I was a little surprised when I read this, however, I 'm excited to see at least one bank is doing something. Glad to see B of A has a commitment to cleaning up neighborhoods. You go B of A!
OK, I'm kidding here. I'm not kidding about the free house, but I am kidding about getting a gift for opening a checking account with Bank of America.
Bank of America is offering free homes to 150 select people in Chicago. In her article on Bankrate.com, Marcie Geffner writes about Bank of America's plan to offer homes for free to get rid of some foreclosures. Their plan is to unload of some of their extra properties and help solve urban blight problems in the city.
What would 150 free homes do to home values in Chicago? I could make a strong argument that putting solid homeowners in vacant bank-owned homes would actually improve home values in these neighborhoods. While $0 sales may hurt appraisals, having a glut of abandoned, damaged homes will only serve to harm a neighborhood's long term home values. Few people want to live next to or even near a vacant home, and a home that sits unoccupied will only deteriorate over time.
I remember getting a choice of a toaster or a crisp $20 bill for opening an account with one bank about 15 years ago. I took the money! Imagine if they offered a house.
Scott Silverstone, Realtor®
The Jacobson Team
William Raveis Real Estate
203-815-9118 (Mobile)
www.ctproperty.com
Chris, Interesting story. I just have to think that those families that left their homes wished that BOA would have worked with them to keep their homes rather than working on the foreclosure process & then giving that home to someone else.
I imagine there is 50 pages of rules what you must do if you're given the house but It's still better than a toaster.
Thanks for the Re-Blog. I hope that BOA actually follows up on their promises here.