SEATTLE - More and more homes are going into foreclosure and the longer they sit the worse they look. The grass grows, the leaves fall, the house starts to deteriorate. And now neighbors may have to start doing some of the dirty work.
Bob Davidson takes in the view from his backyard in DesMoines. Nothin' to see here, unless you're into knee-high weeds, mildewed siding, and the beginnings of rot. Not to mention the dead tree looming overhead.
It wasn't always this bad, when people actually lived there.
"Once everyone moved out no one was keeping up with the lawn, there were cars in the driveway," says Davidson.
The home next door to Davidson's is one of thousands in Western Washington in foreclosure. It's been vacant for the past year. The owners left everything behind, even a child's bicycle. And once a home's in foreclosure, forget about banks managing the upkeep.
Richard Hagar is a Real Estate Appraiser and educator.
"They don't have maintenance crews sitting around saying, OK George, you're mowing grass in Des Moines today," he said.
That job, according to Hagar, may now fall to the neighbors.
"Go over and mow the lawn, pick up the garbage, rake the leaves. Don't let it look like it's an abandoned house because if it looks abandoned you're probably going to see squatters move in," he said.
The people who owned the house bought it with no money down. They had no equity and nothing to lose. So when they couldn't make the payments anymore they just walked away, and neighbors were left to pay the price.
"It's an eyesore. So yeah, we lose the value of our house," says Davidson.
Davidson and his neighbors are pitching in where they can. In the meantime, he's growing a green fence to block the eyesore. Because nowadays, good fences and good green thumbs make good neighbors.
This year we've seen about 300,000 foreclosures a month nationwide. Just three years ago it was 65,000.
mintdeer said on November 4, 2009 at 7:55 PM
This is a interesting story except for one fact that I resent. You state that the homeowners who had bought this house had nothing to lose by walking away but you are wrong. These people as many people who are in foreclosure have lost their good credit, their home for their children, their pride, and their hope of the American dream. Often the home is not let go on a whim of fancy to just walk away and leave. Many people have lost their jobs, have medical issues, or the current market value of the home may have dropped making refinancing impossible after an ARM has adjusted. Also there are those whom their mortgage company who received TARP funds denied giving the homeowner a modified loan when the home owner asked for help and was willing to pay an adjusted payment. It should be known that just because some one had no equity and had not put any money down on the above property does not mean that they had not already invested thousands of dollars on said house with previous payments
mimir said on November 4, 2009 at 8:21 PM
Why is it these stories are always given the twist of a seemingly deadbeat homeowner? They don't own it any more,for whatever reason.I have heard too many stories of homeowners spending months trying to work on modifications, only to get denied...or run around sending and resending documents that can never find their way to the negotiator. There is even a situation where the lender sold the home while the homeowner was making HAMP payments...and yet another who was requested to keep making her payments even though her house was forclosed .THE BANK DIDN"T EVEN KNOW THEY FORECLOSED!This property belongs to the bank, they should take care of it!Here's an idea...Why don't the cities hire people to take care of these properties and send the bill to the banks. They would fine the homeowner if it was in that condition, do it to the banks. This way you can accomplish two things, jobs for some people, and holding the banks responsible for keeping up the property and home values.
alicynx said on November 4, 2009 at 10:06 PM
Hear Hear, mimir! I agree wholeheartedly; since the banks have greedily taken the stimulus funds without fulfilling their obligations to the families holding mortgages, then they owe it to the houses they've stolen to keep them up.
jackwong said on November 5, 2009 at 1:06 AM
I hope more people go into foreclosure if they are under water... there is no reason to hold any house unless it is a good investment. People need to be educated in more investment vehicles outside of Real Estate and 401k's. There are precious metals, options, emerging markets that have even better fundamentals than America. There is no reason to send a check, not knowing when your house will bottom out. It is a greatest option the gov't gave us, is bankruptcy and foreclosure... I hope people use it.
believin said on November 5, 2009 at 8:38 AM
Please give credit where credit is due. The banks are responsible for the housing crisis, and it is also their responsibility to maintain the properties they stole from Seattle residents.
bensmom said on November 5, 2009 at 9:29 AM
Hey Meg, maybe you could have informed the residents that they can find out who owns the house and contact the bank that took it back to come over and take care of the yard. Or maybe Richard Hagar could use his educational background to talk to homeowners and let them know why the housing market failed. The neighbors are going to pay a price. They will continue to pay until the housing market is stabilized. Remember TARP? That means Troubled Asset Relief Program. You paid once by giving the Fed billions of your taxpayer dollars. That money was given to banks and the banks were to provide American homeowners with modified loan payments to stabilize the economy. Proof that the banks aren't doing that is in your article. You think the one foreclosure is causing an eye sore? Wait a few more months and you'll have more than one yard to mow. But it's okay. Build your "green" wall and bury your head in the sand. No need for you to take a proactive approach to help.
missp said on November 5, 2009 at 9:55 AM
We had neighbors that abandoned their house over a year ago. The bank finally sold it, thank goodness. They had such a nice house, took great care of it, then it just fell apart...the fence fell down due to winter storms, the grass was so long it couldn't be mowed. So sad, they left everything, even their daughter's bicycle sat in the yard the whole time. Not sure why they couldn't take their stuff with them...at least they took their dogs.
qwertyuiop said on November 5, 2009 at 10:54 AM
Whose head is buried in the sand? You are delusional if you think that the banks caused the housing crisis. The people that bought houses they couldn't afford and failed to make their payments caused their house to go into foreclosure. Plain and simple. Congress strongarmed the banks to give out loans that weren't secured with down payments; paycheck stubs weren't even checked. Do you really think the banks wanted the mortgagee to not make their payments? Hint: they make money by people making thier payments. Come on people: The TARP came after the people who should never have been in houses stopped making their payments. The banks could have burned the TARP money and it wouldn't have been the cause of the housing crisis. Put the blame where it belongs on the homeowner and Congress for allowing/forcing it.
davephx said on November 5, 2009 at 10:58 AM
Not everyone only buys a house for its investment. Sometimes people want a home for their family not just dead equity in a house. Keeping families in their homes is a huge benefit for neighbors and communities. Often they were "sold" bad mortgages like pay options where the brokers made the big bucks Or, they could afford full piti mortgages but in the worst recession since the Depression have lost income or other hardships they had no control over. Desperate Home Owners Petition Congress For Help http://www.petition2congress.com/2/2564/ Many servicers are finding any excuse they can to foreclose instead of modify because the servicers make more money by foreclosing. It is the investor (often Fannie or Freddie i.e. taxpayers) that lose. The servicers get fees for foreclosing, managing the property owned and reselling it . Many lawyers, consumer groups and recently a Congressional Oversight Committee has pointed out the servicer problem
jackwong said on November 6, 2009 at 6:00 AM
@davephx: Of course it's an investment. If someone just wants a roof over their head, why not just rent? Rent is falling too! Holding on a under-water house just helps the banks to keep paying off the bonds, so they can hold off in opening their books hoping one day inflation will catch up with the absolute or nominal value of the bonds. These are years of the homeowner's life being wasted by sending checks to the banks to pay these zombie loans. The worker has a job to invest his money so we can outpace our worth versus the government's insatiable desire to print money thereby devaluing our dollar - and investing in a under-water house is a TERRIBLE way to do it. So to everyone, if you are underwater, WALK AWAY! Stop sending checks to them!