Once a thriving neighborhood within the Hillsborough community in California, Otay Ranch is a now a picture of desolation as 60 homes went into foreclosure from 2005 to August 2008.
The 295-home neighborhood was designed and constructed by Pacific Coast Communities and Oakwood Development five years ago. During its peak, houses in the area with three to five bedrooms were valued as high as $500,000.
The increasing home equity then helped boost the neighborhood’s economy and spurred construction of restaurants and retail centers in the area. Today, home prices have fallen drastically with properties selling for as low as $300,000.
It is estimated that sixty houses, one per five households, went into foreclosure from 2005 to August 2008. Several small businesses in the neighborhood have closed while the remaining retailers are having difficulty keeping their businesses open.
School attendance went down as students leave suddenly because their homes were foreclosed. Olympian High School head counselor Julie Hitchcock said that an estimated 10 percent of over 1,300 students of the school had suddenly stopped attending their classes from January to February of the current school year. She believes that majority of student departures is a result of foreclosure.
Majority of the 60 houses were repossessed by lenders 2 to 3 years after their owners purchased them.
Sam Mendoza, a property agent, said that in 2007, about 36 sales in the neighborhood were of foreclosed properties. He expects more foreclosed homes for sale to be put on the market because of the increasing number of payment defaults in the area.
Meanwhile, some residents in the neighborhood are complaining that the increasing number of abandoned homes has made the area a sad place to live in.
Some residents who purchased their houses and financed them with adjustable mortgages are concerned that their payments will go up as market value of properties in the area continues to decline due to the foreclosure crisis.
Follow us:
Written by Alex Rolim.
