Entire Communities Affected By Foreclosures

None is spared – cutting across all socio-economic divides the entire communities are being affected by foreclosure. The virus is no longer contained within the playing fields of the two combatants – the borrower and the lender. It is spilling over beyond the courts.

Local governments are struggling with dwindling tax collection, lenders are being crushed under the weight of countless foreclosed homes while empty deserted units are spreading terror and disease in the neighbourhoods. The fall out from the national housing crisis is being felt most intensely at the local level. There are pockets that have remained unscathed. But other places like California, Arizona as well as Florida have areas, which have become literally ghost towns.

One such instance is India Harbour Beach in Florida. Many houses have been left abandoned while the owners of many others are slipping into bankruptcy. Entire condominiums have come to a tense pause quietly suffering the rot of the Florida heat. In some streets half the houses are empty. Those that remain have lost nearly half the value of their homes.

The mental isolation is even more terrifying. Many who are at risk from foreclosures are hesitant to talk about it. The result is a hushed silence in the locality with each one locked up in a gloom of fear. It is the same story in South Lyon, Michigan. One resident bemoans of being surrounded not by humans but by eerie creaking vacant houses. Invariably the thought comes that the surviving family is next in line.

The REO houses have not only pulled down the prices of adjacent houses but these homes soon revert to such derelict conditions that they need to be pulled down. The whole area is cluttered with tumble down REO properties – a virtual mess and shame.

Angela from Memphis, Tennessee said that her locality is dotted with weedy gardens and taped broken windows. In the post World War II subdivision there are about half a dozen of such houses – all inexpensive units.

Joe Brogdon from Queens Creek Arizona reported that in his region there were still many tenants here who cared a hoot about the condition of the house. Bang next to his residence is a small house with no windows but barricaded up to prevent further vandalism – hardly a beauty spot to be proud of or a juicy bit to tempt buyers. The vandals have been either the evicted owners or the vagrants and addicts that roam the streets.

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