The house across the street and a couple doors down just got condemned for maintenance issues. Apparently the town thinks the water damage from gaping holes in the roof (and I mean a hole big enough for a person to climb through) results in an unsafe condition. And this is two doors up from the house that sold in foreclosure last fall.
This is what happens in a down market where people that should not own houses do. People find that their house is in foreclosure and instead of working to save the house they trash it so that the bank has to sell it or more of a loss. I have seen this more time than I can count and it makes me sick.:mad:
My wife and I just talked about this the other day. If, God forbid, we were going to lose our house, the bank is going repossess a skeleton because I was the one who painted the walls, hung the curtains, changed out all the light fixtures and ceiling fans, changed out 5 bathroom sinks, changed out the shower heads, changed all the cabinet knobs, broke my back putting in the landscape with boulders and fountains, etc., etc. I'll be damned if I am going to hand a pristine piece of property back over to the bank so they can sell it to someone else for a song. Sorry, that just isn't going to happen -- my blood, sweat, and tears is worth far more than any intrinsic value the bank puts on my property. Besides, these idiots contributed to the problem by offering ARMs to people who have no business messing around with those types of loans. They are just sowing what they reaped.
Whereas I agree with you to a certain extent. Someone like you has spent a life time in the house and I would not fault them for "killing" the house. Its the people that get into these arms for 2-5 years and then kill the property. They know that by year 3 or 4 when they start getting notices that the rate is going up that they are going to be in trouble, yet they do nothing.
Therein lies the problem, people getting loans that they shouldn't. I don't think that ARMs should be offered to anybody and everybody, and the banks are very negligent in doing so. Of course, the true resposibility falls on the individual, but unfortunately, most people are like sheep in an alfalfa field -- they will gorge themselves until they literally explode.
There's a reason I bought a house that cost about 2x my salary and did it with a conventional loan. My house is not an area I want to expose myself to much risk with.
People need to realize that until de house is fully paid for, all the maintenance, modifications, upgrades, etc are being done to somebody elses property (the morgage company). And there should be penalties for people who intentionally damage them. In my view of things, it's not different that if you intentionally damage your neighbour's or somebody elses property
Did I say anything about damage? I am just going to take the items that I paid for out of my pocket with me when I go. No diffrent than installing a high-end audio system in a leased vehicle, and than removing it when you turn the car in. Besides, if I want to rip up the carpet and walk around on the sub floor, that's my perogative -- the bank can't stop me from doing it.
if you are talking about removing walls because you painted them, or removing the hardware, because you replaced the hardware, then yes it is damage. If you lease a car, install a stereo, you can not bring the car back with no stereo. You can put the old one back if you want, but one has to be there. You leased a car with a stereo, no matter how crappy it was.
Every day businesses take advantage of people who want to bite off more than they can chew. Poor business ethics + poor consumer character = lots of whining, blame, and new laws ?
