Metro Detroit foreclosures do affect your neighborhood in many different ways
- Price - foreclosures drive down the price in your neighborhood. The government and banks don't want to own homes. They want them off their books. They will keep lowering the price until the home sells. If the foreclosure is on the market too long they sometimes just dump the house. I had heard of one home that originally sold for $999,000 that sold for $520,000 because the home owner removed lighting fixtures out of the house and many other items. The bank wanted to dump the house. That Northville Foreclosure set a new low price for the subdivision. Which in turn lowers the value for your home.
- Appearance - banks don't do a good job of keeping up the property. Grass grows longer, trash piles up in the yard. In some areas people actually dump garbage at abandoned properties. Neighborhoods and homes that are not kept up lower your property values. Again if the property looks bad it will sit on the market longer. Then the price will keep dropping.
- Crime - Foreclosed homes are targets for thieves. Some thieves take furnaces, hot water heaters, lighting fixtures, and even the copper plumbing (for the scrap metal). Kids also sometimes target foreclosed homes as hangouts. I have even seen a foreclosed home burnt because some kids started a fire in the basement and the whole basement caught fire. The house as far as I was concerned was a total loss.
There is nothing you can do about a foreclosure in your neighborhood. But you can take the time to pick up the trash or keep the yard maintained. A yard and home that looks lived in won't draw criminals and juveniles. Sometimes parking your car in the driveway helps. Contact your neighbors to help keep your neighborhood looking good. The bank isn't going to do it regularly. Remember the longer it sits on the market the lower the price your home will fetch.
They have no vested interest in your neighborhood, but you do. Keep it up if you can.
For more on Wayne County Mi foreclosures give me a call or visit my website Livonia real estate and Wayne County real estate.
There are still lots of great real estate deals out there.
Russ Ravary
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