#buy estate

[theseptembersim]

Langdale Castle

A traditional motte and bailey castle situated in Windenburg. Complete with dungeon, armoury, great hall and castle - decorated in a medieval style for historical gameplay. Alternatively, also functions as a museum.

MOO and debug used

World: Windenburg Type: Residential Origin ID is TheSeptemberSim

If you would like to download this build please use the links below, or via my origin ID above. Although all my builds are no CC, I use a custom thumbnail so make sure 'modded' is checked to see this in your game.

Download (sfs)

If you would like to support me, use creator code:

THESEPTEMBERSIM

when purchasing on the EA app or thesims.com. Please note, this is not a discount code

[mostlysignssomeportents]

'We buy ugly houses' is code for 'we steal vulnerable peoples' homes'

Tonight (May 11) at 7PM, I’m in CALGARY for Wordfest, with my novel Red Team Blues; I’ll be hosted by Peter Hemminger at the Memorial Park Library, 2nd Floor.

Home ownership is the American dream: not only do you get a place to live, free from the high-handed dictates of a landlord, but you also get an asset that appreciates, building intergenerational wealth while you sleep — literally.

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/11/ugly-houses-ugly-truth/#homevestor

Of course, you can’t have it both ways. If your house is an asset you use to cover falling wages, rising health care costs, spiraling college tuition and paper-thin support for eldercare, then it can’t be a place you live. It’s gonna be an asset you sell — or at the very least, borrow so heavily against that you are in constant risk of losing it.

This is the contradiction at the heart of the American dream: when America turned its back on organized labor as an engine for creating prosperity and embraced property speculation, it set itself on the road to serfdom — a world where the roof over your head is also your piggy bank, destined to be smashed open to cover the rising costs that an organized labor movement would have fought:

https://gen.medium.com/the-rents-too-damned-high-520f958d5ec5

Today, we’re hit the end of the road for the post-war (unevenly, racially segregated) shared prosperity that made it seem, briefly, that everyone could get rich by owning a house, living in it, then selling it to everybody else. Now that the game is ending, the winners are cashing in their chips:

https://doctorow.medium.com/the-end-of-the-road-to-serfdom-bfad6f3b35a9

The big con of home ownership is proceeding smartly on schedulee. First, you let the mark win a little, so they go all in on the scam. Then you take it all back. Obama’s tolerance of bank sleze after the Great Financial Crisis kicked off the modern era of corporations and grifters stealing Americans’ out from under them, forging deeds in robosigning mills:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-breaks-down-93-bln-robo-signing-settlement-2013-02-28

The thefts never stopped. Today on Propublica, by Anjeanette Damon, Byard Duncan and Mollie Simon bring a horrifying, brilliantly reported account of the rampant, bottomless scams of Homevestors, AKA We Buy Ugly Houses, AKA “the #1 homebuyer in the USA”:

https://www.propublica.org/article/ugly-truth-behind-we-buy-ugly-houses

Homevestors — an army of the hedge fund Bayview Asset Management — claims a public mission: to bail out homeowners sitting on unsellable houses with all-cash deals. The company’s franchisees — 1,150 of them in 48 states — then sprinkle pixie dust and secret sauce on these “ugly houses” and sell them at a profit.

But Propublica’s investigation — which relied on whistleblowers, company veterans, court records and interviews with victims — tells a very different story. The Homevestor they discovered is a predator that steals houses out from under elderly people, disabled people, people struggling with mental illness and other vulnerable people. It’s a company whose agents have a powerful, well-polished playbook that stops family members from halting the transfers the company’s high-pressure salespeople set in motion.

Propublica reveals homeowners with advanced dementia who signed their shaky signatures to transfers that same their homes sold out from under them for a fraction of their market value. They show how Homevestor targets neighborhoods struck by hurricanes, or whose owners are recently divorced, or sick. One whistleblower tells of how the company uses the surveillance advertising industry to locate elderly people who’ve broken a hip: “a 60-day countdown to death — and, possibly, a deal.” The company’s mobile ads are geofenced to target people near hospitals and rehab hospitals, in hopes of finding desperate sellers who need to liquidate homes so that Medicaid will cover their medical expenses.

The sales pitches are relentless. One of Homevestor’s targets was a Texas woman whose father had recently been murdered. As she grieved, they blanketed her in pitches to sell her father’s house until “checking her mail became a traumatic experience.”

Real-estate brokers are bound by strict regulations, but not house flippers like Homevestors. Likewise, salespeople who pitch other high-ticket items, from securities to plane tickets — are required to offer buyers a cooling-off period during which they can reconsider their purchases. By contrast, Homevestors’ franchisees are well-versed in “muddying the title” to houses after the contract is signed, filing paperwork that makes it all but impossible for sellers to withdraw from the sale.

This produces a litany of ghastly horror-stories: homeowners who end up living in their trucks after they were pressured into a lowball sales; sellers who end up dying in hospital beds haunted by the trick that cost them their homes. One woman who struggled with hoarding was tricked into selling her house by false claims that the city would evict her because of her hoarding. A widow was tricked into signing away the deed to her late husband’s house by the lie that she could do so despite not being on the deed. One seller was tricked into signing a document he believed to be a home equity loan application, only to discover he had sold his house at a huge discount on its market value. An Arizona woman was tricked into selling her dead mother’s house through the lie that the house would have to be torn down and the lot redeveloped; the Homevestor franchisee then flipped the house for 5,500% of the sale-price.

The company vigorously denies these claims. They say that most people who do business with Homevestors are happy with the outcome; in support of this claim, they cite internal surveys of their own customers that produce a 96% approval rating.

When confronted with the specifics, the company blamed rogue franchisees. But Propublica obtained training materials and other internal documents that show that the problem is widespread and endemic to Homevestors’ business. Propublica discovered that at least eight franchisees who engaged in conduct the company said it “didn’t tolerate” had been awarded prizes by the company for their business acumen.

Franchisees are on the hook for massive recurring fees and face constant pressure from corporate auditors to close sales. To make those sales, franchisees turn to Homevana’s training materials, which are rife with predatory tactics. One document counsels franchisees that “pain is always a form of motivation.” What kind of pain? Lost jobs, looming foreclosure or a child in need of surgery.

A former franchisee explained how this is put into practice in the field: he encountered a seller who needed to sell quickly so he could join his dying mother who had just entered a hospice 1,400 miles away. The seller didn’t want to sell the house; they wanted to “get to Colorado to see their dying mother.”

These same training materials warn franchisees that they must not deal with sellers who are “subject to a guardianship or has a mental capacity that is diminished to the point that the person does not understand the value of the property,” but Propublica’s investigation discovered “a pattern of disregard” for this rule. For example, there was the 2020 incident in which a 78-year-old Atlanta man sold his house to a Homevestors franchisee for half its sale price. The seller was later shown to be “unable to write a sentence or name the year, season, date or month.”

The company tried to pin the blame for all this on bad eggs among its franchisees. But Propublica found that some of the company’s most egregious offenders were celebrated and tolerated before and after they were convicted of felonies related to their conduct on behalf of the company. For example, Hi-Land Properties is a five-time winner of Homevestors’ National Franchise of the Year prize. The owner was praised by the CEO as “loyal, hardworking franchisee who has well represented our national brand, best practices and values.”

This same franchisee had “filed two dozen breach of contract lawsuits since 2016 and clouded titles on more than 300 properties by recording notices of a sales contract.” Hi-Land “sued an elderly man so incapacitated by illness he couldn’t leave his house.”

Another franchisee, Patriot Holdings, uses the courts aggressively to stop families of vulnerable people from canceling deals their relatives signed. Patriot Holdings’ co-owner, Cory Evans, eventually pleaded guilty to to two felonies, attempted grand theft of real property. He had to drop his lawsuits against buyers, and make restitution.

According to Homevestors’ internal policies, Patriot’s franchise should have been canceled. But Homevestors allowed Patriot to stay in business after Cory Evans took his name off the business, leaving his brothers and other partners to run it. Nominally, Cory Evans was out of the picture, but well after that date, internal Homevestors included Evans in an award it gave to Patriot, commemorating its sales (Homevestors claims this was an error).

Propublica’s reporters sought comment from Homevestors and its franchisees about this story. The company hired “a former FBI spokesperson who specializes in ‘crisis and special situations’ and ‘reputation management’ and funnelled future questions through him.”

Internally, company leadership scrambled to control the news. The company convened a webinar in April with all 1,150 franchisees to lay out its strategy. Company CEO David Hicks explained the company’s plan to “bury” the Propublica article with “‘strategic ad buys on social and web pages’ and ‘SEO content to minimize visibility.’”

https://www.propublica.org/article/homevestors-aims-to-bury-propublica-reporting

Franchisees were warned not to click links to the story because they “might improve its internet search ranking.”

Even as the company sought to “bury” the story and stonewalled Propublica, they cleaned house, instituting new procedures and taking action against franchisees identified in Propublica’s article. “Clouding titles” is now prohibited. Suing sellers for breach of contract is “discouraged.” Deals with seniors “should always involve family, attorneys or other guardians.”

During the webinar, franchisees “pushed back on the changes, claiming they could hurt business.”

If you’ve had experience with hard-sell house-flippers, Propublica wants to know: “If you’ve had experience with a company or buyer promising fast cash for homes, our reporting team wants to hear about it.”

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Calgary, Toronto, DC, Gaithersburg, Oxford, Hay, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

[Image ID: A Depression-era photo of a dour widow standing in front of a dilapidated cabin. Next to her is Ug, the caveman mascot for Homevestors, smiling and pointing at her. Behind her is a 'We buy ugly houses' sign.

Image: Homevestors https://www.homevestors.com/

Fair use: https://www.eff.org/issues/intellectual-property

[hometoursandotherstuff]

David Moot had always fantasized about owning a beachfront retreat on Cape Cod, but never thought he could afford it—until he stumbled upon a coastal gem listed for just $395,000, b/c it could soon be swept away by the Atlantic. The charming, 3 BR, 2 BA cottage sits a mere 25 feet from an eroding bluff.

There's his house, pretty close to the edge. On Nantucket, where the elite flock every summer, one seaside house assessed at $1.9 million recently sold for a shocking $200,000. Eventually, the ocean will win.

With the ocean projected to encroach three feet closer each year, the house could be swallowed by the sea within a decade.

Some properties are in such danger that the National Park Service has started buying them up and tearing them down — to prevent debris from littering the beaches.

But, for now, Moot is happy. He's living his dream.

https://nypost.com/2024/08/14/real-estate/cape-cod-beach-house-sells-for-395000-but-theres-a-catch/

[bitchesgetriches]

Hey bitches! Other than a downpayment, whag other money should you have saved before looking to buy a house?

Great question, my little wombat! Depending on where you live, you might be responsible for the closing costs, which for me personally were somewhere around $5k. Or, you'll need to pay the realtor's fees (again, depends on where you live).

Also, you'll want to have some set aside for urgent repairs or renovations. For example, when we bought our house we needed to build a privacy fence around part of the backyard so our dog could frolic without running away.

ALL of these costs can be negotiated with the seller. We got our seller to take on the closing costs and pay to repair two broken windows. In exchange, we didn't ask them to lower the price because the furnace needed to be replaced.

Good luck, my darling wombat! Hope you get a great house! Here's more advice:

Season 2, Episode 2: “I'm Not Ready to Buy a House---But How Do I *Get Ready* to Get Ready?” 

Did we just help you out? Join our Patreon!

[bunnymothmartyr]

"dont put shit on the floor" does the rent we pay every month not include the floor too, mother? When god sings with his creations, will the floor not be a part of the choir?

[nostalgicfun]

[rainbowpufflez]

“We belong together

Lying here forever

In the cold, cold, cold”

You’ll never believe which gays Bo’s drawing again

Song inspo if anyone wants it (aka uh-oh I gotta add another song to their playlist)

[ying-doodles]

// webtoon spoilers (ep 147)

okay no I actually threw my phone this time (lightly, don't worry) cause beef guy is back for the third time?? and they actually made him.. kinda good?? 🤨

I'm just gonna put (most of) the flashback here for you:

oh look at that, he actually can make a non-threatening face-

(I didn't include it but apparently he inherited his usual douchebag face from his parents who always had it on them ever since he was born. make of that what you will.)

(major novel spoilers ahead)

... no way. are they foreshadowing the fact that og lloyd and suho are in fact the same soul?? "you're from some other world, but can't get used to this world...?" hello??

I mean either way, he's breaking the fourth wall with that analogy of his.

also look at that smile he makes omg suho my precious baby ahdjdjsk,, qwq

oh... what a turn of events-

I doubt it was them but wouldn't it be fcked up if suho's parents were scammed by his friend's parents? I kid, I kid~

ah so the reason why he's friends with suho is because he admires his tenacity to keep going despite everything..

and that's where suho got that mantra from-

[theseptembersim]

#ad #eacreatornetwork

Windenburg Castle

Would your Sims like to live amongst history? Windenburg castle has stood strong for hundreds of years and survived sieges, plots and victories - now your Sims can join the lineage.

MOO and debug used

World: Windenburg Type: Residential Origin ID is TheSeptemberSim

Please note as this is a sponsored post, you will only find this build on The Gallery under my ID above.

[feminist-space]

"And then when she was in escrow earlier this month, her broker called her late at night on May 17, a Friday, with some bad news.

The seller wanted to pull out of the deal.

Why? “You could hear the fear and disbelief in his voice,” Dr. Baxter said, recalling what her broker told her next. “He said, ‘I don’t know how to tell you this, but she doesn’t want to sell the home to you, and it’s because you’re Black.’”

The seller, Jane Walker, 84, is white.

...

Two federal laws — the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and the much older Civil Rights Act of 1866 — make it illegal for both home sellers and their real estate agents to discriminate during a home sale. But more than 50 years after redlining was outlawed, racial discrimination remains an issue, housing advocates say. A multiyear undercover investigation by the National Fair Housing Alliance, a Washington-based nonprofit coalition of housing organizations, found that 87 percent of real estate agents participated in racial steering, opting to show their clients homes only in neighborhoods where most of the neighbors were of their same race. Agents also refused to work with Black buyers and showed Black and Latino buyers fewer homes than white buyers.

...

... with the home sale in escrow and on the same day of a home inspection, Dr. Baxter and Dr. Gamble made the three-hour drive to Virginia Beach to see the house in person for the first time. Ms. Walker arrived as the couple was leaving, and Ms. Walker’s agent, Susan Pender of Berkshire Hathaway RW Towne Realty, introduced the seller to the buyer.

Shortly after Dr. Baxter and Dr. Gamble drove away from the home, Ms. Walker informed her agent that she was not willing to sell her home to a person who is Black and she wished to cancel the sale, according to a chronology of events compiled by Mr. Miller and shared with The New York Times by Dr. Baxter. Mr. Miller declined to comment, and Ms. Pender did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

But what followed, according to Dr. Baxter and Dr. Gamble and supported by Mr. Miller’s recounted, written timeline, was a series of frantic actions by real estate agents on both sides focused on salvaging the home deal.

...

Dr. Baxter’s home sale remains set to close later this summer. But even if the deal goes through, her rights under the Fair Housing Act have still been potentially violated, said Brenda Castañeda, deputy director of advocacy for HOME of VA, a nonprofit that assists Virginians who believe they have experienced housing discrimination. Real estate agents are required by law to not discriminate, which means they must inform sellers who insist on acting with prejudice that they will not represent them, and extricate themselves from a sale if the seller will not acquiesce. But there are other ways discrimination can play out.

“I don’t know that you can cure discrimination just by changing your mind and going through with the deal,” Ms. Castañeda said, adding that the actions of the real estate agents on both sides could also be a violation. “There may be damages experienced by that person because they’ve experienced a loss of their civil rights and the distress of having a discriminatory statement said to them.”

She added, “Dr. Baxter has experienced harm whether the transaction goes through or not. We just want this to be a wake-up call to people.”"

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/31/realestate/race-home-buying-raven-baxter.html

[stargazer-sims]

Windward Shore Estates (WIP Update)

I finally picked a name for it, so now I can make a sign for the front lawn.

The community space is finished, so now I just have to finish the little houses and do a bit more landscaping.

Here’s a quick tour of the community space:

[hua-liansimp]

OKAY HEAR ME OUT I NEED SOMEONE TO WRITE SHEN JIU AND XUE YANG ROMANCE

[bitchesgetriches]

How common is it to receive money from family members to put towards buying a home? Cause I’ve been talking to various lenders and real estate agents lately and a bunch of them have mentioned I could borrow from family members. I’m not sure if it’s cause I’m maybe a bit younger to be buying my own place so they assume I’m from generational wealth or if it’s cause they think I can’t afford anything and rather than tell me that just say I could borrow from family or maybe it’s just a super common thing to do and I’m out of the loop or a fourth option maybe they all have generational wealth. Idk it’s just an annoying thing to be asked because I would feel out of pocket even suggesting it and they all bring it up like it’s no biggie.

When we were in the process of house shopping 9 years ago, my beloved grandfather lost his battle with lung cancer. I emailed our real estate agent to ask her to cancel the next couple days of showings while my husband and I flew back East for the memorial service. Her response basically boiled down to "Sorry. But let me know if this changes your budget because you'll be inheriting a bunch of money!" If she'd said it to my face I would've punched her.

We did not, in fact, inherit any money from my grandfather. But her callous comment made me think that either

a) inheriting does happen from time to time during house-hunting

b) the only people able to afford their first homes these days are those who get help from older family because the market is currently insane

c) real estate agents want to do anything possible to increase buying costs because they personally benefit from a larger commission.

All of which is to say... I think these agents are being dickheads and you should either ignore them, tell them to stop being assholes, or fire them.

The Rent Is Too Damn High: The Affordable Housing Crisis, Explained 

Season 2, Episode 2: “I'm Not Ready to Buy a House---But How Do I *Get Ready* to Get Ready?”

Did we just help you out? Tip us!

[aureli-us]

FICTOBER 2024

as usual i was unable to find any good fictober lists that i PERSONALLY enjoyed for this year, so, keeping with tradition! i made my own! since we're a week from october i figured i'd post it now to let people take a look :^) if you end up using any of it (or all of it) PLEASE DO TAG ME! i'll post a link to my ao3 fictober in the next few days so it'll be up there as well! (plaintext list is below the cut + click for MUCH better quality)

shackles

headless

thunderstorm

journal

sun

clock

sacrifice

moth

aged

catacomb

ancestral

fissure

tentacle

cairn

swamp

statue

vail (NOT veil or vale!)

precipice

impaled

cage

rotten

sunrise

immolation

prisoner

peak

coward

delirium

carved

garden

mandible

(and as always) All Hallows' Eve

[nostalgicfun]

Sorry for the long post but this has got to be THE estate sale. I fear I simply must attend.