By Seth Jayson (TMF Bent)

Fiction leads the way

There’s a first-season episode of The Simpsons in which Homer has to have an RV so he can keep up with the neighbors. So, he heads to Bob’s RV Roundup, where the sales office is decorated with signs that read "Bankruptcy, Shmankruptcy" and "We give credit to everyone." Unfortunately for Homer, he can’t quite qualify for the loan big enough to buy him the "ultimate behemoth," but he falls for a lesser vehicle. Desperate to bolster his status among men, he asks what this smaller RV costs and is told "$350 a month." He takes the deal.

The joke, of course, is that "$350 a month" is not a price, it’s a fleecing. A blatant ripoff attempt. How long does this loan last? What are the terms? Only someone as stupid as Homer Simpson could fall for such a transparent ruse, right?

Don’t tell that to the home selling industry.

RV Bob at Ryland Homes?

This morning I spotted a high-end homebuilder in the Washington, D.C., area using sales tactics that could have been cribbed directly from that episode. Via a full-page newspaper ad, Ryland Group (NYSE: RYL) is trying to entice buyers with lavish digs, promising a variety of living arrangements at what seem like rock-bottom prices. Take this one: "3-4 bedroom garage townhomes… $1,174 per month." Or this one: "Single family and manor homes… $1,478 per month."

Luckily, our universe isn’t quite as skewed as the Simpsons’. Ryland discloses, in microscopic print, that these payments are in fact based on teaser rates of 2.75%, a rate that disappears after one year. After that, you’re stuck with a 6.25% rate on a 40-year mortgage. You got that right, 40 years.

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