The Observation Deck

There has been a lot of discussion about who is responsible for maintaing a foreclosed house. During the foreclosure process the house still belongs to the borrower. After the foreclosure process the house belongs to the lender. But sometimes a home ends up in limbo.

Some banks refuse to take possession and simply write off the loan. This usually happens in the case of an abandoned property that is in poor condition. The bank has no legal obligation to maintain the property and the owner who abandoned the property has no intention of maintaining the property.

Some lenders who have properties in foreclosure might be willing to sell the mortgage rights to the City at a substantial discount. If the City bought those mortgages the City could either continue the foreclosure process or arrange to work out the mortgage with the homeowner.

There are other possibilities that I haven't fully thought through. Anyway, this might be a usefull tool as part of a larger housing program.

I think the city should be in the business of tearing down foreclosed homes.

I think the city should donate those homes to like Habitat For Humanity and help people get in to homes. Or donate to oh I dont know a small rescue begging for space somewhere. LOL. (had to say it...sorry...lol)
It would be cool though if the city could buy up some of these for pennies on the dollar and then turn them in to learning houses. You know where kids who are in carpentry can really get their hands on a house, rebuild it, remodel or whatever and then sell it. Then there would be a profit. The schools could benefit from shared profits as well as the city. Extreme Makeover, Lakewood High Home Edition.

We looked at a bank owned property on Lakeland a few months back. I was appalled at the condition both inside and out. And what was even more shocking was that we went to the building department to see what current code violations there were on it. We assumed because of the outside condition it would have had several. It had none. The property has been sitting vacant for well over a year and I feel bad for the neighbors. The property ended up being far more work than we were interested in.

Kind of unrelated but we did end up getting an amazing deal on a short sale. The home was/is in pre-foreclosure. Funny thing it's amazing how long short sales take to close. You'd think banks would be in a hurry to rid themselves of properties.