Homes abandoned after foreclosure often fall into neglect
The mailbox was the most visible sign something wasn't right at the house in Reston Heights early this summer. Absent from its wooden post at the end of the driveway, it was tucked away by the garage on the ground.
A closer look showed a handful of weeds poking up around the emerging hosta plants and a lawn just past the time for mowing. A rain-swollen phone directory lay on the stoop, and a bird's nest was tucked behind the downspout of the house, located in a new subdivision on Madison's far east side.
By late July, the property was obviously neglected, with thistle rising in the lawn and weeds sprouting from the plant beds. The property was scheduled for its third lawn mowing by the city.
The house on Summertown Drive is one of about 20 vacant properties city contractors are mowing this summer in response to complaints, said George Hank, who oversees property inspections for the city. Most of the houses have been abandoned after foreclosure.
National analysts say vacant properties drag down neighboring property values in cities with high rates of foreclosure. The average loss in value on nearby lots is 0.9 percent.
The rate of foreclosure filings in Dane County has jumped a whopping 53 percent this year, from 466 cases filed in circuit court in the first seven months of 2007 to 714 cases filed this year. Some owners who are being foreclosed on manage to keep their houses; others sell their homes to new owner-occupants. But data firm RealtyTrac reports that 171 properties in the county are owned by mortgage lenders.
And the empty houses dotting Madison's landscape are an aggravation to neighbors, local real estate agents and assessors.
Neighbors of the vacant Reston Heights property sure were aggravated.
"I'm not happy with it. I put a lot of work in my yard when we moved in," said Mark Dobson, whose property edges up to the back yard of the abandoned corner lot house. Dobson said he mowed the lot twice, but soon "decided not to waste my time, money or equipment doing it."
"It brings us down. If I had my house for sale and someone saw that, it definitely would be a down point," he said.
Amber Palmer, who lives next door to the abandoned house, said "it looks bad. This street is a common exit from the neighborhood."
Both Dobson and Palmer said the eyesore is a frequent topic of conversation among neighbors. Palmer wondered why the bank bringing foreclosure action was not mowing the property or why the homeowners association didn't take care of it.
"Whose responsibility is it?" she asked.
Just because a bank has brought a foreclosure action doesn't mean that the bank owns the property and is responsible for its maintenance, said Ron Steinhofer, immediate past president of the Wisconsin Mortgage Bankers Association. The court proceedings can take many months.
For example, foreclosure action was brought against the owners of the Reston Heights property by a local bank in May 2007, but to date the property is still in the name of the owners, who neighbors say left more than a year ago.
Many foreclosures sparked by subprime mortgages involve national lenders who may not have a local presence in Dane County, Steinhofer added. And those lenders may not have the mechanisms in place in Dane County to see that the property is mowed, said John Deininger, executive vice president of the Realtors Association of South Central Wisconsin.
If the city of Madison has to arrange for a property to be mowed because the grass has grown longer than 8 inches, the owners of record are fined $172 for a first offense and $298 for subsequent ones, Hank said.
The homeowners also are charged the cost of the contracted mowing, which Hank said can run anywhere from $120 to $300, depending on the size of the lot and height of the grass.
If the ticket and mowing bill are not paid, they are tacked on to the property tax.
Deininger acknowledged that a neglected property, whatever the cause, can pull down the values of surrounding properties. But he said he has had no indication that properties vacant through foreclosure are causing unusual problems. "I have not heard from anyone that this is becoming a major issue," he said.
Madison assessor Mark Hanson said city appraisals of homes reflect external influences, from being located on a busy street to being near an eyesore property. "It's not always easy to measure," he said. "If we don't have comparable sales for that type of property right in the area, the appraiser uses his own best judgment.
Over on the west side, Janice Wexler said an abandoned house on Sunridge Drive has turned into an eyesore and it worries her neighbors.
Everyone pitched in to keep the walks of the corner property clear of what turned out to be 101 inches of snow last winter, Wexler said. But she called the city to cope with the uncut lawn this summer.
Foreclosure action was brought against the owner of the 2,710-square-foot house last fall. The property is now owned by a Florida bank.
It was listed with a Realtor at one point and kept in good shape, but all signs of a listing have long evaporated, Wexler said.
Outside the striking house of modern design, Queen Anne's lace has seeded itself into the landscape plantings, and a wild grapevine is twining up an arbor vitae. The paint on the siding is cracked and flaking. Inside, dead plants droop in the entrance atrium.
"Every neighborhood gathering, formal or informal, generates comments about it," Wexler wrote in an e-mail. "I hate driving or walking by it."
pschneider@madison.com
Mike DeVries/The Capital Times
The city of Madison is contracting for mowing for about 20 properties vacant after foreclosure, like this one on the west side.
