The starting bids for some of the homes they're selling are DIRT CHEAP, homes! For 500 smackaroos, you can place a bid on a one-bedroom, one-bath bachelor/ette shack in Stockton, Pittsburg or Fresno, California that was previously valued at $157,880!!! I think the Germans would call this schadenfreude. It begged the questions: What happened to the previous occupant(s)? Did they suddenly die? Or were they gradually snowed under an avalanche of bills and unable to keep up with their mortgage payments like thousands of Americans today?
My brother once revealed to me his repulsion for buying used clothing even if said article of clothing was in good condition and washed thoroughly by the new owner. It never occurred to me that I could be squeezing into a pair of "dead person" Calvin Klein jeans (one step ahead of heroin chic) by wearing pants bought at a used clothing store until he pointed out to me that very disconcerting possibility. After all, who keeps track of where second-hand stores get their merchandise from besides the buyers who work there? Stores like Buffalo Exchange will pay you a few bucks for your duds and Goodwill will give you a tax-deductible receipt for anything you can stuff into a black, trash bag and schlep to one of their outlets then send you on your way. No questions asked.
Anything bought second-hand will usually be diminished in value. But with big-ticket items like cars and houses, one instinctively seeks reasons to explain why a 1990's Buick Oldsmobile or a single-family residential unit would be auctioned off for peanuts (figuratively speaking...for the moment at least). Infomercials that advertise police-impounded vehicles for auction always make me wonder whether or not somebody died a grisly death in the trunks of the cars they're auctioning off.
Anyway, just as soon as I roll up my mason jar of loose change, trade in my CD collection and redeem my Lotto Scratchers for cash, I'm movin' down south to buy me one of these beauties (meth lab in the basement sold separately):
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