Waiting for Godot and the banks

In the theater of the absurd "Waiting for Godot" is a favorite. In the theater that is real estate these days, the absurd is waiting for the banks.

Banks end up owning most of the foreclosed houses; and, once they take them over, they enter the twilight zone of the absurd. You would think that the banks would want to sell these depreciating assets, to get them off their books as fast as possible. Apparently not! I have been waiting for three weeks now for an answer, any answer, on an offer that I have in for a client on a foreclosed house. There is no indication that the bank has any intention of answering or of ever selling. I can't get an answer. The listing agent can't get and answer. No one at the bank is responding to telephone calls or emails. It is ABSURD. Yet this is actually the norm and not the exception. The banks apparently have no mechanism to deal with the crisis that they are in today. Instead they just ignore everyone and everything. I cannot for the life of me figure out how they ever intend to sell any of the properties that they now own, if they won't respond to offers.

So here we sit. My clients and me. Waiting for Godot and the banks; trapped in an absurd play, with no rhyme or reason. I call every day and get the same answer every day - nothing yet from the bank. I suppose I now appear to be a commercial for the definition of insane - doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. It's insane. It's real estate in 2007.