Bad houses, busted loans? For Midlands investor, it’s all good
When mortgage lenders get stuck owning dilapidated houses in shabby neighborhoods, they often call James Odell Barnes.
Barnes works the rock bottom of the housing market, what his lawyer calls the “sub-subprime market.” He and his partners buy foreclosed homes by the dozens, sight unseen, often for just a few thousand dollars apiece.
They resell them to low-income buyers who would have trouble qualifying for bank mortgages, providing many buyers with seller financing.
“The reason the banks call me is, I will buy anything,” says Barnes, 55, who often can be found puttering around his 54-acre horse farm in this small town outside Columbia.