Serious Plot Error


We just had a viewing of 99 Homes. It was entertaining, and we like Michael Shannon and the rest of the cast. I had to take issue with a realtor showing up at an eviction. In real life, a foreclosure and eviction are legal actions between a lender and the local law enforcement. No way a local RE agent would be evicting people. I suppose the plot has Rick Carver in cahoots with the sheriff's dept in order to scoop up all those foreclosed properties, but not in real life.
99 Homes shows some of the poor practices by lenders that helped crashed the RE market, and Im sure a few AC units were stolen by thieves and unscrupulous RE agents looking to make a fast buck!
An entertaining film, but to be taken with a grain of salt!

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Unless you are sure that a realtor has NEVER done this, or that they are legally not able to do this, then even if its unlikely its not really a plot error.

In the film the realtor is making money from government and banking loopholes, so to me it makes sense that he wants the people out quickly and without damaging the property. Shannon plays a character who is very devoted to his work, so to me it isn't that hard to see this as something that could happen. The cops who actually do the eviction call him 'boss'...so he obviously uses the same cops and has done this a lot. Everything he does is about making money and maximising profits, why potentially pay for another official or let them take some money for their role in the eviction when he can do the job and take that money for himself. Also he has so many scams on the go from short-changing people in the keys for cash scheme to stealing appliances for the insurance money that he wants to be involved to make sure everything goes smoothly.



"dont you hear that horrible screaming all around you? That screaming men call silence."

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Yes, I work in real estate. Even in Florida, a bank or lender must obtain a writ or order to evict, which is served by law enforcement. At no time do real estate agents become involved.
If the lender forecloses on your property, your local RE agent wont be pounding on your door, but the sheriff's dept will.
Of course, its only a movie, and a crooked RE agent could be there to scoop up foreclosed properties. Lots of crooked things happened during the RE crash.
I would still recommend 99 Homes as pure entertainment.

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Yes, I work in real estate. Even in Florida, a bank or lender must obtain a writ or order to evict, which is served by law enforcement. At no time do real estate agents become involved.


Fair enough, I have no real world knowledge of such proceedings in USA, so will take your word for it.

Lots of crooked things happened during the RE crash.


I guess his involvement must simply be unique / make believe, due to his scams like the keys for cash where he gives them a low figure and pockets the difference from the government.

I would still recommend 99 Homes as pure entertainment.


Yes, I agree. Shannon is always good to watch, but I imagine he is a bit intense in real life...seen some interviews with him and he doesn't come off as a barrel of laughs!



"dont you hear that horrible screaming all around you? That screaming men call silence."

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Entertaining movie but the plot error is showing the lenders as victims. They took a loan they couldn't afford. That's it. It doesn't matter how sad the family's story is portrayed.

Using some loopholes I understand but adding a forged document was too much. I wonder how many times something like that happened.

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True! And some of the foreclosures made no sense, like the old man with a reverse mortgage being forced out. With a reverse mortgage, the lenders pay YOU every month!

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During the RE crash in the US, thousands of documents were "robosigned" by computers for unscrupulous lenders. It did happen, just not the way it was portrayed in the film.

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i took it to mean that the realtor was there as a representative of the bank. hence, they're deals with sante fe/vesci in order to do this. so yes, he should be there otherwise the police really have no right to be enforcing evictions without the new owner there, (police don't get involved with civil matters). so because the old owner and a representative was there for the new owner, then the it becomes a dispute and the police can get involved.

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In the US, the police serve eviction notices for foreclosures with a court order for a lender or even a landlord. Realtors have no authority to do anything. Except sell homes.

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Not trying to be rude, Wifey, I keep forgetting many people on this board are very young, or live outside the USA. :)

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i live in the us and work with police officers in our police dept for 10 years and our officers have NEVER served an eviction notice nor showed up to one. our city has a city marshall that handles all evictions. we have never worked with him, but i don't know how other cities and states handle that. i've also known a realtor to act as representatives for a bank in which she was selling a house for them.

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Interesting! The sheriff's dept serves foreclosure and eviction notices here in rural California. RE agents only have the license to sell property.
Different rules for differnt states!

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a'int that the truth :)

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