Trashouts, Brown Grass, Green Pools & Other By-Products Of The Foreclosure Crisis

From the Inland Empire in Riverside County, California, KCET.org reports:

• SoCal Connected tracked down some surreal sights associated with the [foreclosure] crisis - a company that specializes in removing whatever people leave behind in their foreclosed homes. The process is called a “trashout” - a term the company came up with because it perfectly describes what happens. Everything that’s left is dumped in a trailer and taken to the landfill.

• Then there’s the guy who started a business to spray-paint dead lawns. That’s right. He paints brown lawns green. We also tag along with a couple of code enforcement officers who are spending more and more of their time having to drain slimy, abandoned pools.

• Finally, we meet a typical couple who bought their first home, thinking it was a great investment and tax write-off. Now the place is worth only half of what they paid for it and their neighborhood has almost as many vacant homes as occupied ones.

• One of the code enforcement guys sums up the problem in a single sentence - “You know you’re in trouble when the lawns are brown and the pools are green!”

For the story and the accompanying video report, see Foreclosure Alley.

Thanks to Bill Collins of Crossroads Abstract, Rochester, NY for the heads-up on an interesting video.