Neighbors: Clean Up Those Foreclosure Eyesores
Real Estate News From the We Buy Homes Team
ELK GROVE, CA - Neighbors say it’s one of the unexpected — and most frustrating — parts of the valley’s foreclosure epidemic. As bank repossession and foreclosure signs dot the front yards of home after home through many area neighborhoods, many of those bank-owned homes are also becoming eyesores. Frustrated neighbors complain they’re forced to watch dry, overgrown, unkempt lawns and shrubs spread uncontrolled. Now, the state has passed a new law that could help change that.
As part of a foreclosure relief bill signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger July 8, local governments can fine banks up to $1,000 a day if foreclosed properties are not maintained.
“Failure to adequately care for the exterior of the property, including but not limited to, permitting excessive foliage growth that diminishes the value of surrounding properties, failure to take action to prevent trespassers or squatters from remaining on the property or failing to prevent mosquito larva from growing in standing water,” the law reads.
This means hope to some area Elk Grove residents like James Penn, who lives next door to a foreclosed house with an increasingly unruly, weed-studded yard.
“It puts a burden on everyone when the rest of them are pretty nice and you’ve got this one that throws them off,” Penn said.
Neighbor Alma Pineda hopes the new law will help her maintain her property’s value.
“I wouldn’t have a problem with that because I really want to maintain my lawn and if that would move them to maintain their lawns, I have no problem with that. I am all for it,” Pineda said.
The law states that once reported, banks have up to 30 days to remedy the property’s landscaping problems.