The Difficulty of Tracking Owners of Vacant Foreclosed Houses
Unless adequate steps are taken there is difficulty in tracking owners of vacant foreclosed houses. The problem of abandoned units is a plague running through the country. The summer rains have focused on the problem.
Bob Spivey is a Code Enforcement Director of Orange County. He sends his personnel to trim lawns of foreclosed houses that have become jungles. This has caused an entire year’s budget to be exhausted in three months.
Michael Rhodes, Code Enforcement Director of Orlando said that recently they mowed not merely a house backyard but an entire block. He cryptically remarked, “The regular rain has stopped, but the foreclosure rain has not abated.”
There seems little indications that the foreclosure crisis will abate. Very soon more loans will be reset in the forthcoming year and this coupling with falling value of property will worsen the situation. Already tourism is suffering and employment prospects are bleak. Some opine that 2009 is going to be worse than 2009. It is doubtful if the politicians realize the gravity of the situation.
The most important thing is to protect localities from the menace of vacant foreclosed houses – particularly in the working class neighbourhoods and the new blocs that have come up where the owners have very little equity left. If they fall so will tax collection. That means more unemployment and less development work. Frequent neighbourhood meetings are held. The participants are tensed and worried.
Among the many suggestions coming forth the most important is that the lenders will have to register when they begin foreclosure proceedings. A call from anyone reporting broken windows could start off the process. In the maze of names of lenders it is an uphill task to locate the entity that is doing the foreclosing. Imposition of a registration fee will make the plan pay for itself. Help is also being given to struggling house owners associations that are facing foreclosure related problem like less contribution and more work. California has started taking more aggressive measures. Hefty fees are being charged for maintenance. The lenders are expected to take charge of maintenance from the day they start foreclosing apart from registering. They are in any case expected to do so – the authorities are only reminding them. Some cities like Chula Vista impose heavy fines that ultimtely become tax liens. Enforcement Director of Chula Vista, Doug Leeper sarcastically commented, “Money is a great motivator when you talk to lenders.”
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