Living After Foreclosure

If this story is true, this is an ugly development.  (It’s a guy with a video camera, so who knows.)  Banks are allegedly paying to destroy new and unfinished homes that they own rather than pay mounting fines imposed by local government for allowing the homes to stay vacant and poorly maintained.
The only people winning [...]

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Probably not too many people.  Though California, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida are still the poster children for the housing carnage, Idaho, Illinois, and Oregon are up-and-comers.  Foreclosures for February 2009 are up 30% from February 2008 levels.  Seven hundred thousand properties owned by banks haven’t been put on the market yet.
What may make the foreclosure [...]

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Foreclosures are making people sick.  Literally.  It’s possible that there is a link between the West Nile virus and foreclosed properties, particularly properties with swimming pools that become standing water once abandoned and provide a home to lots of mosquitoes.
Falling property values in neighborhoods with abandoned houses makes sense.  Increased crime due to vandalism of [...]

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