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Worst Foreclosed Home Vandalism Ever?

| By Sheree R. Curry | Posted Feb 4th 2011 5:27PM

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We don't expect foreclosed homes to be in mint condition, but what Tom Moon of Pacific Moon Real Estate saw when he walked through the doors of a 3,000-square-foot bank-owned home in Huntington Beach, Calif., was perhaps the worst case of home vandalism ever. Most walls in the house were splattered in mold, a second floor caved in from a hefty pile of wet clothes, and chemicals and cement clogged the drains, reported the Orange County Register.

This was the worst example of "malicious vandalism" the 30-year veteran agent says he has seen, as vandals caused more than $250,000 in damage to the two-story home that was previously valued at more than $1.78 million when it went up for auction last year. Ownership reverted to the bank when no one purchased it, but even at that time no one knew of the damages that awaited therein. (Pictured)

Water had been left running in the Jacuzzi bathtub, perhaps in hopes of flooding the place, and appliances had been removed. Police had no leads as to who caused the damage, and it's all water under the tiles now, as far as Moon is concerned, but it's a good lesson for buyers of foreclosures, he told AOL Real Estate.

"The normal Suzy homeowner who will buy a foreclosure should pay $400 for a professional home inspection to find out what lurks behind those walls," says Moon who works primarily with banks on REO properties. "The bank has never lived in the house, the listing agent has never lived in the house. We don't know if the fireplace works or not."

"They should pay for a home inspection at their own expense to see if there is any unseen concerns, property maintenance issues, if the electrical is out in the bathroom, or if there's a little seepage in a corner."

Although Moon has crews cleaning up the mess at the Huntington Beach home, he says he is

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uncertain to what extent everything will be repaired as they have not yet decided. "We might just do the minimal."

Generally, Moon says, when it comes to any foreclosed home, banks are looking to make money on the homes, not lose it, although they often lose money on most of them when you factor in all the costs, from lawyer fees, paying tenants to move out, and the repairs. So they are not going to sink a lot of money into repairs. That's why foreclosures are typically sold, "as is."

"If we fix anything at all, we might cosmetically, say, replace carpet and paint. We might just go clean the house, whatever will help the property sell quickest for the highest amount of money. If we put in $5,000 will we hope to get $10,000 back. If we put in $5,000 and we'd only get $5,000 back, we're not going to do the work."

A buyer, he says, "they don't know if we put up the money or not. All they know is this one home is $390,000 and all the other homes are going for $400,000. We try to educate the buyer's agent to say don't have your buyer ask us to have something done." By time an REO hits the market, the bank has invested all the money it wants to invest. He says buyers can always back out of a deal if they find something they don't like. (Or at least they can back out within a certain number of days after a home inspection report, as the time frame varies state per state).

The bank wants what the market will bear, which is a price based on the neighborhood itself, from if the schools are decent to how long homes sit on the market, he says. The price does not have much to do with the actual home or how much was left on the mortgage.

"A buyer should know they are not going to get a steal of a deal just because its a foreclosure. I get on my emails and have messages from buyers saying that they are looking for a deal. This is Orange County, not San Bernadino."








Sheree R. Curry, who has owned three homes and now rents in a Minneapolis suburb, is a three-time, award-winning journalist who has covered real estate for six years. During her 20-year career, her articles have appeared regularly in the Wall Street Journal, TV Week, and Fortune. She's been with AOL Real Estate since 2009 and seeks a book publisher -- or at least a lender who'll give a reasonable mortgage rate to a self-employed mom.

New legislation would stiffen penalties for copper theft

Posted February 17, 2011 at 3:39 pm by the South Carolina Radio Network (11920)

New legislation making copper theft a felony instead of a misdemeanor was introduced last week in the South Carolina General Assembly by House Minority Leader Rep. Harry Ott (D-Calhoun).

Rep. Harry Ott (D-Calhoun)

In an attempt to deter copper theft, Ott explains that the bill would stiffen penalties associated with stealing and illegally purchasing copper.

To slap somebody on the wrist as a misdemeanor when they’ve done thousands of dollars of damage to a church, or an ag. community, or to a house, or to anybody is unacceptable.

The bill would not allow buyers to use cash when purchasing copper. Ott says he believes it’s important to get the “cash element” out of the process.

If we make them use checks, then the sheriff can go and trace the checks to see if we have people coming in every few days selling copper. So, it’s a reporting mechanism that gives the sheriffs another tool to see who’s selling copper.

The bill would also require a person to obtain a permit in order to sell copper, or other “nonferrous” metals. Ott says he doesn’t expect the scrap yards to become policing agents.

What I do expect to happen because of this bill, is the scrapyards are going to have to keep better records. When somebody comes in to sell copper, the scrap yard will have the responsibility to see whether or not they have that permit. It they don’t have that permit, and they cannot buy that copper, then those people have to go and seek permission at the sheriff’s office.

Ott feels the process he’s introduced in the bill gives the system more checks and balances,.

Right now, anybody can present copper at the scrap yard, sell it, get cash, go do whatever they want to do. I’m trying to put some bumps in the road so we can slow this process down, because we’ve got to stem the theft of copper in the state of South Carolina.

While Ott admits no bill is perfect when it’s first introduced, he wants to make a start in stemming the theft of copper in South Carolina.
And this, he says is a start.

Nearly 20% of Florida homes are vacant - Mar. 18, 2011

Nearly 20% of Florida homes are vacant - Mar. 18, 2011


By Les Christie, staff writerMarch 18, 2011: 4:14 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- It's not always easy to feel sorry for sunny Florida. But they just got hit with another blow.

On Thursday, the Census Bureau revealed that 18% -- or 1.6 million -- of the Sunshine State's homes are sitting vacant. That's a rise of more than 63% over the past 10 years.

Having this amount of oversupply on the market will keep home prices depressed and slow any recovery.

During the housing boom, Florida was among the hottest real estate markets in the nation. Homes were snapped up by the state's growing population as well as hordes of investors confident that prices would continue to soar.

"You'd drive through downtown Miami and see 30 or 40 cranes sticking up in the air," said Michael Larson, a housing market analyst for Weiss Research.

The bust brought an end to that. Development ground to a halt. Retirees stopped relocating. And prices started falling and vacancies rising.

"Housing went from being the preeminent investment of choice to toxic waste," added Richard DeKaser, an economist with the Parthenon Group.

Who's buying homes? The rich

The vacancy problem is more dire in Florida than in any other bubble market: In California, only 8% of units were vacant, while Nevada, the state with the nation's highest foreclosure rate, had about 14% sitting empty. Arizona had a vacancy rate of about 16%.

In Florida, the worst-hit county is Collier -- home of Naples -- with a whopping 32% of homes empty. In Sarasota County, 23% of the housing stock sits vacant, while Lee County (Cape Coral) has a 30% vacancy rate. And Miami-Dade County has a vacancy rate of about 12%.

The housing recovery will take years, perhaps many years, to complete, according to Ingo Winzer, a housing market analyst and founder of Local Market Monitor.

0:00 /2:06Florida condo for the price of a car

Not helping is the the fact that the state's rate of population growth slowed in the second half of the last decade to just 5.7%. Still, the 2000s saw the state population grow overall by nearly 18%, the Census Bureau reported. I

"It will take about eight years just to put the vacancy numbers back into the single digits," said DeKaser.

The inventory overhang has sent home prices plunging. The median price for homes sold in January was just $122,000, according to the Florida Association of Realtors. That was down 7% from 12 months earlier and less than half the price at the peak of the market.

Winzer thinks prices in Florida will drop even more, another 5% in 2011 and 3% in 2012. "Even after that, they're not going to rebound, they'll just sit on the bottom," he said.

Housing markets: Best recovery bets

Celia Chen, a housing market analyst for Moody's Analytics, is also downbeat in her forecasts for Florida. Not only will prices fall another 11%, she said, but the bottom won't hit until mid-2012, about a year later than the nation as a whole. Some metro areas won't get back to their pre-recession peaks until long after the present owners are old and gray.

She doesn't expect Naples, for example, to come all the way back until the late 2030s. Other Florida metro areas with a 20-year wait or longer include Punta Gorda, Palm Bay and North Port.

"If you're buying in Florida for retirement," said Winzer, "maybe you buy next year when prices will be near the bottom. If you're buying for investment -- don't."

Second arson in two days at vacant Gwinnett house | ajc.com

Second arson in two days at vacant Gwinnett house | ajc.com

By Christian Boone

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

For the second time in as many nights, Gwinnett firefighters had to put out a blaze investigators believe was intentionally set at a vacant Lawrenceville house.

Gwinnett Fire and Emergency Services spokesman Tommy Rutledge said both fires were likely started by the same person. The damage caused by Sunday's blaze was extensive, he said.

The house, located in the 1900 block of Guardian Way, is in foreclosure. No one was injured in either fire, Rutledge said. Investigators ask anyone with information about the suspected arsons contact the Gwinnett Fire Department at 678-518-4890 or the Georgia Arson Control Hotline at 1-800-282-5804.

Vacant home vandalized to point of destruction - TheRecordLive.Com

Vacant home vandalized to point of destruction - TheRecordLive.Com

Vacant home vandalized to point of destruction

Published 03/14/2011 - 5:33 p.m. CST

A vacant home in Orange was “destroyed” according to Officer William Langlois, of the Orange Police Department. Langlois responded to a call from Melanie James, assistant manager of some rental property owned by Orange Navy Homes. James showed officers the inside of the home when he arrived on the scene and told Officer Langlois she had inspected it the week before.

James told officers she was contacted about the damage by painters who were readying the property for a tenant.

The interior part of the air conditioning unit had been stolen from its closet. Officers observed a hole broken in the ceiling in the kitchen as well.

When officers went upstairs, they found the carpet had been pulled up from the floor and the OSB sub-flooring had holes in it exactly over the copper tubing that connects the interior and exterior portions of the central air conditioning unit. The copper tubing had been cut and stolen from the floor.

In the upstairs bathroom, the wall had been broken out and the copper fittings stolen from the interior portions of the tub faucets.

Photographs were taken and evidence was found at the scene. It is estimated that damages to the property are about $10,000.

Census Bureau reports more than 5,300 vacant houses in Frederick County - The Frederick News-Post Online

Census Bureau reports more than 5,300 vacant houses in Frederick County - The Frederick News-Post Online

Of the more than 90,000 houses in Frederick County and its towns last year, more than 5,330, or almost 6 percent, of them sat vacant on April 1, 2010, according to numbers recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Of those vacancies, 2,355, or 4.88 percent, were among the county's 48,244 total housing units.

The combined vacancy rate of the county's municipalities was even higher, with 2,981, or 7.12 percent, of 41,892 housing units, sitting vacant.

Of the county's 12 municipal areas, the City of Frederick led with 2,207 vacancies, or 8.01 percent of its 27,559 total housing units. The City of Brunswick followed with a 7.51 percent vacancy rate, or 175 vacancies for its 2,330 total units.

Thurmont, which has slightly more housing units than Brunswick, with 2,498, had a vacancy rate of 5.76 percent, or 144 properties.

Mount Airy, with a total of 3,225 housing units, had 118 vacancies, or 3.66 percent.

Wayne Six, an appraiser and president of Six and Associates, said there are a lot of unoccupied houses in the county. "It is definitely more noticeable than normal," Six said.

In presentations to real estate and building organizations locally, Six has noted the negative impact of foreclosed houses on neighborhoods. When appraisers use surrounding properties as a comparison to determine the value of a property, a foreclosed or short sale house, or one that is simply unoccupied, it affects the value of the property being appraised, even though that property is not under any financial or other distress.

Sandy Fouche, president of the Frederick County Association of Realtors, said that figure "seems to be a lot for Frederick County."

Fouche said that there are 205 foreclosed and 30 pre-foreclosed properties in the county officially listed as vacant.

Still, Bob Sawchuck, an agent with Mackintosh Inc. Realtors in Frederick, said that number might be high, but it's not indicative of a lack of viability in the area's housing market.

"While the number of vacant homes in the county is a concern, I don't feel it will be a blight on the market here," Sawchuck said. "Inventory levels in the county have been relatively stable to falling. Pending sales numbers have been increasing, indicating a larger pool of buyers looking for homes. That will do a lot to stabilize prices here, as well. I would be curious to see how many of those counted vacant homes remain vacant. Of the three I mentioned, two have sold and one is rented."

Sawchuck said he checked his records for April 1 and had three houses that day that were "vacant."

"I can tell you from my perspective that I had three homes that I verified to (the Census Bureau) that were vacant as of April 1, 2010," Sawchuck said. "In two of the cases, the owner had passed away and the heirs had the home listed for sale. In the other case, the owner had moved out of state and had the home for sale. I am certain that many of the counted vacant homes were ones that were either foreclosed or abandoned due to short sales."

In a statement, the bureau said finding a large number of vacant houses in an area when the number should be lower is an indication of a housing problem. For example, when there is a higher-than-average vacancy rate in an area with lots of vacation or seasonal properties that may be vacant at least part of the year, that can show a problem with housing at that site.

The Census Bureau defines a house as vacant if no one is living in it at the time of enumeration, unless its occupants are only temporarily absent. Units temporarily occupied at the time of enumeration entirely by persons who have a usual residence elsewhere are also classified as vacant.

New units not yet occupied are classified as vacant housing units if construction has reached a point where all exterior windows and doors are installed and final usable floors are in place. Vacant units are excluded if they are open to the elements -- that is, the roof, walls, windows or doors no longer protect the interior from the elements, or if there is evidence that the unit is condemned or to be demolished.

Also excluded are quarters being used entirely for nonresidential purposes, such as a store or an office, or quarters used for the storage of business supplies or inventory, machinery or agricultural products.

In releasing the report on Feb. 2, Census Director Robert Groves said the vacant house statistics were gathered for one day -- April 1, 2010.

In a news conference, the text of which is available at the Census Bureau's website, Groves warned that the data could be "misinterpreted," saying the areas showing high vacancies may not necessarily reflect the foreclosure problem facing the country. But he added that high numbers in areas where there are normally vacant houses, such as in recreation or vacation sites, could indicate housing problems.

In the statement, the bureau said enumerators returned to vacant houses over several months to verify the status, but used April 1 as the specific date to use on whether it was "vacant" or not.

 

  

Why Secure Your Vacant Property?

Did you know…

• Criminals are burglarizing homes for copper pipe and wires; appliances; air conditioner units; granite countertops; floor coverings; and many other property furnishings.
• There were 18.4 million vacant homes in the U.S. in Q4 ’10 (11 percent of all housing units vacant all year round) according to Tom Royce, Real Estate Bloggers
• The rise in thefts is fueled by scrap metal prices that have doubled and even tripled in some markets during the past three years because of growing demand.

Atlanta, GA  March 15, 2011  -- Vacant Investment Protection, Inc. (“V.I.P.”) has developed a unique “niche” product to secure vacant and unsecured properties. With over fifteen years of experience in the Real Estate Industry we know first-hand the dangers of vacant properties being vandalized and burglarized. Our solution - Create industrial strength perforated steel window screens and steel doors that are nearly impossible to penetrate. 

V.I.P. has the solution for banks; property management companies; construction companies; individual homeowners; communities; and government entities. Our products are not only used for the foreclosure market based vacant properties, but also buildings and homes under construction; vacation homes, disaster relief properties; vacant government properties; and more. 

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V.I.P. provides service to various stakeholders that need vacant properties secured and protected at a reasonable cost. With the current economic recession, cities across the nation are plagued with high foreclosure rates and unoccupied rental properties. These economic factors transform communities and neighborhoods into crime scenes where vacant properties are targeted for vandalism and are havens for the homeless. Plywood no longer suffices for these trying times.

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1-877-509-5741
http://www.vacantinvestmentprotection.com

18.4 Million Vacant Homes in the U.S.A.

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