Homes reverted to REO with below market price?

Bank owned houses are pretty much everywhere right now. It's a common phenomenon that owners bought at the hype went under water and could not afford mortgage anymore (or chose not to). They went default and bank took back the house, normally around how much owners still owed on the mortgage.

Occasionally, I saw homes reverted with a way below market price, and I could not but wonder why? Why wouldn't the owner just sell the house? If they sell the house, they could actually pay off the mortgage and possibly even gain some money, instead of trashing the credit and walk away from a profitable home. So what were the reasons that prevented them from doing so?

A few that I could think of are :

1. They had hopes that things would work out miraculously and they would be able to keep their homes.
   
2. They were in denial that they refused to recognize selling house was even an option. They only believed in staying, and 'see what we will see'.
3. They somehow believed that they may be able to get back the home even after auction or after ownership reverted. (CA does not have redemption period though)
   
4. They were deeply stressed or depressed that they had no motivation or energy to do/plan anything proactive, they became passively waiting for whatever outcome
5. They hoped to work things out and mistakenly thought (or were told) banks would give them more time. When they realized it's not going to work out, it's already too late to sell
   
6. They didn't know what to do. Staying one day is one day. After all, there were homes that were foreclosed for over a year and owner still lived there, rent free!
7. They didn't know the market price, they were disconnected from reality;
   
8. they didn't know where to sleep if they really sold the home, too much anxieties when considering the unknowns;
   
9. They owed other big debts as well, so they filed bankruptcy and didn't care anymore

What else... hmm...

10. First lender got the house, second lien was wiped out, which made it appear as if the house was reverted to bank with much lower than market price. Owner tried short sale previously but second lien holder refused to make a deal.

We do believe in miracles, but I guess we all agree miracles don't happen that often, otherwise they won't be called miracles, right? Perhaps it's better not to lose the ability to act upon situations? Perhaps it's always good to have back up plans?

How long would cats run away

Mocca was missing after Monday night, 7ish. I remembered seeing her coming home to eat 'dinner'. The she did not return before midnight when the door was closed. It was not very unusual for either Mocca or Rocca to run outside all night long. I have no idea what they were doing out there, and always wondered where they slept?

Tue. morning I did not see her coming home either. After I went home from work, I left door open until midnight again. No shadow of Mocca. Rocca was constantly in and out though. I started to worry, none of them have been away for more than 24 hours so far. I wonder if Rocca noticed her sister was missing.

Still no Mocca on Wed. night. I started looking online to see any news in local shelters, looked on craigslist, and searched for other peoples' experiences about how long cats would be gone and what might have happened and where I could possibly find them.

Thur. noon, I took a lunch break from work and drove around home, calling her name. I droved slowly and stopped by frequently to listen if she was miou-miouing for help somewhere.

(When she was little, she used to get trapped in back door neighbor's high fences. She could not get back and would cry at night when she heard me calling her name. But she is a big girl now and seems to go just everywhere she likes.)

I drove around and called and called, no replies. Even Rocca did not show up, so I guessed this would not work.

Thur. night, I was about to start making flyers to post around neighborhood and shelters, even though big part of me really wondered about the odds of getting her back... :(

Just right before I started, wo-waaa, I heard miou-miou... and there she was, Mocca came back home! It was like a miracle :D Though people may say cats can go away for days, even weeks or months. But it is really case dependent. Most often, they were just gone I believe.

I had absolutely no idea where she went. She looked alright, no hurt, not particularly starving, not extra dirty. I let her eat and bathed her and applied flea medicine. She was probably feeling annoyed being greeted with 'torture' after she finally returned after 72 hours.

But she was all clean and cute and tired and fell into asleep shortly after, lying next to me :) Who knows how long she would be gone next time? I don't think there is any way I could prevent her from going somewhere farther away either. After all, she is free. I hope she would always remember to come home, and travel safely...

(Perhaps I would look into possibly put a GPS device on her, heh.)

Gentle Dental II

After a lot of debate, I decided to try it with caution.
Arrived right before 10 am, no one was there. Feel some chill coming up, I sat down and started to fill out the forms. I noticed they have more forms than my previous dental.

One form says there is $25 charge for canceling appointment within 24 hour and has to be made on a biz day. ($125 if specialist involved.) I have not seen dental office charges for this. Should this be a red flag? There is also extra charge if called for emergency but then was not one (by doctor's definition?)

Another form says patients are responsible for any fee that insurance does not cover...Gentle Dental will try to explain to patients if they do not understand the insurance plans as they can be complicated... etc. Should this be a red flag that they are warning me I will be responsible with all kinds of fees down the road?

Another form warned patients about 'change of treatment'. It basically said the plan could change if things coming up differently during treatment and dentist had to make a different call. Then it reminded me one reviewer complained about Gentle Dental changed the treatment while he was sitting on the chair being operated.

While I was filling out the form, there suddenly came a few parties, apparently they double or triple booked their slots, as they only had one doctor there at that time! So... most people just sat and wait.

One man got into long conversation with the plan organizer. She was losing patience but tried to be professional. Basically he seemed not have decided to stick to this place or swinging back to his previous dentist.

She said, "You need to make a decision. I can hold on to the files until you decide, maybe next week?... I don't want to process further because it's wasting time if you decide to go back. And it costs me money to make copies of files..."

(So far, I actually did not disagree with her, even though she was losing patience and becoming unprofessional. But I would lose patience over repeated explanations too.)

She said, "If you decided to go back, just have your dentist contact Gentle Dental and we will send x-rays and whatever files over. But if you want to walk out with your files, then it would be $27 for x-rays, plus $2/per page for documents."

The man grumbled...

She said, "I am trying to save you some money. We will send whatever documents to your dentist if you simply have him call us."

Then I realized one reviewer complained Gentle Dental charged him for x-rays as 'good-bye' pay when he was pissed and decided to leave. I now see the reviewer was not fair in this case. Because he could choose not to take out a copy but just have his new dentist call them instead. I believe that's how most dental places handle files. They pass to each other without involving patients. After all, it does cost extra to make copies of x-rays.

After I was done with the forms, I approached the counter and asked her if I would be able to get a list of things done before I leave. I was trying to prevent any surprise bills sending to me weeks later. She said, "All you are going to have today is taking x-rays and we will have a treatment plan for you."

Oh ho, sounded like the nightmare was gonna happen, like all other reviewers complained. The sales pressure, selling me thousand dollar treatment plan, blah blah...

I quickly said, "I don't have much time today" (I raised my head looking at the clock on the wall, hinting it's already 10:30 am, half an hour late for my appointment), "I am afraid I won't have time to go through the treatment plan, can I just have my front tooth checked?" She said, "sure", then she started to write something on my file. I assumed she was making a note for my request.

Finally I was called. The technician greeted me and said, "I know you just want to check your front tooth, but we need x-rays so the doctor could diagnose." I thought, "fine, taking all those x-rays shouldn't cost me anything. Besides, if I decide to go to other dentist, I can simply have them send files over."

I sat down and was ready to be taken 20 x-rays, like some reviewer said. The x-rays would then be used to put up a treatment plan... I had it all prepared (and rehearsed in my head).

The first one started from my front tooth. After one beep, the technician told me it's done and asked me to follow him. I was surprisingly shocked! Wow, they did honor my request and were only going to look at my front tooth without other tricks!

I sat on the chair for a while, waiting for that only dentist, who was still drilling another patient. Finally it's my turn, she asked me about the pain and knocked on a few tooth (knocking test?) and a cold test (pulp test) and decided the nerve died. I asked, "If the nerve died, why would I feel pain?". She explained, "The nerve died inside and was causing inflammation to the nearby tooth..."

Through out the short session, I asked many questions to make sure I understood what happened and what would happen.

Time to jump off the chair, the plan organizer was sitting by me all the time as well. And to my surprise, she said, "Good questions! You asked all those good questions. Other patients just sat there and say ok ok..." Now I felt delighted to get compliments out of the blue, ha ha.

I followed her to the front desk and showed her a sheet of all the items with cost from my insurance plan that I brought with me. I asked her to point out the items involved in root canal and crown. She quickly got information from computer, printed them out and helped me identified each item, including what we did today. She also understood the flex plan if I'd like to wait to do it next Jan. as apparently some other patients were considering that, since it's near year end. (I had some other dental office did not understand the flex plan and I had to explain it before.)

So far, I actually felt surprised as I had very low expectations before I came, yet nothing bad happened. I was not sold to any pricy product. And the plan organizer seemed very helpful. She did try to put an upgraded plan for crown, such as gold metal and porcelain trim. Those items are not covered by insurance at all and cost more than $350. I asked about those items and she explained. As long as I knew what those items are, I could still choose to add them or not. She did not add sales pressure on me by telling me it's much better to have etc.

After my own visit to Gentle Dental, I think overall it really depends on your perspective. I believe if someone who is not prepared to ask questions and understands what they are doing and what other alternatives they have, they might feel ripped off.

• If I did not request I only wanted to check my front tooth, I would have taken lots of x-rays and went on the same route.
• If I did not ask the plan organizer to explain items on the crown, I might thought the metal upgrade is required (as she put it there automatically, yes, sales strategy maybe.)
• It you are looking for prompt appointment, this is not the place to come. (Funny, they charge people for canceling appointments yet they overbook?).
• If you don't know you can ask them to transfer x-ray and documents for free, you will end up paying for them.
• The dentist I visited today did not seem particularly 'gentle', the way she knock tested on my tooth.

My HMO insurance covered my exam for today. However, based on a lot of bad reviews, I still yet wait and see if there is any surprise bill to come. Since I only took one x-ray and simple exam (no gum test, no full test, no cleaning), I seriously doubt if they can make up anything to bill me.

Even though I survived my first visit with surprise, I am still not sure if I should go back though, as I am still concerned something bad might happen down the road, based on all negative reviews. Seriously, all reviews are bad, not even one positive review. It's the 'high possibility' that something bad might happen that bugs me.

Gentle Dental I

My front tooth suddenly started having throbbing pain! It reminded me one of my back tooth once had that too, and the pain was so unbearable that I managed to get numbing medicine and call dentist immediately. I wanted to say I 'rushed' to the drugstore, yet I remembered for certain moments, the pain was so harsh that I could not move (it would stimulate the nerve more).

Unfortunately I signed up HMO this year, after not having used enough benefits from PPO while paying high premium previously, so I could only go to that one dentist I have chosen from my provider --- Gentle Dental in Sunnyvale.

I called and was very afraid not being able to schedule anything soon enough, to my big surprise, I got an appointment for tomorrow morning at 10. I was a bit suspicious and asked if anything is available in the afternoon. As I view 'vacancy' a bad sign. But I was told 'no'. So I accepted it with relief.

After I got home, I located Gentle Dental through google map, and right there, it popped up and I saw *1 star* with 12 reviews. I was stunned! I started to go over the reviews and then quickly looked it up on Yelp --- 1 star, 6 reviews. My heart sank...

To summarize the reviews :
1. I will most likely be overcharged. They may send me a bill later different from what they showed me over the counter.
2. I am mostly guaranteed to be under sales pressure of taking some (if not all) of their treatment plans, which easily run over thousands.
3. I run the risks of needing further repair after their treatment (for the same tooth).
4. I will not be honored about my request if I simply want a teeth cleaning and refuse to go with treatment plan

Sounds pretty damn terrible, doesn't it?

There was this picture formed in my head... tomorrow when I walked in, I would first spend time filling out the forms, then being pulled into a room while they take tons of x-rays, then going back to waiting area, finally after I finished reading an entire magazine, someone will call my name, hand me a to-do list too long to list here, each item cost hundreds... adding up to thousands or more. I will then request I just want to check and possibly do fillings for my front tooth. They will say sure, let's do the fillings. Then in the middle of drilling... they will tell me, your tooth looks too bad, it can not be fixed with filling, you will need to schedule for root canal. I will not be able to argue as I was lying on the chair with a numb mouth. Then I will be charged for consulting, planning, x-rays, filling, and root canal + crown down the road...

The more I played the movie, the more I felt miserable... I had an urge to cancel it tomorrow morning. Yet do I have a better option with HMO right now? Would it be better to go with another provider? Would I be able to get an appointment before the pain kills me?

Nook

Just saw Barns and Nobles is debuting their Nook by next month, to compete with Amazon's Kindle of course. The price is set to be the same as $259. I wonder if Amazon dropped the price because they knew Nook is coming out with that price, or B&N followed the new price instead.

Look at the comparison chart, I like the followings about Nook :

1. it's got the iPhone touch, the color touch and control navigation at the bottom. Browse through books by its cover is cool.

2. It can read PDF (Kindle can do that only on the upgraded version, which costs much more)

3. It allows extending memory though micro SD card, which is always a good thing, especially when you can play mp3 as well.

4. You can lend ebooks to friends for 10 days, ha! This is an interesting idea.

5. It says it beats Amazon in terms of ebooks available (more than a million), I am surprised.

6. More than 500,000 free ebooks. This is nice too, I don't expect them to be any new top seller, however, a lot of old or classic novels are great bonus.

I am surpised by #5 and #6, since I buy books mostly from Amazon, and would assume they will surely beat B&N in terms of content available. Perhaps content can not be solely measured by numbers either. Looks like Nook is little bit smaller to carry as well (a little bit thicker though), I actually prefer it this way.

I suspect how comfy it is to read ebooks on a 6" diagonal screen, and I do like the feel of papers, so even though Kindle has been there for a long while, I never bothered to look into it much. (Plus it's not cheap.) Recently it caught my attention more as I learned it can 'read' books to you as well. That is a BIG plus to me. I work in front of computer all day long and by the time I get home, my eyes are usually tired already. Being able to listen to a book is much appealing than read it. For this reason, the screen size is not important anymore.

One last thing nice about Nook is you can try it out at local B&N store, heh. So far it looks like Nook is beating Kindle with its features. I am not sure if ebooks are more expensive than Amazon though, as most of the regular books at B&N are :(

Perhaps someone will offer a better Noodle = Nook + Kindle ?