Mesa is considering new regulations designed to ensure that banks will clean up abandoned properties that have fallen into disrepair and become a blight on the community.
While the lenders already are required to maintain the homes, it's common for nobody to care for them from the time a homeowner walks away and the time the foreclosure is completed.
The city tries to send complaint letters to the owner, but it can take weeks or months to determine who holds the title and who should be held accountable.
A new registry of abandoned properties would require lenders to notify the city any time a loan is in default. The city would then immediately know who is responsible in the event the property falls into disrepair and gets complaints from neighbors.
Mesa would become one of about 300 communities across the nation to enact similar rules in the wake of a real estate crash that has left many neighborhoods frustrated with abandoned properties.
"The city shouldn't have to play Sherlock Holmes on every complaint to figure out whose on first, to know who to serve a notice of violation to," said Mesa Councilman Dennis Kavanaugh. "That's created a lot of frustration for our staff and for the neighbors."
The problem can range from weeds and graffiti to people breaking into abandoned homes.
"Pools turn green and now we have a health hazard," said Councilwoman Dina Higgins.
Higgins recalled how the city once scrambled to find the owner of a home where a man had died inside days earlier. The property was in foreclosure and the city couldn't do anything to clean up the home until after figuring out who legally controlled the property. The city worked hard to find the responsible party because of the nature of the concern, Higgins said, and identified somebody within hours.
On more routine issues, the tracking can take longer, said Christine Zielonka, Mesa's development services director.
"We've seen up to four months, constantly trying to make calls," Zielonka said.
The city registry would require a mortgage company to inspect homes monthly to ensure they comply with city codes. They'd also have to display a sign on the property with contact information.
Mesa's Community & Neighborhood Services Committee was set to review the proposed regulations last week. But Higgins, who is the committee's chairwoman, postponed a meeting to have city staff refine a report on the plan. The group is expected to review the regulations in August.
The city may consider a pilot program in that time to see if it can improve property maintenance without formal rules. Higgins said she'd like to see if that alone would get results.
"I'm always open to voluntary compliance instead of regulation," she said.
devils66 posted at 6:44 pm on Tue, Jul 6, 2010.
I think the banks should have to take total responsibility of the out side of the homes. They should face consequences and fines for not doing so.
Bingo6 posted at 12:48 pm on Wed, Jul 7, 2010.
I think the city should tell all commercial property owners, banks and trustees that if their properties are in such abondoned disrepair, the properties should be comdemned, (i.e. the Fiesta mall district) and the owners should be required to tear down the bulildings and restore the properties back to their original vacant lot condition.
Then real viable developers with a plan can come in buy the land and build new businesses that will utilize a more modern and greener approach to further enhance the future of our community.
If these derelict banks and property owners refuse to clean up their urban blight then the city should do it for them and bill the owner for th expense, plus applicable fines.
Rich posted at 11:25 am on Thu, Jul 8, 2010.
Let's see here. Mesa wants banks to spend their money cleaning up foreclosed property rather than giving mortgages. Well, we could bail them out again I guess. Of course it will deepen the real estate problem, but I guess we can just all go and live on the streets of Mesa,
Could the politicos of Mesa stick their heads any further up their $#%? This kind of tunnel vision is one of the major factors that keeps us in recession.
Butters posted at 2:43 pm on Thu, Jul 8, 2010.
Rich, not everyone wants to live in a dump like you do. Since it was the lenders who made irresposible lending decisions to lend money to irresponsible homebuyers, then yes, they should be responsible for cleaning up their foreclosed properties. Most lenders either have their own in-house property managers who oversee cleanup crews, or they have property maintenance companies under contract. Not only are many lenders derelict when it comes ot maintaining their foreclosed properties, but also paying the property taxes on time.
Question: Rich, on an FHA, VA, Fannie or Freddie backed mortgage, who absorbs the financial loss on the foreclosed properties, the lenders, or the ones who guaranteed the loans, and this includes short sales?
Answer(because I don't want to listen to your dumb dribble): The ones who guaranteed the loans. The banks are still making tons of money and not absorbing the losses you falsely seem to think they do. The least they can do is keep the properties secure and maintained. It will not only help to beautify the neighborhood, but stop the abuse by the lenders who sell their trashed properties for almost nothing and then stick it to Uncle Sam. When these trashed homes are sold for almost nothing, they cause the value of the homes in the area to tumble. As part of a home's appraised value, an appraiser will look at what comparale homes in the area have been selling for during a six month period leading up to the time the home has a valid offer written on it by a realtor. There are whole neighborhoods whose property values plummented because of the trashed foreclosed homes being dumped in their neighborhoods.
I applaud the city for addressing this issue and fully support them in the hopes they do pass an ordinace to bring the lenders into compliance. They have gotten away with it for far too long. Unless the city takes action, Mesa will soon look like the trailer park trash home that Rich resides in, complete with weeds on the property and a yard full of junk.
Butters posted at 2:45 pm on Thu, Jul 8, 2010.
Rich, now that you are retarded, I mean retired, could you at least finish grade school because you certainly aren't smarter than a fifth grader.