There are so many homes that remain vacant, the Atlanta police Department have created a special task force in an attempt to stop the vandalizing of vacant homes - and they haven't been very successful:
Atlanta police patrol vacant homes hit by mortgage crisis
By TIM EBERLY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/20/08This is Ernest's special assignment "" identifying and keeping watch over vacant homes "" so he steps past the door that someone has kicked in, pieces of its splintered frame dangling like mistletoe.
Inside, a burglar has smashed holes in bathroom walls and pulled out the sinks to harvest copper pipes.
This is just the beginning, Ernest said. The burglars will be back, and they'll keep coming back, picking apart the house like vultures. They're known to pilfer appliances, cabinets, carpet and use homes for drug deals, prostitution or squatting.
It's a crime wave made possible by the nation's mortgage crisis and absentee property owners in metro Atlanta and beyond. Atlanta code enforcement officials say empty homes are their greatest headache, and have assembled a special enforcement unit to deal with it. MUCH MORE
Homes that are burglarized and razed typically suffer $10,000 and up to $50,000 in damages, so when it's time for the home to be auctioned-off, the banks receive substantially less than what the home was actually worth, even in spite of home prices dropping substantially. It's a symptom of an economy that is winding-down, and so far, there doesn't appear to be a light at the end of the tunnel. One quote from the AJC article is particularly worrisome, and we have to hope that it doesn't turn out to be correct:
Bland, 39, of Acworth is one of the few who profit off the foreclosure crisis. A former electrician, he says his yearly gross income is $1.6 million. Bland predicts it will undoubtedly grow next year, when he predicts the number of vacant homes in metro Atlanta will double.
If he's right, Atlanta will be in trouble.
In consideration of the huge amount of homes that remain vacant throughout the United States, it may be time for individual states or Congress itself to change the laws in regard to foreclosed property. Short term rentals, lasting until the property is auctioned-off, would provide a revenue source to banks that are struggling under the foreclosure crisis, and besides a boost of income, renting out a recently foreclosed home for a reasonable price will help to ensure that it won't be "razed" for a few dollars worth of copper and whatever appliances can be stolen and sold for almost nothing - which is costing banks millions upon millions of dollars in additional costs on a property they are already losing money on; desperate times often require desperate measures, and the mortgage crisis, as it worsens can certainly be described as "desperate times."
William Cormier
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