Foreclosures in Winter are Aggravated by Neglected Burst Pipes
Foreclosures in the best of times are bad but now in winter the problem is aggravated by the neglected burst pipes of vacant foreclosed houses. It is causing headaches for the town and city authorities involving safety hazards.
One of the worst hit regions is Marlborough. The fire and building departments are facing a tough time attending to reports of floods in empty houses that have not been winterized. In a single week they are attending to four or five calls said Pam Wilderman who is the code enforcement officer. The most recent incident was on the second floors of foreclosed houses on Millham and Hastings streets. The water spilled down to the basements. She said, “We’ve had houses that had water problems where we didn’t know about them until we had water coming out of the front door.”
Adjacent areas have seen sporadic incidents of pipes bursting. In Franklin this caused damage to two condos on Forge Hill region according to David Roche, the commissioner. He described, “The house had about six inches of water in the basement. Unless you get the stuff out of there – the wet sheet rock, the wet rugs and everything – mold will start growing.”
The city officials explained that this happened in empty foreclosed houses because no one was accountable or responsible; nobody suffered. The occupants had left in an unhappy frame of mind. The pipes and water heaters had not been drained. When temperatures drop the water remaining inside them freeze. This causes the ice to expand and burst the pipes. When the ice thaws the water begins to flow.
In Milham Street the residents had left three months previously. Wilderman had warned the new owners – the mortgage company to winterize the house but no avail. She sharply said, “Even though they’re the largest lien holder, they’re standing there with their hands up saying, ‘It’s not our problem’”.
Another realtor Ernie Houde based in Marlborough said he operates for the banks and does his best to influence them to hire specialists for winterizing the houses. Most of the foreclosed evictees go away without attending to this problem. He said, “I think the banks and the people who are doing the foreclosing have to get some knowledgeable people out there who know what they’re doing and look at it.” Ultimately it is the new owners that lose out on their investments.
This has led to the city officials being more wary and keeping track of the empty foreclosed houses – especially in winter.
