Some Homeowners Facing Loss Of Homes Engaging In Another Form Of "Foreclosure Stripping"

The Wall Street Journal reports:

• [T]hese days, bankers and mortgage companies often find that by the time they get the keys [to a recently foreclosed home] back, embittered homeowners have stripped out appliances, punched holes in walls, dumped paint on carpets and, as a parting gift, locked their pets inside to wreak further havoc. Real-estate agents estimate that about half of foreclosed properties to be sold by mortgage companies nationwide have "substantial" damage, according to a new survey by Campbell Communications, a marketing and research firm based in Washington, D.C.

• The most practical way to ensure the houses are returned in decent shape, lenders and their agents say, is to pay homeowners hundreds or even thousands of dollars to put their anger in escrow and leave quietly. A ransom? A bribe? "Yeah, somewhat," says John Carver, an agent specializing in foreclosed homes for Prudential Americana Group in Las Vegas. But "you lose a house, and then you get some financial help -- it's a good thing...It's a win-win for both parties."

For more, see Buyers' Revenge: Trash the House After Foreclosure.

See also:

• St. Petersburg Times: In home foreclosure, if it's not nailed down ... (Twenty percent of owners strip houses before banks take them back),
• New Form Of 'Foreclosure Stripping' Scam Rearing Its Head?
• Homeowner In Foreclosure Charged For Trashing House Days Before Public Auction.