The "Newest Rip-Off" (Housing)

now this makes Me Mad!

But in some new developments, homebuilders are including in contracts a 1% fee to be paid to them every time the house is sold -- for 99 years. And the money doesn't go for improvements or upkeep: It's just money in the builders' pockets.

Huh? You mean to tell me that the builders are actually holding you hostage for, basically, ever? By simply "choosing" to include in the deed some sort of restriction that you must pay what amounts to a tax (to them) every time the house is sold?

Yep.

What is being done with the money? You'll be shocked - shocked I tell you....

The company's plan is to monetize that future income -- essentially allowing developers to get paid now rather than later. To do that, Freehold would bundle together the estimated income from the future fees and sell that package to investors. It claims this new "asset" would be worth about 5% of the original home prices.

Oh. So they intend to securitize this income stream and then sell it into the market? You bet.

So it's not enough that the banks get a piece of every transaction in the financial world. Now they want to guarantee that same sort of "piece" of every Real Estate transaction into the perpetual future, and, of course, sell that off to "investors."

In short, this is yet another form of derivative, this time backed by you (the intrepid home-buyer) who will get screwed once again by the vulchers on Wall Street.