Alison Mausser asks “How do you deal with Foreclosures in your neighborhood.  (Good question, thank you Alison)

All real estate has been affected by the present situation. Values are down from 10% in the best areas to over 60% here in Ohio, as much as 90% elsewhere.   

If there is a vacant house in your neighborhood, notify the police and your favorite Realtor.  The police can keep an eye on it and the Realtor can try to research the lender and notify them.  Too often, a family will move out in the middle of the night to avoid the embarrassment of the neighbors finding out their financial problems. The problems arise when the electric company terminates the power and the basement floods and pipes freeze.  

The reason we need to be our brother’s keepers, is the better the condition that house, the more it will sell for.  It will not just protect the lender’s investment, it will protect the value of your home and the whole neighborhood.  If possible, the next door neighbor should run an extension cord over to the house to run the sump pump.

It should go without saying, then, the neighbors have to chip in to mow the grass, water the lawn, spiff up the landscaping and pick up the piles of free papers that collect on the drive and walk.  If you have a Homeowner’s Association, this should be the first item on the agenda each month.  I have seen homes so covered with mold from sitting for months with water in the basement that the homes had to be torn down.  Other homes with less mold sell for pennies on the dollar.

So, until the government and the lenders figure out a way to deal with and protect these properties, it’s up to you and me to protect our home’s value as much as we can.

I actually had a seller mow the lawn of his lazy neighbor because it was so bad we couldn’t get his home sold.  Once Shawn cleaned up the neighbor’s lawn, the home sold right away.