During only 3 days so far this week, I have run the gamut of challenges. Starting with the foreclosure of a good friend’s personal residence in Gatlinburg that I have been assigned to by the foreclosing bank to be the listing agent of. My friend is a fellow real estate agent in the Gatlinburg area and the foreclosure process has been working for some time. On Monday however, I received a call from my favorite Sevier County Sheriff’s deputy telling me that he was going to have to evict this very kind person because the court delays were finished. Not a great way to start the week…
On Tuesday, I viewed a Gatlinburg condo which Fannie Mae has just completed a foreclosure on. Interestingly enough, the buyers had purchased two adjoining units separately, with different lenders, and then taken out a portion of the fireproof dividing wall combining the two units into one super condo unit, twice the size of anything else in the development. They then proceeded to completely gut the two units and redesign them to create one very large unit. All of this would have been fine (if a little mis-guided value-wise) if it weren’t for the fact that there are still two unrelated loans with two banks and the foreclosure that has been completed is only for one of the loans. That’s right, Fannie Mae has one half of a condo unit to sell and some other institution will no doubt at some point have the other half. Like conjoined twins, these units will have to be surgically separated and that will be a real challenge because they share some crucial “organs” such as the single electrical panel in “my” unit# 303 that serves all of the electrical circuits in both units. Additionally, while unit 303 does have the only kitchen between the two, it doesn’t have a single bathtub or shower enclosure as that space was converted into a laundry area with washer/dryer connections. While washer/dryer connections are a good thing, gaining them at the expense of your only shower/bath space doesn’t seem like a very wise proposition…
If the above two days weren’t enough, yesterday a rotting deck board on a Pigeon Forge cabin gave way under me and I went crashing through toward the ground some 25 feet below! Fortunately, my knee stopped my fall (OUCH!!) as it is a little larger than the hole in the board that I was falling through. Not only did I escape with my life, but my new Apple MacBook Air laptop didn’t even hit the ground so it too survived unscathed. I on the other hand am somewhat scathed but nothing that some bandages and a little disinfectant won’t hopefully cure. There is a fantastic view from this upcoming listing and you will want to see it just as soon as we get those bad deck boards replaced…
Not sure what today in Gatlinburg area real estate holds but I guess we will just have to wait and see…