grr housing rant

Buying a home has to be the biggest pain in the ass thing you can possibly do. Stupid realtors have to make the process so much more difficult. or Pain In The Ass. hereafter abbreviated PITA.

I regularly cruise Realtor.com for potential houses. it's semi-serious browsing...our lease is not up until august but it doesn't hurt to scope out the market. I found a house in our future semi-ghetto neighborhood (because its all we can afford) for a decent price. Sometimes if you Google the MLS number you can get more info. No dice. So i wander over to the realtor's website. its not on there. Hmm. okay...do they want to sell houses or what? I find the realtor's email address and inquire about that specific MLS number.

Later this afternoon I got a response:

"The home you requested sold on 5/27/05. I have attached the only home in Las Colinas subdivision that is available at this time. If this home fits your needs and you[r] are not working with a realtor please contact me and I will have an agent contact you."

Hmm....Let's see here...5/27/05. EIGHT FRICKIN' MONTHS AGO?!?!?!?! Why oh why is it still listed? here is the best part: the "attached" home link takes me to a page with a home in the same neighborhood except it is now 60K more. Real cute. Sure, 60K, no big deal. Let me just reach into my other pocket...

I am now completely convinced there is some conspiracy to completely shut out middle-class white collar people from owning a home. We are a two income family, minus the expense of kids. How is it possible that we, earning equal salaries of our baby boomer parents, can not afford a home? The gap between the "haves" and "have nots," especially in reference to real estate is so wide that something will have to give.

I was mad before at investors but now i'm really miffed. A home should be first and foremost a dwelling. Not a moneymaker. Yay for capitalism but for crying out loud somebody please make it against the law to own more than 2 houses and make 200% profits on them!