Tenants Across The Country Feel Effect Of Landlords Facing Foreclosure

ABC News reports:

• As landlords find themselves owing more than their properties are worth, some have simply walked away, leaving garbage to pile up. Others have disappeared into bankruptcy, with unpaid utility bills. Some have tried to reduce their losses by neglecting basic maintenance. "There are 100,000 apartments teetering on the edge" in New York City alone, said Harold Shultz, senior fellow at the Citizens Housing and Planning Council. "And depending upon the way various winds blow, they could fall over."

• Across the country, multifamily mortgages covering 340,000 apartment units and worth an estimated $28.8 billion were delinquent or in foreclosure at the end of 2009 — more than 18 times the sum from two years earlier — according to Real Capital Analytics.

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• In Chandler, Ariz., [...] the story is similar. The Phoenix suburb was home to some of the 25 properties that Bethany Holdings Group LLC abandoned in California, Arizona, Texas and Colorado. Trash began piling up on the properties; the pools were covered with green scum. If the city hadn't stepped in, the water would have stopped running, said Daniel Anderson, the city's senior code inspector.

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• In East Palo Alto, Calif., creditors are in the process of foreclosing on more than half of the city's rental units. Maintenance, repairs and security suffered at the 1,800 apartments until the city and court-appointed receiver David Wald stepped in, said Wald.

For more, see Decaying Apartments Symptom of Housing Crisis (Mortgage crisis brings creeping decay to middle-class apartment buildings from Calif to NY).