Over the past weekend a murder occurred in the Lowes Island subdivision of Sterling. A teenager was killed at a house party at 2:30 in the morning on Sunday (Saturday night). Buried in the end of the story was this piece of information that in my opinion was the real story:
Neighbors report that the house where the party occurred is in the foreclosure process and the couple who owned the house have already moved out and were allowing their college age son to live there.
And the very last paragraph had even more information regarding the owners of the house where the party and the murder took place:
Further research into public records show that the listed residents of this house, Jose and Wilma Vargas, also owned another house in Sterling – located on 104 Almey Ct. The bank has already foreclosed on this house and it is for sale by United American Realty.I am not saying that the banks are directly responsible for the murder of the teenager but it could be argued that their failure to secure a property that has obviously been abandoned by the homeowners and used as a frat house by the college son was a very crucial contributing factor in this tragedy.
One bank was able to foreclose on the same couple and secure their other house over 2 months ago. Why not this property? Where is this bank?
Most of the time we hear about foreclosures and abandoned properties in a neighborhood leading to decreased values, perhaps squatters occupying vacant houses and other public nuisances.
But this story shows just how much damage the banks are doing to our neighborhoods. Their indifference has become our problem. Their reluctance to take over abandoned properties and foreclose on homeowners that have no intention of keeping their homes is an epidemic. We need to force these banks to do the responsible thing and do it now. We can't wait for the banks to clean up their balance sheets so they can take over these properties without become illiquid. We need to come up with a solution that takes the properties from these reluctant property owners and prevents further damage to our neighborhoods, towns and count.
you have a point there..the bank must secure every home they have..
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Posted by: Term Papers | December 01, 2009 at 06:47 AM
Very nice write up. Easy to understand and straight to the point.I guess sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!
Posted by: Term Papers | December 07, 2009 at 02:44 AM