What can be messy and smelly and furry all over? Foreclosures! Especially the ones Sharon has seen. Sharon Alters, a second-generation realtor from Jacksonville, shares her craziest real estate stories which include none other than stubborn hoarders and house-squatting horses! Although she no longer does foreclosures, Sharon recognizes that they can be fun – like a box of chocolates where, “ya never know what you’re gonna get.” Plus, there’s a sense of fulfillment in helping families get into properties they may not otherwise afford. Tune in to hear all about hoarders and horses, homes turned into barns, sky-high piles of junk, and tons of stuff with a grand yard sale value of – drum rolls, please – zero. 

Please subscribe to this podcast in iTunes or in the Podcasts App on your phone. Never miss a beat from Leigh by visiting The Leigh Brown Experience.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 00:50 – Sharon’s Background
• 00:54 – She lives in Jacksonville, has been in real estate for 18 years, is a 2nd generation realtor, and now her daughter works in real estate, too
• 01:50 – Her CSIRE story
• 02:00 – In 2011 her friend who worked with a big bank asked her if she wanted to do foreclosures
• 02:10 – About a year in, she got a small farm with two houses; one house was on the road and she didn’t see the second house
• 02:45 – She sent her handyman to rekey the houses and find the second house, he called her from the property to tell her there were horses in the second house
• 03:30 – The doors and windows had been taken out of the house to make it a barn
• 04:00 – The horses had been living in the house for over a year and a half; the house had to be torn down, which was expensive because it was in the middle of nowhere
• 04:30 – The house had been stripped down and she tracked down the original owners to figure out what to do with the horses
• 05:30 – The bank reimbursed the people that had been feeding the horses; Sharon liked that bank because it took care of her and others
• 06:25 – The bank demolished the house and sold it that way; a man across the street bought it for his daughter
• 07:20 – The rush of working with bank-owned properties; helping people get into properties they couldn’t otherwise afford
• 07:40 – She got a notice of eviction to give to a family on Christmas Eve; she decided she wouldn’t do that
• 08:10 – She did it a few days later; and the bank waited until February and gave the family money to move
• 08:35 – They went to the house and they hadn’t moved; she told the bank and they gave them 24 hours to leave
• 09:00 – The next day they were gone, but they were hoarders so the inside of the house was full up to the ceilings
• 10:00 – “Yard sale value” is sometimes $0; but this was an expensive trash-out
• 10:45 – She no longer does foreclosures
• 11:30 – Foreclosures are not the bank’s fault; banks can be understanding and flexible

3 Key Points

1. In many instances, it’s not the bank’s fault if someone gets foreclosed on.
2. Foreclosures can be fulfilling because you help people get into homes they may typically not be able to afford.  
3. Banks can be understanding and work with people to an extent; they’re not all bad. 

Credits

• Audio Production by Chris Mottram
• Show Notes provided by Melissa Valder