Foreclosure Alley - good piece on foreclosures in the Inland Empire.

[girl gone mad]

http://kcet.org/socal (video)

For the past few years, the Inland Empire in Riverside County has been one of the fastest growing counties in the state - home to a major housing boom. But now the Inland Empire is pretty much the poster child for the foreclosure crisis. SoCal Connected tracked down some surreal sights associated with the crisis, including a guy who started a business turning abandoned, dead lawns green - with spray-paint.

This is one of the regions hit hardest by the real estate bubble. 1 in 3 homes is in foreclosure. There is not a large job base. I think the man with his wife and baby should walk away because it will be at least a decade, if not more, before prices recover.

I also think we might end up seeing some of these subdivisions simply razed to the ground. Many abandoned neighborhoods have become hotbeds of crime. Squatters vandalize properties. Thieves steel pipes and other valuable raw materials. At some point the underlying value is not enough to justify the carrying costs (taxes, maintenance).