Old-School S&L Stuck With Toxic Meth Lab In Its Portfolio

The Denver Post reports:

• "Century Savings [and Loan] is a tiny financial institution, founded in 1903. It sits on [Trinidad, Colorado's] Main Street, a relic of a bygone era when S&Ls took deposits from and made loans to the people in their communities. It has only $86 million in assets and 16 employees. "We are the old-school savings and loan," said [Century's president, Mike] McMillan. "We may not light the world on fire, but we're here and we're steady and we're serving our community.""

This story is about a small frame house in Trinidad, Colorado which once secured a mortgage loan made by Century Savings. A grandmother once lived there with her children and grandchildren until one day when there was a small explosion in the home. As it turns out, Granny was operating a methamphetamine lab. She was eventually arrested and then her house sat vacant and rotting for years. Ultimately, Century Savings foreclosed and got stuck with the house which, as it turns out, was not only completely worthless, but it actually had a "negative value," as the article reports:

• "The S&L is small enough that any foreclosure stings. But granny's kitchen was so toxic it left the property with a negative value. It might cost $30,000 to $40,000 to demolish and dispose of the contaminated house, leaving a lot worth only $10,000. And forget about the loan."

The article goes on to describe: (a) how easy it is for a home to become toxic as a result of its use as a meth lab, and (b) the nightmares (either for landlords or foreclosing mortgage lenders) of having to deal with a property (which could be a single family home, an apartment on the ground floor of a large aparment building, etc.) which has been used by its occupants to manufacture methamphetamine.

The article reports that "[t]o this day, granny's place remains a hazardous-waste spill."

Go here for some methamphetamine information resources.

For more, see Meth house a lender's nightmare.

Go here and go here for other posts on home based meth labs. meth lab zeta