I am looking for a house. I was tracking this house for about a month because I talked to the owner and he said his house is going into foreclosure. They moved out on sunday and I went to the house with my realtor today only to find out that those motha fuckers took literally everything from inside--I mean everything AC unit, doors, kitchen appliances even fucking toilets. Come on you mofo's what the hell is wrong with you. Grow the fuck up. You got all that stuff with the house and you are suppose to leave everything as it is when to move the fuck out. I looked at another house, those people took the whole fucking kitchen and left house with holes in every single wall and broken glass all over the place.

Is there some sort of law or something that can stop people doing this crap. Banks know who was living there, they should do something about it take action against them when they find some missing stuff, put them in fucking jail for lifetime. Property doesn't belong to your anymore so just pick your OWN stuff up and GTFO. /

 

^^^ You are wrong. It is COMMON practice for people in foreclosure to take things from their home, such as microwaves, ceiling fans, etc.

They're the ones who chose those things as options to be installed in their home (most likely at an extra cost). So they feel they are entitled to at least those things. It's perfectly legal to take those things with them when they vacate.

There is a reason you're getting the home for such a low price. From the money you save as a result of buying a short sale home, or bank-owned home, a home in foreclosure, you can more than replace those few appliances.

Yes, it's a hassle, but "you get what you pay for".

 

Its not cheap compared to other properties around it. Listed for $205K, other homes around here are going for around $200K to $230K. with everything inside. I mean I understand kitchen appliances but come on, fucking toilets???

And those were not extra optioned items such as doors, toilets, closets hanger-shelf things like that, light fixtures etc etc.

and why the fuck would some one break into every single wall.

 

What part of the California legal code are you referencing here?

Because most loan agreements require that they remain.

 

^^^ When I was looking to buy my home, ALL of the short sale, bank owned, in foreclosure homes had some things missing.

I've never heard of any of those former homeowners being punished for what they did when they vacated.

Therefore I assume it's acceptable.

 

I understand what you're saying, and I've been there, too. But, .

 

FBI agents and local law-enforcement personnel have arrested five people in the past month for stripping their foreclosed homes of appliances, cabinets, countertops and plumbing fixtures.

That includes cases in Fountain Hills, Anthem, Phoenix and Surprise of some of the more egregious violators who are taking everything they can out of homes, said Julie Halferty, a supervising special agent who oversees the FBI Mortgage Task Force.

"It has a huge effect on the current housing market," she said. "Yes, the bank is a victim, but it's also the neighboring community that has to live with a house left in shambles."

Foreclosed homes with neglected pools and overgrown landscaping are a drag on a neighborhood and discourage sales of nearby properties.

Banks unloading stripped homes at bargain basement prices add to a neighborhoods decline. Appraisals of nearby properties based on those comparable sale prices make it harder to sell well-kept properties.

To combat the theft, the task force is going after violators who have stripped multiple investment properties that they are losing to foreclosure, rather than homeowners who have lost their home, Halferty said.

But the enforcement effort is also trying to discourage those thefts as well, she said.

The task force recently arrested Kailash Bhatt, 43, after officials say he advertised the sale of cabinets, granite countertops, an oven, microwave and dishwasher on craigslists.org.

Bhatt, who owned a foreclosed home in Anthem, was indicted last month by a Maricopa County grand jury on charges of theft and defrauding creditors.

Bhatt, who operates a Web site listing foreclosed properties, accepted $2,000 from an undercover task force agent, according to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.

Desierae Tolhurst, an FBI special agent on the task force, said some of the homeowners in default are desperate for cash and justify stripping the home as a way of getting back some of the money they invested in the property.

But that is after they have lived in the home for nine to 12 months without paying the mortgage, she said.

Banks typically take that long to initiate foreclosure on a defaulted loan and sometimes even longer in the current housing crisis.

Tolhurst said loan agreements typically restrict the owner from devaluing the home by stripping it of appliances and fixtures.

"If you choose to do this, you are criminally liable for the damage you've done to the property," she said.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/s...15.html?&wired


They all should be prosecuted for felonies

 

^ Now I know the truth.

 

Thanks Silver.

So it means I can complain about them right?? if yes, where??

I have looked at so many houses that now I am getting sick of it. Almost every single house is stripped or missing something that should be there.

The person in above article sounds like some Indian and people who lived in above mentioned house are Indians too and I am Indian as well but its just sickening.

There was a house in my area that was originally sold for $1Million but was listed for only $225K because people who lived there took every thing, only left house with standing walls only, front door was sealed shut with a plywood.

 

^^^

I know what you are talking about. In fact we know some people looking to buy a first home so we have been scouting the local market for them and found a great deal (+3K sqft @ $200K). But when you look at the picture of the house you can see that they took half the tiles off the roof and windows were boarded up, so they must have either taken them or broken them out. It is ridiculous and then you destroy the comps for all your neighbors who might want to sell in the next couple years.

But you can't really complain, it's up to the bank to decide if they want to go after them.

 

Well, the "victim" of the theft is the Bank, as they hold the mortgage, so they would have to desire to prosecute. They usually only do this every so often to make examples out of people and deter others from doing it.

 

When my renters move out, they take all the damn light bulbs!

 

People are poor....

 

Whether it's right or wrong, I think your expectations are in the wrong place.

When we were looking at foreclosures, we were expecting to look at houses with damaged walls/floors, missing fixtures, and so on. When we saw homes that were not that damaged, we were surprised... but when we saw homes that were messed up, we expected it.

Again, right or wrong it really doesn't matter. When people foreclose they generally grab what they can. I understand what you're saying, but in a way I also understand why they do what they do. When we were up in the air with the status of our home b/c of the business issues we had we were contemplating letting the house foreclose since we had to file Chapter 7 anyway. If that did happen, we were going to take anything we could... all appliances (even "built-ins"), all light fixtures/fans, and so on. We paid for those things seperately and upgraded them individually. We would have left whatever standard light fixtures we still owned in the garage or something, but whatever we upgraded or paid for separately, we would have taken. If we paid separately for it... the bank doesn't own it since it's not on the mortgage... so it was coming with us.

Thankfully it didn't come to that and all is well... but that was our plan.

 

When I was looking for my first home the Realtor suggested we look at foreclosures. Every single one was just as you described. Stripped.

 

I've seen my fair share of short sale/foreclosures and have seen places in the WORST conditions, but not all are bad. I just bought a foreclosure and it was in as good of condition a 16 year old house could be (well, my realtor said "fair" condition during closing because I guess this will work in my favor when it comes to property taxes? At least that's what she said.). Nothing major missing and it only needed a few very minor repairs. So, I guess I was lucky.

 

The short sale we are STILL waiting on since April is in perfect condition, nothing missing or damaged......except the owners who ran away from their problems and went back to Africa. Meanwhile, the agent can't even present our offer to the bank because she doesn't have power of attorney from the damn owners.

 

^ That's nuts. There has to be some type of limitation when power of attorney rolls back to the bank.. no? I can't imaging the bank would just sit on the home indefinitely... especially if they have a buyer.

 

That's exactly what I thought, but no one seems to have any answers and we just don't want to give up on this house. So, the offer still stands, while we wait to see what happens. I'm hoping they foreclose on it soon. As of this past April, the house had been on the market for a year!

 

^ Ahh, so the bank still hasn't foreclosed yet. Around here banks are listing them as short sales for about 3-6 months before foreclosing... so you would think it should be in foreclosure any day now?

Hope so. Good luck!!

 

Thanks. I'm at my wit's end with this house and the entire market up there, really.

 

Luv, just move in!

Obviously no one cares. The bank isn't in a hurry, and the original owners aren't coming back anytime soon. The neighbors aren't going to complain about the nice new neighbors who just "moved in" and now take care of the yard, etc...

It's a "win win" situation and if you have any problems, just tell them I said it was OK.

 

^ I wish....

We did meet some of the neighbors on our last visit there. They were excited that someone wanted the house. Too bad it's dragging on because I really would have liked to have the summer to do some nice stuff to the landscaping.

The house next door to "ours" is in complete disarray. I'm not 100% certain on the story with that house, but it was in foreclosure or they bank is trying to foreclose, but it's not on the market right now. The yard is an overgrown meadow full of dandelions, and the owner had cleaned out the house and thrown everything onto the top part of the driveway. It's so bad, it looks like a landfill. I can imagine the other neighbors are very antsy to get new people in so they can clean the place up.

It's a very nice neighborhood, so having 2 foreclosures, especially right next to each other, must be a sore spot for everyone else there.

 

The house across the road from us just got bought a few days ago. It had been vacant for about a year (not a foreclosure)...I forgot how nice it was to not have neighbors

 

There was a MD law that we could not remove anything in the house we sold that was glued down or screwed down in some way. Ceiling fans, dishwashers, cabinets, lights, doors, whatever. If it had a screw or glue, we could not touch it unless we exempted it and the new owners agreed.

 

Fixtures can be a bitch

 

Yeah, hanging lights and ceiling fans was my least favorite job when I was wiring houses.