Foreclosed Homes and "Vandalism".

[DawnCt1]

Foreclosed homes can sometimes be a good buying opportunity. I have heard however, repeated stories about the foreclosed homes literally being "cleaned out to the walls". Cabinets, toilet fixtures, light fixtures, garage door openers, carpeting, appliances, or whatever can be sold separately are being taken from these homes by the "homeowner". My opinion is that the "homeowner" doesn't own the home. The bank does, and in the near future, the American taxpayer will. Should these homeowners be charged with theft and vandalism? Perhaps a few test cases would discourage this practice and leave something on the foreclosure market that is actually 'sellable'.

 

[castleview]

That is nothing new. When DH and I were first looking for a house, we kept foreclosures an option. Just when you think you've seen it all - there's another doozy. We've seen garage doors taken, beer cans stuffed into the pipes, lightbulbs gone, drawing on walls, ripped up carpeting and padding, missing above ground pools...I can go on.

 

[DawnCt1]

That is nothing new. When DH and I were first looking for a house, we kept foreclosures an option. Just when you think you've seen it all - there's another doozy. We've seen garage doors taken, beer cans stuffed into the pipes, lightbulbs gone, drawing on walls, ripped up carpeting and padding, missing above ground pools...I can go on.

I think that if they prosecuted the previous occupants, (better word than owners), then they would think twice. Its a crime against the true owners, and now its a crime against the taxpayer. You can't get away with that kind of thing in a hotel room.

 

[C.Ann]

The first home that DD and her DH purchased was a bank foreclosure.. When the previous owners realized they were going to have to leave, they trashed the entire inside of the house - as well as trashing the yard and inground swimming pool..

DD & her DH purchased the house for a little over $40,000.. DD's DH is remarkable when it comes to all phases of construction, so he finished completely gutting it out - right to the bare outside walls.. When he was finished with the inside, he tackled the yard and completely restored the inground pool and the fence surrounding it.. They lived in that house for approximately 7 years and sold it for many times over the initial purchase price..

The previous owners were such slobs, if anything was left behind, DD and her DH would have gotten rid of it anyhow.. It certainly turned out to be a gold mine for DD and her DH - regardless of the condition and missing items..

I know the bank had been there after the "trashing", so I can only assume that they really didn't care..

 

[binny]

it isnt always the owners though either.

The company that the bank hired to come and "clean out" the repo that we purchased several years ago were the ones destroyed it. They tried to take everything!
The succeeded in taking the ceiling fan in the master bedroom and even took the support brace that built into the ceiling for it. They even took the light switch covers!

They unhooked the water but couldnt figure out how to get the dishwasher out so when we had the water turned on it was a geyser! Thankfully I was there when the utilities came on or we would have had real problems.

they also tried to take the metal shed in the back yard but it wouldn't fit through the gate. The neighbours saw them trying to take off with it and asked if they were supposed to be doing that and they backed right down.


So I think that WHOEVER did the damage should be prosecuted, not neccesarily the owner.

 

[djm99]

I can't believe I'm about to have a friendly exchange with you Dawn, yes I think one should be charged.

My DH and I purchased a home just this June. We looked mostly at foreclosures. We saw one that the bathroom was literally taken. When I say taken I mean wooden beams and pipes only. No walls, flooring, sink, tub, nothing. The whole thing was gone. My Aunt was my agent and went into the properties history (on maris), it was for sale in 2005 and they showed pictures of that bathroom. It was beautiful with huge tube, pedestal sink, tiled floors and walls - the works. I guess the owners (or neighbors) wanted that bathroom. I saw another foreclosure that was in a brand new neighborhood. The oldest house might have been 4 years old. The entire kitchen was missing. Everything else was clean, but no kitchen cabinets, stove, etc. We actually considered that house. We would eventually find a house that foreclosed and was already on the market (for sale) and had just turned over to the bank. It was in move in condition. New carpets, freshly painted, etc. We bought it and love it.

 

[kerrynic78]

One of the news stations did a story on this recently here in Orlando. I guess a bunch of neighbors called the station about a house that was being foreclosed on, and how the owners were trashing it and just throwing furniture, fixtures, etc on the front lawn. The news went to the house and the 2 guys living there were literally throwing furniture out the windows, breaking everything in sight and basically just laughed at the news reporter like, what are you going to do about it? It literally made me so mad to see this and nothing being done to make these arrogant jerks stop trashing the place and laughing about it on camera.

 

[Brianne]

We researched foreclosure homes a few years ago to try & see if we could get a deal. I was constantly amazed at the destruction of some of these homes---a couple of them, we would have had to spend more money than the cost of the home in order to repair it! One house had dog poop all over the place; I don't know how long it would've taken to get the smell out. Even the garage, with a concrete slab, smelled awful.

The house we're currently in, we got as a bargain right before home prices skyrocketed here in Florida. I suspect they were close to foreclosure but hadn't reached that point yet. There was a good amount of damage here and there; we ended up having to rip out the entire kitchen & replace all appliances due to serious damage and neglect. The dishwasher especially---the smell when we pulled it out just about knocked us over.

We're now looking at having to do a complete remodel of all 3 baths because they never took care of the tiling & grout, so there's some serious mold/mildew issues.

Having said all that, at least we got the home for cheap; considering what prices ended up jumping to in this neighborhood, to the tune of about $100-200k more than what we paid, I'd rather do the work than move at this point!

 

[Brianne]

Duh, I never answered the question after all that.

Yes, the homeowners should pay for it, but I don't see it happening. We went through a few battles from the homeowners here and that was hard enough! I don't think banks have the resources available to go after those who cause damage to these homes.

 

[NotUrsula]

In a lot of cases around here, the people stripping the homes are not the previous occupants at all, but criminal gangs who are systematically breaking in and stripping the houses of everything they can take out. A lot of older homes here have very nice millwork and stained glass, and it is being stolen right and left from any unoccupied building. The pipes and plumbing fixtures, the air conditioner and furnace, and any door/window hardware are being taken for scrap metal. Once the locks and hinges have been removed from the doors and windows, any wandering person or animal that wants in will get in.

These guys pull up in rental trucks, and the neighbors tend to think that it is the occupant moving out more stuff, or a management company sending maintainance workers in. They are very hard to catch. In some cases they even take the brick walls, because 19th century bricks are quite valuable.

 

[sorcerormickey]

That happened to the house next to me, to a lesser degree.

The guy came back after they had moved out and found the locks had been changed. He needed to get in, so he rammed his truck into the garage door, knocking it off the tracks and he was able to get in. They still had stuff in the house, despite days of moving trucks. He even took the appliances which came with the house when you built. He then came back and rammed his truck into their wooden fence to gain access to the backyard to get his kid's toys.

So, for 11 months now, we have lived next to an abandoned house with boarded up garage door and half falling down fence with sections missing.

 

[chager]

We had a house down the street from us that the people literally stripped. They took EVERYTHING! Including all pipes, the air conditioner, water tank, furnace, most the carpet, all cabinets in the house, sinks, toilets (eww ), and anything else they thought of. Basically the new people bought a gutted house. Another house was simply trashed. The new owners have spent months on it. They just brought in fill dirt to fix the back yard where the people had dug a big hole and placed an ABOVE ground pool in it!! (Our area isn't supposed to have above ground pools. Apparently they are unsightly. We do not live in an upscale area just a middle class neighborhood.) THat is only two of the 7 foreclosed homes on our street. Thankfully most have now become occupied ( within the last 2 months) so maybe our proprty value will go back to what it was 8 years ago. Our $150,000 home is only worth $130,000 right now.

 

[kidshop]

I live in a mid-to-upscale upscale neighborhood and there is a 'short sale' just up the street. I noticed one day that the mailbox was gone. It was in a decorative brick housing that matched the house. Huge, and the intent is that this sort of fixture is permanently attached! In it's place is a 2x4 unfinished post with a black metal mailbox perched on top LOL! I looked up the listing, and it states that no built in appliances remain nor do the light fixtures. I do not think a house should be stripped. It's not (solely) the bank's fault you couldn't afford your house, and now they have trouble selling it and further hurt the market and the neighborhood. This particular one has been listed for at least 8 months. It brings everyone's property values down.

 

[lowie]

well, just like you (you, as in anyone who 'owns' a house with a mortgage) are allowed to make interior changes to your home, these people can make these changes while they are still technically the 'owners'... as much as that stinks.

i see a lot of this in my line of work and these people are like a really bad ex-boyfriend, "if i can't have you no one can!"

i see ads on craigslist for people like this selling everything. they even rip out the walls to take the copper wiring and plumbing.

i've personally contacted several banks in the foreclosure process on homes and told them that a home needs to be secured or otherwise dealt with and they don't give a hoot... and to twist the knife a bit more WE just gave those same banks hundreds of billions of our money!!!

 

[Stacerita]

I saw one forclosed house that was for sale that didn't have a front door. Just a piece of plywood and a chain to keep it shut. The previous owners took everything with them. And what they didn't take was trashed beyond use.

 

[Anewman]

Dawn...

While I agree with the spirit of your post, it will never happen.

It would be impossible to prove when the items were removed, as a home owner I can start any remodel project I choose to start. And if during that project I suffer financial difficulties said projects will be put on hold.

It would be very difficult for the bank/gov to prove when each and every item was damaged/removed. Burden of proof does not fall on the defendant.

Now I have never dealt with foreclosure, but when the house is foreclosed isnt the person that loses the home still responsible for the unpaid balance of the original loan(after the home is resold and applied)?

 

[aprilgail2]

i
i've personally contacted several banks in the foreclosure process on homes and told them that a home needs to be secured or otherwise dealt with and they don't give a hoot... and to twist the knife a bit more WE just gave those same banks hundreds of billions of our money!!!

I had a house like that next to me, but before it was foreclosed the owers just abandoned it so it was empty many many months before they even forclosed on it. I called the town and they came and did a whole yard clean up on the house and cut the shrubs and grass and raked etc... Well once the winter came then the pipes froze and broke, the basement filled with water, I didn't even know it until it started to come into my yard, I called the water comapny and they shut the water down. Then I went to town hall and found the name of who holds the mortgage on that house and contacted that bank and sent pictures along with a note about how kids were going inside (white lie)and if they got hurt that I now have a record that you were notified. Well they came and secured the house and kept me updated as to when it would be up for auction. The poor people that bought that house had no idea what they were in for- you can't look inside when its up for auction, you buy it sight unseen(though a few people knocked on my door and I told them what was going on inside). The house was filed with trash, that is how they lived, there were cat food cans in there, cats had peed all overthe hardwood floors damaging them beyond repair. Dead squirels were in there- the gabages throughout the house was waste deep and everything in the basement was soaked from the flood down there- they had a bed down there so the mattress was 10 times the normal weight and all the books down there were so swollen and heavy with water that they could only carry up a few at a time to throw out! But--now the house is really nice and great people live there. But the bank was more than helpful when I contacted them-and they were in the state of Washington-we are in NY!

 

[Pin Wizard]

Our first home we bought in FL was a foreclosure. The realtor said the people had trashed the place. You wouldn't know it from looking at it! Everything was spotless when we went to see it. And we did get to choose the color of carpeting going in. I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

 

[beattyfamily]

The copper pipes were taken in a foreclosed house down the street but it was the people hired by the bank to 'winterize' the house and change the locks who were to culprets. They 'accidently' left the bulkhead unlocked after they did their 'winterizing' job.

The police said this is happening a lot to empty foreclosed homes. I guess copper is worth a lot.

 

[JulyGirl]

That's one of the risks when buying foreclosed homes. My cousin and her husband bought a foreclosed home last year. It looked gread from the outside. Inside, three ceilings were falling apart from upstairs water damage. They came to find out that the previous owners were an elderly couple who could not afford repairs when needed. I seriously doubt that they would be able to afford extra charges due to the condition of the house. Good luck trying to collect that.