What Happens to all these Foreclosed Homes (appraisal, auction, agent)

[zibytina]

Does anyone know what happens to the foreclosed homes, or homes that people have given the deed to the mortgage company in lieu of the mortgage ? Empty homes, owners have moved on.

We are seeing more and more. Is anyone responsible for maintaining these homes ? These are all very nice homes in nice subdivisions, not junk stuff.

When the lawns aren't cut or maintained it makes the neighborhood look bad, is there a way to contact whoever ( if anyone ) is responsible ?

[DMenscha]

When a commercial bank forecloses they usually hire a property manager to arrange for the upkeep of the home. The mileage definitely varies between them, some are on top of it, some aren't and it can be a real nightmare to find the responsible party. The better ones post their contact information on the property.

[njkate]

hmm interesting!! I just read on MSN the other day the City of Buffalo are suing the banks, or whom ever takes the house, and fining them for not keeping them up...
I also read somewhere that some place is painting the board they put up on the windows to look like window treatments

[sh9730]

Yep, its a problem everywhere. This in todays paper:

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > State -- Senate defeats bill to aid troubled homeowners, neighborhoods

[zibytina]

i wish i knew how to search the departments at the mortgage companies that handle this, if i could contact them, i could have my son go cut some lawns for some money

my friend in another similar up-scale development across the street has 8 homes out of 15 in her little village in same situation and they are really a mess.

granted these homes are all less than 2 years old and the builder is still building in the subdivision, guess it helps them sell new homes in the new villages versus the older ones ?

[tomocox]

In Florida, the Marketing & Management firm for HUD homes is NHMSI, website: NHMSI. They have contractor opportunities (mowing, clean-out, etc). Go to that website and there will be contact numbers to inquire about such opportunities in your area.

[zibytina]

forgive me for being stupid....but what is a HUD home versus a regular home ? I have always thought of HUD homes like low income housing stuff, these are less than 2year old homes market value $300?-$750k

[momof2dfw]

In our area it does not matter if the property is bank owned or not if they don't keep up the yard, house, etc us neighbors can turn them into the neighborhood code dept and they will get a notice that it must be remedied in so many days or they will be fined for everyday it is not. Since the city I live in also OWNS their own power plant and water plant the fines are attached to the utility bill. If not paid they can cut their services - OUCH! If it is listed for sale call the realtor that has it. If they get enough calls they may take notice. If the listing realtor ignores the complaints I'd call their broker (office manager) and let them know. I'd also let the bank/mortgage company that owns the property know it was in violation of code. Our HOA can also fine the owners no matter who it is. We can look up the owners of property on the counties tax appraisals website and that gives their name and address. Even the banks are listed if they own it. They may be out of state and thinking the listing agent is taking care of everything so they may not know otherwise unless someone contacts them directly. It can take some digging to find out who to contact at the bank/mortgage company but it can be done.

[walidm]

Originally Posted by zibytina

forgive me for being stupid....but what is a HUD home versus a regular home ? I have always thought of HUD homes like low income housing stuff, these are less than 2year old homes market value $300?-$750k

HUD is the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Homes that are insured by FHA can be returned to the market via foreclosure, by HUD. At one point in time a very large percentage of all mortgage loans were backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and hopefully we will be returning to this sensible standard very quickly. As of now the major holdup is a matter of cleaning up regulatory issues and book keeping measures.

[bentlebee]

In our community we have a HOA which has sending numerous letters, fines and lawyers fees and nothing was paid. The owner foreclosed on the home without ever turning the utilities on. The grass looks like.... after never been fertilized or whatever and the sprinklers were never working because the water was not turned on. The home has never been lived in and is over 2 years old. The HOA is having the "weeds" mowed and that makes it look a little better. At least the weeds are short. The realtor doesn't do anything, neither does the bank who owns the property. The trees are dead, so are the plants. This community is 2 years old and this was the last house to be build and is on a corner. The HOA hope they will ever get their money but already knows something about a law that might be changed so they end up with nothing. This was an investor who doesn't care about anybody and laughed about the whole situation, we as neighbors we are not smiling about this. The realtor or broker and the bank don't seem to think that making a little curb appeal could help. The asking price is $ 219,000 and it was sold 2 years ago for $ 293,000. A lot of people have been looking at the home but probable get scared to see how much work there is on the yard, because it is a big yard.