How long does a house stay in foreclosure?

[Bronn]

There is a house in a subdivision down the road from me... I am only assuming it is in foreclosure because I haven't done any detective work on it.

It has been seemingly abandoned for like 2 years now... Nobody cutting the grass... Green/black mold and mildew are growing all over the siding... Neighbors parking vehicles in the driveway, etc. No "For Sale" sign... Nothing...

The kicker is that it is the first home on the street, so the side of the house faces the major road. It really looks terrible, and I don't know why the neighbors aren't raising hell.

In situations like that (assuming the bank in charge is sitting on it) they need to reinstate more lenient guidelines to squatter's rights.

There are a lot of people that could make good use of a home like that, and the banks are (presumably) just letting it rot...

[pstall]

guys i can tell you for sure not all of the houses the banks are "holding onto". its not truly in their best interests.

at times, its just dumb red tape between banks, investors and the govt. nothing more than that.

i have been pushing some proposals to gain ahead in the short sale market and its taking forever to catch momentum. that process i can tell you its too many cooks in the kitchen and based on some goofy parameters, a great place can get stuck if neither side can reach a compromise on a few thousand dollars.

there are some, not many cases, where it may be best to let the house go to FC and let some motivated local investor get the property and renovate it and sell and its done.

the bank does NOT want to be in the biz of fixing up homes and trying to sell them. its also in the biz of keeping neighborhoods stable because that helps wallet share for that bank. not to mention community reputation.

the amount of red tape i deal with when it comes to all of this is staggering.

[Anybodyhome]

Why can't a group of concerned neighbors consult a lawyer, write a couple letters or threaten a suit against the bank holding the paper to clean up the property as it is hurting property values?

Why can't a group of neighbors go to the local branch of the bank holding the paper and offer to clean the place up, at least the exterior, for a fee?

Or, if the group of neighbors doesn't want to mess with it, go get a city inspector to write a citation on the condition of the property and issue it to the bank?

I've seen all 3 of these done in VA. As a matter of fact, a couple of us did the second and the bank paid us extremely well to clean up the yard, cut back some shrubs, pressure wash the exterior and at least try to make it look lived in.

[pstall]

lots of cities already do this. some hoa's contract out or just pitch in and do it.

[KSpan]

There's a bank-owned house near us that has been empty at least since we moved into the neighborhood 4 years ago, if not longer. The same sign has been in the yard the entire time... at this point we're assuming the house is haunted or there was a grisly murder inside or something.

[BBQ&Beer]

There's a bank-owned house near us that has been empty at least since we moved into the neighborhood 4 years ago, if not longer. The same sign has been in the yard the entire time... at this point we're assuming the house is haunted or there was a grisly murder inside or something.

I just found out not 2 hrs ago, that there was a murder/suicide at my condo complex in Tallahassee.

[Happy Panther]

Why can't a group of concerned neighbors consult a lawyer, write a couple letters or threaten a suit against the bank holding the paper to clean up the property as it is hurting property values?

Why can't a group of neighbors go to the local branch of the bank holding the paper and offer to clean the place up, at least the exterior, for a fee?

Or, if the group of neighbors doesn't want to mess with it, go get a city inspector to write a citation on the condition of the property and issue it to the bank?

I've seen all 3 of these done in VA. As a matter of fact, a couple of us did the second and the bank paid us extremely well to clean up the yard, cut back some shrubs, pressure wash the exterior and at least try to make it look lived in.

After it went into foreclosure the grass grew to like 2 feet tall. Finally somebody complained and now the HOA is having somebody keep the law trimmed. But in this neighborhood where people obsess over their lawns it still doesn't look that great.

But so far property values have been healthy.

These are good ideas.

[Squirrel]

I remember reading an article almost a year ago about how banks were purposely holding onto foreclosures and only releasing a set amount at a time, in order to not further destroy the real estate market and property values. In other words, they are doing it to keep house prices artificially high.

Yeah when i lived near detroit whole blocks would be bulldozed to keep property values up.

[pstall]

in some areas where banks kept FC homes from going out in the market was to keep it from KILLING that particular area. not keeping it artificially high.

i know for sure we have had to throw some cities and counties a bone to keep them from losing so much tax revenue and depressing ENTIRE cities/towns.

[Happy Panther]

The bank finally did something and it is going for sale or auction, not sure which.

 

So a cleaning crew comes in and they said it was the second worst house they had ever seen. The trash bill alone will be at least 10k.

 

There are dead animals. Dogfood all around. BBs in every room. They tried to move a fussball table down the stairs and it got stuck so they left it. Lot's of mud and dirt.

 

Mold anyone?

 

And they left all their poo. Like entire rooms full of stuff.  Lots of personal pictures

 

they said the one kid had makeshift weapons made out of wood and nails and his room was vampire themed.

 

This is the same kid who shot a neighborhood dog with a bow and arrow. And drove his dirt-bike in a circle on their front yard (this is an upscale neighborhood.) And would start grass fires in the common area.

 

They took the guts out of all HVAC units.

 

But the kicker...they cut the pipes. So when the water was turned back on everything flooded. I guess it was either copper and worth something or they were just sabotaging to be dicks.

 

At least they aren't our neighbors anymore.

 

[Hawk]

sounds like it is in need of a fire!

 

 

if there was a house like that in my hood....it would be tempting

[toldozer]

When I was buying my house I looked at probably 20-30 foreclosures. I've come to realize every person who is foreclosed upon is a useless, worthless fug.

[pstall]

As one who dealt directly with those going thru fc I can say not all are scum bags. Some of you guys need to be grateful you have had good fortune. Things can turn south faster than you can imagine.

[Kurb]

Likely took out the copper from the hvac