Builder Dumps 34 New Homes At Auction; Winning Bidders Ecstatic - Existing Homeowners Angry

The San Jose Mercury News reports on a sale last Saturday of 34 brand new homes in Manteca, California owned and built by Anderson Homes that it couldn't unload no matter how many free upgrades it offered. The auction at the Hilton Hotel in Pleasanton was one of the first in Northern California offering a whole section of new subdivision. The homes sold for way below what the builder's current asking prices are, creating many ecstatic new homeowners. That sentiment, however, is not shared by the existing homeowners in the subdivision. One homeowner estimates that the auction devalued his neighbors' homes by roughly $200,000 each compared with what many of them paid a year ago. He commented, "I lost a quarter million dollars in value. I'm screwed." For more, see Big winners, losers at auction of new Manteca homes (Those Who Got Houses Are Ecstatic, Paying Far Less Than Current Owners).

For a related story on ABC News' Good Morning America, see:

• You Paid What for That House? (Developers Lower Home Prices, While Existing Residents Fume),


• Watch ABC News' report, Sold! Auctioneers Help Unload Homes (Home sellers are finding creative ways to sell houses during the mortgage crisis).