The foreclosed house wasn't in too bad shape. I've seen worse. Lot's worse. The pool was still blue although uncovered and with leaves in the bottom. There was only minimal marker scrawling on the wall and door of one of the kids rooms and on some of the carpet in the office. Upstairs we found the pool table that had been left behind. The felt had rips in it. What was most surprising was the upstairs bedroom where we stumbled into a goldmine of computer stuff and CD's. There had to have been possibly thousands of dollars of stuff in that room. You have to wonder why in the world someone left their CD's and computer cables and other items behind, especially when the house is listed on the market and is empty otherwise.
Then I noticed the windows downstairs. They were all unlocked. Every one of them. There's only one reason a family leaves the downstairs windows unlocked when they lose their house to foreclosure. They intend to come back.
Now there is an ethical dilemma here that I face as I stand in this house. Do I lock the windows in order to secure the house? It isn't their house anymore, technically. And they could return in order to destroy the place, thus causing further loss of value to the actual owner. Or do I leave the windows unlocked? After all, they have stuff here.
I hate being put into that position. The emotional pull for the family just tears at your heart. And yet, I don't know these people. I don't know that they might not have lost this house because they gambled all their money away or were foolish in some way. After all, you can tell they lived a pretty good life at one point. But on the other hand, maybe there was a job loss or health crisis. Who knows?
Reaching deep down into the vault of what I would like someone to do for me if it was my listing, I locked the windows and left.
I hope 2010 is a better year for all of us.
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