Abandoned Homes - Homeowners and Lenders Are Not The Only Victims

Depending on the neighborhood and the condition of the home, I can get enthusiastic about a vacant house. But that particular enthusiasm has been fading over the years I’ve been investing in single family homes. These days, I very rarely pay attention to vacant property at all, unless someone I trust brings it to my attention.

Abandoned property is ALWAYS a liability, so it has to have a lot of upside potential to overcome the existing liability issues for me, as a prospective buyer.

But what about the city where the vacant property is located, and closer to home, what about the next-door neighbors? What effect does a vacant house have on them?

Unless you’ve lived near a vacant property or worked as an elected official or as an employee with responsibility for the legal, security or maintenance issues accompanying a vacant home, you may not have given much thought to the magnitude of the problem.

Let’s start at the bottom – vermin. That’s right, vacant homes may not be empty homes. Rats, mice, squirrels, raccoons, bats, bees, wasps and snakes are free to move right in when there are no humans to interfere. Vermin tend to produce more vermin, which raises escalating safety and health hazards for people living in the neighborhood, and pedestrians just passing through.

Empty foreclosed homes are usually on someone’s radar screen. Listing agents or property managers are looking after the property (although they may not enter it, but merely drive by to inspect it) with some regularity. And a notice reading, “In case of emergency, contact ___” is usually posted on the front or door or window of the house.

If there’s a notice, the neighbors have a contact number or address to report problems. If there’s no notice, however, neighbors can only call the police, or it may be the county sheriff if the property is outside city limits.

Law enforcement officers are not in the business of inspecting and securing homes. They may have difficulty identifying a responsible party, or get no response at all when they try to use posted contact information. Naturally, the neighbors probably have the same dead-end experience.

Meanwhile, pests may be proliferating. And, sadly, those pests may include human beings.

Abandoned and vacant homes are magnets for desperate people and dangerous people. Anything is possible at the intersection of desperate and dangerous, so I don’t need to elaborate.

But I’m providing a reminder that vacant homes are on the increase, and they are found in every zip code, from slums to swanky subdivisions. And the pests may pull up in luxury cars just as easily as cockroaches slide under baseboards.

Abandoned swimming pools covered in green slime are definitely a hazard, one you can report to the health department or your county commissioners.

But many hazards cannot be seen as easily as that algae-covered pool. Make sure you’re paying attention and take care to teach your children to notice unusual sights, sounds and smells in your neighborhood, too.