Foreclosure Free-For-All Evolving Amidst The Mortgage Delinquency Disorder

From the suburbs of Washington, D.C., The Washington Post reports:

• Among the many harsh lessons for mortgage lenders in the housing bust is this one about evictions: Selling a house is far easier than taking it back. Clever opportunists and struggling families have figured this out, too, and the result is a rapidly evolving free-for-all coursing through the Washington region's worst foreclosure-racked suburbs.

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• Defaulting homeowners are taking advantage of banking chaos to live mortgage-free for six months or longer, dragging out the eviction process, according to lenders and real estate agents. Unscrupulous landlords are collecting rent but withholding mortgage payments, leaving a rude surprise for their tenants when repossession comes. And banks are so eager to avoid the hassle of eviction that they are paying occupants $5,000 or more simply to hand over the keys and move out without a fight.

• Then there are the illegal squatters, appliance thieves and miscellaneous animals -- wild and domestic -- that abound amid the disorder.

For more, see Foreclosures Open Door To Disorder (Vermin, Crooks Exploit Housing Market Crisis).