Unlikely Criminals? Owners Loot Foreclosed Homes
What do a half-starved dog, a piece of heavy construction equipment and a hammer have in common? All are tools reportedly being used by irate owners to damage their own, soon-to-be-foreclosed property.
Angry about the upcoming real estate loss, many do their best to remove anything of value and leave only a damaged, uninhabitable shell for the bank to repossess, reports the St. Petersburg Times. Some, however, demonstrate more imagination and effort than others in pursuing this “borderline looting.”
For example, neighbors of one St. Petersburg homeowner “were shocked last month when, as the bank zeroed in on the house, the former owner leased a Bobcat excavator and uprooted the wooden privacy fence and five palm trees. Postholes still litter the yard,” the newspaper recounts. And a real estate agent who frequently works with foreclosed properties tells a tale of having once been met by a team of half-starved Doberman pinschers left in the vacant home as a welcoming committee.
Although fixtures legally belong to the bank, insurance claims are filed only sporadically against the property owner’s policy. The odds of a claim increase, though, if the damage has left the home uninhabitable, the Times writes. “The more expensive the repair, the more likely the bank and insurer will hound the former owner.”
