpet in the living room was covered with 10W30. I can understand that, but dripping the oil throughout the house must have taken some time because it was on everything. I wonder if that would be a potential source of fire since they always tell you never to leave oily rags lying around? Anyway, it was a damned shame.

Merry Xmas Everyone!

This should be good for a laugh!