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Glamour's Women of the Year
UD vs. Northern Kentucky
Magic visits with area students
Coping with an uncertain economy
Neighbors deal with aftermath of foreclosures
Comment: Have you had to clean up after any foreclosed homes in your neighborhood?
> More from our continuing series on the economy
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Every day, free advertising leaflets are dropped off on the driveway of the vacant house next to Bob Johnson's home.
And every week, he Harrison Twp. man goes next door to pick up the paper piles.
The lawn is being mowed, but Johnson feels the unoccupied house could use some work. The realtor rarely comes by so trash duty has fallen into the hands of the neighbors.
"The place has been empty for a year," Johnson said. "It was originally worth $170,000 plus and now it's selling for $139,000."
Many like Johnson are dealing with the ramifications of foreclosures on the neighbors left behind.
Johnson, of course, worries that the value of his home as well as the surrounding area will go down. He's aware of other neighbors considering letting their homes go to foreclosure.
While some banks, which own the homes after foreclosures, hire private contractors to mow the lawns, city departments often end up with extra duties and costs.
Beavercreek Code Enforcement Officer Matt Funk said his department often has to track down the bank that owns the property and fine them if the property is not up to code. But taxpayers never pay because the city has another option.
"From the city's perspective, we would try to bill the person responsible," Funk said. "It turns into a lien on the property tax and is passed on to the owner once the land is purchased."
According to ReBuild Ohio, a consortium of local government and civic organizations, Dayton, for example, incurred an estimated $3.8 million in costs from 2006 to 2007 to address vacant and abandoned properties. This includes such services lawn care, trash removal, boarding, fire extinguishment and even police patrol. After a portion of these costs were recouped, the costs still totaled $3.6 million.
"Even if we bill the homeowner, it comes out of our budget. We have to spend the dollars to get the work done," said Division Manager of Street Maintenance James Brinegar.
While Springboro reports it has no foreclosures, city council recently approved the Foreclosure Filing Ordinance. City Manager Christine Thompson said the ordinance was an attempt to ensure that the city receives foreclosure information from banks and other lenders. Unfortunately, Thompson also noted that it does not represent a guarantee the lenders will cooperate and there's little the city can do to make it happen except make the owner aware of the ordinance when the foreclosure sign is stapled to the front yard.
"All of our vacant homes are due to low sales, but are being maintained by realtors and developers with very few if any exceptions," she said.
While some neighbors like Johnson in Harrison Twp. have decided to take it upon themselves to care for empty properties, the cities haven't seen an increase of those willing to do so.
And actually, Dayton's Brinegar says they shouldn't.
"Technically they are trespassing, that's the simple answer," he said. "A lot of these properties are labeled by the city: Do not enter."
Comments
By Kerri
August 18, 2008 11:48 AM | Link to this
Working for the trash company that services Harrison Twp., any many other communities surrounding the city of Dayton… we go through quite a bit of hassle when someone moves out and doesn’t notify us, especially when it’s a foreclosure situation. We end up writing off the bill because we were never notified that someone was gone. So if you’re putting trash out for a neighbor’s empty house, please call their waste removal service and notify them of an empty house.
By nmr
August 18, 2008 9:31 AM | Link to this
Could Springboro be any more full of themselves? I am over them, they think they are so exclusive. Trust me, there are planty of foreclosures there, we have looked at several, but if they are to snobby to admit they have problems just like everyone else, I dont want my kids growing up there with that mentality. I am going to the Burg! Yuk.
By Help on
August 18, 2008 9:27 AM | Link to this
The City of Dayton is not telling the true tail. I handle a small property in the Dayton area and do you know what they charge to cut the grass? Two Hundred and Twenty-Fivre dollars ($225.00), that is outrageous. Sure the porperty need to be cut but when the job is done it’s a mess. It looks like they use a weed whip and not a laen mower. The only reason I allow the city to do it is the property is in a area that no one wants to do any work at.
By Help on
August 18, 2008 9:26 AM | Link to this
The City of Dayton is not telling the true tail. I handle a small property in the Dayton area and do you know what they charge to cut the grass? Two Hundred and Twenty-Fivre dollars ($225.00), that is outrageous. Sure the porperty need to be cut but when the job is done it’s a mess. It looks like they use a weed whip and not a laen mower. The only reason I allow the city to do it is the property is in a area that no one wants to do any work at.
By Rich
August 18, 2008 9:07 AM | Link to this
Let your grass grow that high and see what happens. If there is a sign in the window, you should be able to call the number listed and let them know about the upkeep. Relators who take over the property are “supposed” to make sure the lawns are kept up…they get paid by the banks to do so. There was a bank owned by me on Union School House, grass was cut every two weeks, but the realtor said he charged the bank $250.00 each time that it was cut. Wouldn’t be a bad part-time job!!
By John
August 18, 2008 7:45 AM | Link to this
We had in the past taken care of a vacant lot next to our property. The house has been purcahsed now and the new owners are working hard at updating the inside. Unfortunely if neighbors do not take care of a vacant property then it will look very good for someone to start taking advantage of the copper pumbing and what ever else they can carry off. There are people in Dayton that take pride in their neighborhoods. They don’t want to see vacant houses setting empty and not taken care of.
By JJ
August 18, 2008 5:21 AM | Link to this
There are 3 empty houses in a row on my street in E. Dayton-the neighbors on both sides each mow one and a half of the front lots every week-Lord knows what the back lots look like.
By Lynn
August 17, 2008 10:24 PM | Link to this
yes I keep up the front lawn of the vacant home next to me and as for the city of Dayton idiot that says I am trespassing, well be glad I dont up and leave this house
By Concerned Resident
August 17, 2008 9:43 PM | Link to this
I live in Miamisburg in a 8 year old subdivision of $150k to $240k homes. The subdivion has at about 75-100 homes and at least 5 that I know of have been foreclosed on on my street alone. That is 5 out of 25 homes on my street!! 20%!! But it’s also important to point out that more than half the people have brand new or 1-2 year old cars in their driveway, (mostly the avalanche) and have at least 1, sometimes as many as 3 watercraft. At the beginning of summer only 1 kid on the street has a motorized scooter – now there are almost a dozen! This is a clear case of ‘keeping up with the Joneses.’ I snooped on the county recorder website and found that more than half of my immediate neighbors owe more on their house now that when they bought it 2-7 years ago! Why would you use your house as an ATM?? Do people not know how to live within their means? Or budget? Or tell their kids no? or live at all modestly? This recipe for disaster won’t leave anyplace untouched…
By Fan
August 17, 2008 9:05 PM | Link to this
don’t you all remember springboro city council is full of dope heads and drug dealers
By HUD Inspector
August 17, 2008 7:58 PM | Link to this
As a Housing Inspector for Chapman Law Firm and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, I can assure you that Springboro is not immune from the foreclosure crisis. It is laughable for the City Council to make such a declaration. There are five foreclosed homes alone listed on the absoluteforeclosures website and if really wanted to spend the time looking online I am confident that I could find at least 10 homes in Springboro that are foreclosures.
By Boro66
August 17, 2008 7:30 PM | Link to this
Is Springboro council joking? There is one three doors down from me….when it was actually raining all the neighbors would call like clockwork every two weeks, and Springboro would come post a notice and then eventually mow the weeds. The fence is falling down, it’s been broken into once, and there have been no apparent efforts to sell the property in at least a year.
By john
August 17, 2008 7:15 PM | Link to this
There are 12 homes in Springboro that I know of that have been foreclosed on and are currently for sale. Just because a house is foreclosed on doesn’t mean the bank goes and immediately calls the city. Chances are that the bank(s) put these properties as a priority because of there value. Would you like to buy a 200K+ home if you pulled up outside and saw knee high grass? Springboro City council must be living in a bubble if they honstly think there are no foreclosures in there town.
By Boro Resident
August 17, 2008 6:15 PM | Link to this
Ummm… no foreclosures in Springboro? There is one sitting across the street from my house. I’m not sure why council thinks there are none. The lawn is getting mowed by a contractor, but the gutters, leaves, flyers and branches are overflowing. Everyone does what they can but it does look bad. The four houses for sale all around it are surely suffering the effects.
By KT
August 17, 2008 6:07 PM | Link to this
There have been a couple of homes go into foreclosure in my neighborhood. Folks in the neighborhood kept the yards fertilized, cut and edged; the bushes trimmed and the fall leaves raked.
By amy
August 17, 2008 6:07 PM | Link to this
…into our yard, bad enough that we’re going to have to use weed-treatment or pay a lawn service.
Also, as for the city of Dayton mowing, their criteria is pretty sad. I watched them pull up to another empty house with grass that was a foot high … and then they left. Not until it was knee high did they deem it needing mowing !
By amy
August 17, 2008 6:03 PM | Link to this
We mow the front yard of the house next door to us every time we mow our own yard. Admittedly, it only takes an extra 5 minutes or so, so it’s no big deal. We do it for 1) keep the neighborhood looking nice, 2) keep the weeds from coming into our yard, and 3) make the home appealing (curb appeal, first impressions !) to any potential buyer. The realtor does have a crew come and mow it but they don’t come very often. And with us not mowing the back yard, the weeds are real bad and have come…