Lenders Stuck With 2500+ Modesto-Area Homes Since January

"It's becoming a pretty substantial problem." So says Rafael Rodriguez, supervisor for Modesto, California's Neighborhood Preservation Unit. In a recent story, The Modesto Bee reports that over 2,500 homes have been repossessed by lenders since January in the Northern San Joaquin Valley area of California. According to the story:

• "Rodriguez said many abandoned properties pose fire, safety and health hazards as weeds grow, trees die and untreated pools become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and pests. Unsecured vacant homes also attract vandals and vagrants. After foreclosure, Rodriguez said it is extremely difficult to track down the legal owners and convince them to maintain the property. "We can't seem to get even to first base with some banks," said Rodriguez, recalling the runaround his staff often gets when trying to contact the responsible parties. "They're not being good neighbors.""

The article describes the plight of one home, a six-bedroom house on nearly one acre sold for $1.75 million less than two years ago in one of Modesto's most prestigious neighborhoods, which has since been foreclosed on by an out-of-state lender and now sits as a vacant, uncared for mess that has been described as a blight in the neighborhood that has raised safety concerns.

For more, see Abandoned and left to rot (After foreclosure, properties become neighborhood eyesores).

See also, Hunting Kern mosquitoes (All-out effort aims to keep disease carriers at bay), describing Kern County, California's war on mosquitos being attributed in large part to "the outbreak of foreclosures." (reported in The Bakersfield Californian).