Reply #5: And it's a GOOD POINT! [View All]

[DoctorMyEyes]

Our current house was a previous foreclosure, from before the "bubble" burst. The bank spent a ton of money doing the foreclosure and ended up selling it to HUD for practically nothing. We bought it through HUD for much less than the previous owners had purchased it for several years prior.

If the bank had let them sell at a more realistic price (like the one we paid) they wouldn't have lost any more than they probably did in the foreclosure process itself.

This house sat empty with a weedy overgrown yard for two years. It was a blight on an otherwise decent neighborhood. We were lucky to still have our plumbing and stained glass windows when we moved in. Someone stole most of the antique oak trim and teenagers had been hanging out in the back lot drinking and smoking.

I can only imagine the havoc having a dozen houses like ours was simultaneously being uncared for and screwing up a neighborhood.

Edited to add: I live in Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh has a particularly fucked up set of ordinances and tax laws that actually provide an incentive for homeowners to just cut their losses and walk away from their houses.