[Porsche-O-Phile]

Not so dumb from a bank perspective if you think about it.

If you're a banker sitting on a whole pile of foreclosed properties that are only sitting empty costing you money, why not try to create some demand for them, even if you know they'll be right back in foreclosure in a few months or years - you're hoping that maybe you've dumped some of your inventory by then and it won't be such a drag on your bottom line.

I actually would expect to see this more - banks are only going to be able to hold onto the kind of inventories they have for so long - they're costing them money in the form of taxes and upkeep and insurance even vacant. They definitely have a vested interest in trying to get SOMETHING of a return on them so long as they can make enough to offset the realization of losses on their books.

From a strictly financial perspective, this is not stupid at all. Sleazy, yes but not stupid.