A few Michigan residents thought they might be able to score a deal when the state auctioned off a few hundred houses that had gone into foreclosure. All they had to do is pay the back taxes owed on the homes. UNTIL! Dundundun... Mr. Millionaire Bill McMachen snapped up 650 homes for a mere $4.5 million. SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY HOUSES. Like he was picking up beer from Costco.
So that would probably tick off the other buyers, don't you think? Here they were, with their mere thousands, ready to pick up a deal and make a home-owning dream come true (or at least a flipper's dream come true). And then in come Mr. Moneybags and spoils the whole thing! Who is this guy, anyway?
See, I was thinking it would be really cool if after the jump I could tell you that he's running a charity and he's donating all the homes. Or at least that he's really hot. But nope, he's just this guy who owns a yacht business and also owns his own harbor.
And he may donate the houses to charity -- but only if he can't sell them, first. He's hoping to make a couple million off the deal. Cha-ching!
It's like a game of Monopoly gone wrong. The kind where you're playing with your friends, and then along comes this rich kid from the big house on the hill, and he's got all this extra Monopoly money. And he just goes and buys everything on the board and spoils the game for everyone. Durr, that guy! He makes me want to throw some little plastic green and red houses.
And as far as the state of Michigan is concerned, they couldn't care less if it's fair or not. County Treasurer Ted Wahby knows people like McMachen are just buying the homes to make money on them, but who cares. "I have a job to do. I have to collect the taxes, and that's what we did." McMachen just made Ted's job a whole lot easier.
Would you buy 650 homes for $4.5 million if you could?
Image via myfoxdetroit.com
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Comments 27
Truthrowan, I don't know about you but I was never hired by a poor person. Rich people are who create either the jobs themselves, or they create the need/opportunity for someone else to create the Jobs.
Seriously? This guy legally buys homes and you want to make him into some sort of criminal because he isn't giving them to charity or even sadder, because he isn't 'hot'?
Pathetic! Seriously pathetic.
So what Summer? He bought them and can now do what he wants.
Actually what I said was that the people who agree with this apparently think poor people who work hard don't deserve a break. Thanks for proving my point that most republicans are word twisting jerks though. WHY is the world not fair though? Because people like you think it's okay to let things go on as they are, that its Dog eat Dog, and "I got Mine, screw you!" That's exactly how you are all presenting.
The truth is, it takes more than hard work and determination to get ahead in the world, it also takes a bit of good luck, not getting sick or hit by an under insured motorist or screwed over or whatever, Or being willing to screw other people over. Like I said earlier, at some point, why isn't enough enough? Why is the idea of "I've got more money than I could POSSIBLY, reasonably spend" so alien. When a child tries to scoop up and steal all the candy from a pinata, we tell them they are greedy and that's wrong. When an adult does it, be it with money, power, or property, well, they are just more successful and that's their right, they got their faster and richer and oh well, screw you for everyone else. When does the ethic of "That's greedy" Change to "that's business?"
As for poor people "Not hiring anyone" HAH! If those poor and middle class people weren't spending money, that rich guy who hired you wouldn't be making a Job! He/She isn't doing it out of the goodness of their heart, and they are NOT the ones paying your check. The consumer is, trust me, if they were't getting what they put in back and making a profit, they wouldn't be doing it. And that is not a bad/wrong thing, But don't say the poor man never hired you, because the poor and middle class consumers and their spending are what gives MOST of us our jobs, unless you do labor for a rich person directly, you're being paid for by the customers you serve who are not rich. That's why this recession is so bad. The Rich are still Rich, many richer than before, but the middle class and working classes have no money to spend to stimulate the economy, it's all been drained away and up without enough flowing around to keep the rest going. Sort of like a tumor thayt takes all the blood to nourish its self, and leaves the rest of the body to starve.
Honestly, if it'd never been announced before that ALL the tax properties could be bought up for one lump sum, WHY do it this time, when there happened to be someone who actually had the funds? Was some sort of deal set up?
Let me end with a quote from George Monbiot "If wealth were the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire."
I don't see anything wrong with this at all! In times of economic hardship and recession, he is using his hard-earned money, using an opportunity to buy a ton of homes, will be paying taxes on the homes, will be renovating the homes, increasing their values, thus increasing the amounts of taxes paid on such homes, will be giving people jobs, who will also pay taxes, and then the houses will be sold or rented which will give new life to the local economy... etc, etc, etc, and hey, good for him for making a few bucks off the deal! I would do exactly the same with my money!!! You know, it's not about being "fair" or "unfair". He showed up, just like others did, made his offer, and it was accepted. Other people will have the chance too if they work enough at it!