Blight moves in after foreclosures

[Liberal_in_LA]

Untended properties become eyesores. Then there are the uninvited guests: mosquitoes, vandals and squatters.

By David Streitfeld, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 28, 2007

Houses abandoned to foreclosure are beginning to breed trouble, adding neighbors to the growing ranks of victims.

Stagnant swimming pools spawn mosquitoes, which can carry the potentially deadly West Nile virus. Empty rooms lure squatters and vandals. And brown lawns and dead vegetation are creating eyesores in well-tended neighborhoods.

In Northridge, the house next door to Michael McKenna's was put on the market, sold and then foreclosed on, all in the space of a few months last spring.

With the five-bedroom home now forsaken and deserted, McKenna has been reluctantly cutting the lawn and dumping chemicals in the pool to kill the bugs.

"I resent having to do this," the former studio production manager said. "It's breaking my back."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-vacant28aug28,0,1813154.story?coll=la-home-center

[Beerboy]

1. The newbz @ the real estate office have to try to sell those...

who could've guessed that people who promise to pay their bills on time but don't could lead to some sort of unfortunate financial outcomes?

[displacedtexan]

6. Who could've guessed that...

people would believe that the US economy was as strong as Bush said/says it was/is?

[fasttense]

2. So, can't they just empty the pools?

What with the droughts I doubt they will fill up again.

[The Vinyl Ripper]

4. You have to pump pools dry..

The electricity is off on a foreclosed home..

You could put some oil on top of the water though, that keeps the mosquito larvae from breathing.

The cool thing about empty pools in a location with a high water table is that they act like a boat and will rise up out of the ground..

[fasttense]

5. I had no idea in-ground pools

could rise up out of the ground. Very strange. I think I'll stick with my pond. The fish keep the bugs down and Barley Bales keep the algae down.

[madokie]

7. yes they sure will float like a boat

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

3. Trouble in Barbie Pop-Up Land

This is one of the hidden costs of these "neighborhoods" popping up like mushrooms, along with fire danger, erosion, wildlife displacement, commuter pollution, etc. etc.

My solution:
Tear down every other house
Give buckets to the skateboarders
End the lawngrass monoculture

Get used to having sore eyes.

[porphyrian]

8. Sounds like a business opportunity, if someone can make the banks pay for it.

Certainly the neighbors would support teams being paid to keep up those properties. If there's one near you, inform the Department of Health.