The Green Lien Bill Will Help Foreclosure Blights

Posted in Foreclosure Homes, July 16th, 2008 |

The expectation in Inland California is that the Green Lien bill will help foreclosure blights. Foreclosures are leading to a chain of abandoned properties that have been repossessed by the banks.

The Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District has proposed a programme that is known as “Green Lien”. It is hoped that this will go a long way in solving this particular foreclosure related problem. The lenders or the owners of the vacant houses will have to accept a tax lien on the houses to keep water meters running. Property owners will then be able to continue with the watering of the gardens and lawns until the houses are sold.

However the lien would be of a voluntary nature. The cost incurred by the district would be recovered before the house changes hands. The proposal will be discussed at the next meeting. The water officials of the region opine that the plan is the first one of its kind. Greg Morrison speaking on behalf of Elsinore Valley said, “We understand the impact of the foreclosure crisis.” That is why the city together with the water district and the lenders are trying to solve the problem in this unique way.

Other ways of addressing the problem of empty foreclosed houses are being mulled over by different area agencies. Ordinances are in force in Lake Elsinor, Temecula and Murrieta that make it compulsory for lenders to register the empty properties they have repossessed.

Lake Elsinore authorities are also thinking of using water trucks to wet the brown gardens within the limits of the city. The plan is that Elsinore Valley will supply recycled water to the city.

The steps being thought of couldn’t have been at a more appropriate time. Over 1,000 properties in the district are in foreclosure according to RealtyTrac. Hundreds are lying vacant with the typical symptoms of an abandoned unit – dying dry lawns. A cluster of these barren lawns could easily bring down the price of adjacent houses. Vacant properties are magnets for crime and disease making it difficult for houses to be sold in the real estate market. The locality gets a bad name. Gene Wunderlich of Southwest Riverside County Association of Realtors say that the dry parched lawns seem to say, “Nobody’s here, do what you want!” Wunderlich feels that although nobody has heard of the Green Lien before it has the potential to interest realtors and neighbours.