I am sure we have seen bank owned homes with the fixtures removed, appliances gone, carpets torn up, etc. I recently ran across a property where the owners really went to the extreme.
I was asked to do an interior Brokers Price Opinion (BPO) by one of the major banks. So I drove out to the property, a 2 acre ranchette out in the country. There are mostly corn fields on both sides of the road. I am watching the addresses on the mail boxes. I know I am getting close then suddenly I am past it. But I didn't see the house. So I made a U-turn and looked again.
I then realize that the empty lot that I had just passed is what I am looking for. THEY HAD TAKEN THE WHOLE HOUSE! At the back of the property is a detached garage in pretty rough shape and the well pump and tank. But that is it except for dirt.
I went back to my office and notified the bank of what I found. They said to go ahead a do the valuation based on an empty lot. So I pull up my comps, and start on the BPO. I go to googlemaps.com to find my distances from the subject property to my comps. As I put in the subject property address I click on the picture next to step one on the directions and there is a picture of the house. It's up on blocks with the moving truck parked next to it getting ready to take it away!
I immediatly let the bank know what I have found, and sent them a link to the picture on Googlemaps. So they tell me to hold off on the BPO. After a couple of weeks they tell me to go ahead and finish it as a vacant lot. I don't know if thats the last I will hear on that one. Stay tuned.
I guess these people didn't want to bother with removing appliances and taking out the fixtures and packing them up. They figured it would be easier to just move the entire house.
If you are in the market for some property WITH or WITHOUT a house on it let me know. See My Listings Here. I am a Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE) serving Stanislaus, Merced, and San Joaquin Counties in Californias Great Central Valley.
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