The Spill Over From Foreclosed Houses

Posted on September 1, 2008
Filed Under Repo Homes |

Foreclosures have a snowballing effect that spills over to the entire locality. As wave after wave of foreclosure lashes the country, the municipalities are at a loss trying to contain the blight it spreads in the neighbourhood. Patience has reached an end. Residents and local officials are beginning to take a tougher attitude towards abandoned foreclosed properties that have been left to rot. The immediate neighbours are apprehensive that the houses left like this will attract vandals and disease like malaria spreading from stagnant pools.

The officials at Randolph have formed a force taking advantage of a by-law that makes it mandatory for owners of these vacant properties to register with the local authorities and subscribe to maintenance fees.An order has been passed by Halifax authorities, prohibiting water stagnating in deserted pools. The officials of Abington have raised the same matter. In Brockton the authorities are huddling to sell off foreclosed units to avoid these from becoming dangerous pockets of disease and crime. In Weymouth foreclosure assistance programmes are on in full swing to help foreclosure victims stay in the houses that are their homes.

Despite these stories are trickling in. On Lafayette Street in Randolph the locals are furious in the way a two family house on a corner plot has been kept vacant and derelict for many years. It is now in a sorry state of decay with cluttered gutters and tall grass choking the yard. There is apprehension that any moment fire will break out. It has become nothing but a “fire trap” bemoans one octogenarian neighbour as he rolls down the pathway in his wheelchair. He does not think it will be palatable scene to see the flames from his living room.

Complication arises from the fact that the owners of these abandoned foreclosed houses do not live in the region but are technically outsiders who had invested while the going was good. They ignore all the warnings from the local administration. The ownership being a confused chain it is difficult to pinpoint the owner at any particular point of time. In nine cases out of ten the investors are in such a sorry state financially that it is beyond their means to take over the maintenance. To address the problem many communities are trying to sell off the foreclosed units as quickly as possible. For this there is a loan pool of $35 million.