'Flipped' documentary to play in Cleveland

Business First of Buffalo
by Jodi Sokolowski Jack
Business First

"Flipped" is making its way to Cleveland Friday.

The Buffalo documentary is about buying inexpensive homes usually at foreclosure auctions then reselling them after little or no improvements with devastating consequences to the neighborhood and financial institutions.

"I guess flipping is becoming a problem (in Cleveland) too, and they want to nip it in the bud quickly," said Michele Johnson, a Buffalo Housing Court liaison for the Broadway Fillmore district.

She reported on her Web site, www.broadwayfillmorealive.org, that the Cleveland Housing Court Judge Raymond Pianka asked the "Flipped" crew to show the film and talk to officials in Cleveland about ideas to combat flipping. The crew includes Johnson, Buffalo Housing Court Judge Henry Nowak, Buffalo Housing Inspector Tracy Krug and Cindy Cooper, an attorney who is Judge Nowak's assistant.

Nowak said he and Pianka have been talking and exchanging ideas for a couple years about different housing court programs. They've also employed each other's programs such as Buffalo implementing Cleveland's receivership program and obtaining funds to help homeowners with improvements while Cleveland applying orders to vacate and addressing quality of life issues.

"We've had a free exchange of information all along, so I (wasn't) too surprised to get the call," he said. "I'm honored and excited to share some of our strategies with Cleveland and hope to learn from the experience and bring things back to Buffalo that might improve our neighborhoods."

Johnson added it has gotten the attention of the Cleveland press since Marc Odien, owner of Nickel City Media & Entertainment that directed and produced the film, was contacted by a newspaper reporter in Cleveland Wednesday.

"We thought it would be 10 people but now all of a sudden it's gotten to the point that they can't let anyone else in," Johnson said about it being shown at the Cleveland courthouse for housing court members, common council members, magistrates, attorneys and the general public.

The documentary features commentaries by Krug, Buffalo Common Councilman Nick Bonifacio, Nowak, along with Johnson and residents from the East and West sides, where flipping is most predominant in the city limit.

"The mayor's Anti-Flipping Task Force has been recognized here locally, and now we're getting recognized nationally that we're trying to combat the issue of flipping," Krug said. "We're just trying to get everybody up to speed and get people to know about property flipping."

Johnson said she has gotten several local requests to show the documentary again and plans to on the West Side in October.

She reported for the past two months eBay listings for Buffalo properties are down about 30 percent.

"This is really good news," Johnson said, adding the in rem auction last year had allegedly fewer known flippers than in 2003 and 2004. "Let's hope flipping is slowing down."

For more information, visit www.flippedmovie.com.

http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/s...ml?jst=b_ln_hl

That is awesome... How are sales of the Flipped movie coming along?

We havent done any major advertising yet so its slow but soon we are going to put it up for sale on Ebay as those are the people who need to see it most

I still am incredulous that anyone would buy property on the internet, without actually seeing it and assessing the neighborhood and stunned that any institution would lend to such a person.

That some of these loans would be guaranteed is even further from belief.

Flipping generates tax revenue. It also generates interest into a community that may not have been there before. The problem for some is that there is a large profit gain derived from flipping. I like profit.
There will be no law made, nor any ANTI-Flipping task force that can stop the free and legal flow of commerce.
In order to limit “flipping”(Free Trade), within your community. The community must be up to a level where "flipping", will not be viable. It is that simple.
The politics of flipping will remain as a talking point that will fade as interest wanes or laws enacted removing government buyouts of foreclosed homes at such a high rate. Lending institutions are moving money and federally insured; they can take risk.
The bonuses for the community are those tax dollars from the transactions. The fact that the public is just catching on to "flipping" means that the government new for sometime this was happening. They handle the property transaction.
I am all for flipping and intend to take advantage of it myself. I would not by property without seeing it first. That I find dubious.

This isn't taking risk:

Quote:

---

Lending institutions are moving money and federally insured; they can take risk.

---

This is federally-subsidized speculation.

If I could get the federal govt. to subisidize speculation in the stock market, the Dow would hit 50,000 in a year.

LHardy,
Flipping has hurt our city in so many ways, Misrepresenting the properties ( A house near the Central Terminal being listed as a home close to the water)
NYS is a buyer beware state and anyone who buys without seeing the property with their own 2 eyes may very well deserve what they get...But My concern has been and always will be the neighbor who lives next to a house that because it was sold when it should of been demolished and will be sold over and over without anyone making any improvements ( not even arranging lawn care) is now forced to deal with a property that will sit for another 3,4,5 years and is a target for arsons,drug dealings, and squatters because someone who has never set foot in Buffalo is making money flipping it.Flipping to me is not buying a foreclosure, fixing it up and reselling it for a reasonable profit.

Michele:

LHardy has one point I can't dispute: flipping may be a majority of the buy and sell activity that some areas may see.

Sudden governmental action may produce unintended side effects.

A clampdown on predatory flipping may stop all transactions, even those which might have been beneficial.

So that the deterioration on the East Side may be accelerated.

Residents there might not be satisfied with, "but our intentions were good", a favorite of government programs which did more harm than good.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Michele J

We havent done any major advertising yet so its slow but soon we are going to put it up for sale on Ebay as those are the people who need to see it most

---

What is the holdup putting it on ebay? That should take no longer than a few minutes. They even have a buy it now button to get's picked up faster.

There is no doubt that the government (HUD) does in some cases more harm than good, Newbuilds for example 1 in 5 will be foreclosed on within 3 years,We keep building houses in a city thats shrinking.

What can we do to get someone with vision in the mayor's office? We need to be thinking about how to shrink our city! We don't have to do it like other places have, but there's nothing being done right now! We just stick newbuilds next to empty lots and hope everything will turn out for the best... good grief.

Crache:

You'd better be careful of your signature. After they "do" the Pope, you might be next.

BTW-Didn't zero and the comma in math come from India?

Crache,
I have long wondered the same....We know it doesnt work so why do we keep doing it? I believe its because many palms are being greased!

:confused:
... wouldn't this be another example for the city and county to work with the same form and information stored so these sales could be kept track of. If there are no permits requested in a certain amount of time on an address then at least a red flag or an investigation should take place. All these city, county and state agencies use computers they should use them properly not just to send notes back and forth to offices in the same building and millions of tons of scrap paper each year.