South Carolina foreclosures have led to an increase in the number of abandoned and vacant homes. Because of the foreclosure crisis, banks find themselves short of staff to manage all their homes repossessed.
Most of the time, vandalism occurs just before evicted owners left the property. They will vent their frustrations over losing their homes by inflicting as much damage as they could on the property. They will remove built-in lighting or strip moldings and shelving.
What was leftover will be fair game on thieves, prostitutes and drug pushers. Vandalism and thief occur because these vacant properties have been sitting on the market for a long time. Unfortunately, most banks sell these properties on as-is basis.
The median price for a two-bath and four-bedroom repossessed home is $99,000. However, buyers should expect to spend as much as $40,000 on necessary improvements.
According to RealtyTrac Inc., which collects and compiles foreclosure data from 2,200 counties in the United States, foreclosure started its unrestrained increased in 2008, representing 81 percent from 2007.
In the county of Beaufort, one per 598 housing units was in some form of foreclosure in 2008. This makes Beaufort’s foreclosure rate one of the biggest in South Carolina.
Meanwhile, it has become common for mortgage lenders to reclaim a property in poor condition. And most often than not, they could not recover what homeowners owed them.
S.C. Mortgage Associates owner Sam McGowan explains that majority of properties that have been reclaimed were sold as-is. He noted that most lenders just accept their loss and file deficiency judgments against the previous homeowner.
He added that if lenders decide to repair the house, they will have to consider the property’s return of investment. Most of the time, lenders will only do some repairs and maintenance if it means the property will be sold immediately.
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Written by Alex Rolim.
