You got it, Bob. This is the kind of thing that the subprime mortgage mess
is made of. Over priced homes built by greedy developers. Greedy loan
companies enticing underqualified and uninformed buyers into a market they
cannot afford, encouraged by the promise of investment dividends and tax
breaks.
Wendy
video clip
http://kcet.org/socal/2008/09/foreclosure-alley.html
For the past few years, the Inland Empire in Riverside County has been one
of the fastest growing counties in the state - home to a major housing
boom. But now the Inland Empire is pretty much the poster child for the
foreclosure crisis. In the newer developments, house after house sits
vacant - either up for auction, for sale by a bank or going for what’s
called a “short sale” which is when the owner owes more than the house is
worth.
SoCal Connected tracked down some surreal sights associated with the
crisis - a company that specializes in removing whatever people leave
behind in their foreclosed homes. The process is called a “trashout” - a
term the company came up with because it perfectly describes what happens.
Everything that’s left is dumped in a trailer and taken to the landfill.
Then there’s the guy who started a business to spray-paint dead lawns.
That’s right. He paints brown lawns green. We also tag along with a
couple of code enforcement officers who are spending more and more of
their time having to drain slimy, abandoned pools.
Finally, we meet a typical couple who bought their first home, thinking it
was a great investment and tax write-off. Now the place is worth only
half of what they paid for it and their neighborhood has almost as many
vacant homes as occupied ones.
One of the code enforcement guys sums up the problem in a single
sentence - “You know you’re in trouble when the lawns are brown and the
pools are green!”
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