Upcoming Hurricane Season Poses Threat To Vacant Foreclosures, Unfinished / Abandoned Homes & Adjacent Neighborhoods In Coastal Areas

Housing Wire reports:

• As the hurricane season ramps up, fallout from the ongoing mortgage crisis provides a new, potentially hazardous twist; vacant properties that may be ill-prepared to handle a storm. The Institute for Business & Home Safety said Tuesday that more than half a million properties in hurricane-prone states are in some stage of foreclosure, and warned that the many thousands of foreclosed homes standing empty in coastal areas from Texas to Maine could exacerbate property damage in their neighborhoods if the wind starts to blow.

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• IBHS notes that a house is most vulnerable to high winds when the building “envelope” is not sealed by approved forms of opening protection, such as storm shutters or reinforced garage doors. Building materials and other debris from partially completed new homes sitting unsecured along the coasts also could become shrapnel or missiles impacting nearby buildings [and people].

For more, see Half a Million Foreclosed Properties Face Hurricane Damage.