Borrowers trash homes.

[Joanne98]

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Some Nevadans who fall behind on their mortgages and face foreclosure are trashing the homes as they move out, a legislative study panel was told Tuesday.

Gail Burks of the Las Vegas-based Nevada Fair Housing Center said there's an increase in southern Nevada borrowers who are giving up when faced with foreclosure and "are taking things out of the property, they're putting cement down the plumbing." Burks also said she's seen an increase in violations of a new state law that's intended to block bogus real estate deals and ensure that borrowers can afford a home loan. She also said there are more cases of renters being forced from homes going through foreclosure.

Consumers who try to refinance face a major problem because of Nevada's status as a high-risk market, Burks said, adding that means a cut in the amount that can be borrowed atop an already reduced figure due to the decreased value of homes.

Assemblyman Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas, the study subcommittee chairman, said the destruction to homes shows a loss of hope among people who figure there's no way they can refinance their loans so that they can stay in their homes.

"It's bad behavior compounded by more bad behavior," said Assemblyman Tom Grady, R-Yerington, a subcommittee member.

"It's not a new phenomenon," Conklin said after the hearing. "People are upset that they're losing their homes and on their way out say, 'Heck, burn it down.'" While Burks didn't provide the subcommittee with statistics on damage by people forced from homes, Michele Johnson of Las Vegas-based Consumer Credit Counseling Service had plenty of statistics on the severity of the mortgage crisis in Nevada.

Johnson told the panel that 6.5 percent of about 574,000 home loans serviced in the state in the last quarter of 2007 were past due, up about 16 percent from the previous quarter. She added that foreclosure "starts" were up about 34 percent in the same period.

In the case of subprime loans, Johnson said that of about 101,000 serviced in the last quarter of 2007 nearly 17 percent were past due -- and foreclosure starts were up about 43 percent.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/24275111/for/cnbc

I have only one thing to say about that.. GOOD!

[annabanana]

1. Oh dear, oh dear. . not THESE folks?

[Donnachaidh]

6. PeaPod does grow up to be a Malfoy

And I just geek-checked myself. :rofl:

[Warpy]

2. Anything that convinces lenders of the wisdom

of working with these people to keep them in their homes, even as renters paying less than their mortgage payment would have been, is a good thing.

Lenders eventually got it through their rock hard skulls back in the Depression that occupied properties fared much better than abandoned ones did. It seems that lenders now are having to learn that harsh lesson all over again.

[crim son]

3. There are reasons why some people should not be loaned money.

I understand these people's anger but not their infantile response to it.

[AlCzervik]

4. check it out, same trashing, different state.

LODI (CBS13) ― A foreclosed home in Lodi was torn apart in broad daylight on Tuesday. Lodi police say that the suspect, Santiago Miramontes, was a one-man wrecking crew.

"Mr. Miramontes made a trip around the house breaking all the windows," said Sgt. Dale Eubanks.

The aftermath left shards of glass everywhere, and that doesn't compare to what happened inside. Cabinets lay crumbled, the stove torn out and tossed. The bathroom faucet and showerhead were ripped right off and dumped in the sink with shards of glass.

"It wasn't like he was in here an hour or two," said Sgt. Eubanks. "He was in here for five or ten minutes."

And he caused tens of thousands in damages in that time. Neighbors heard it all.

"They said he appeared to be out of control, destroying the home," Sgt. Eubanks confirmed.

Authorities say Miramontes confessed to it all. "His response was that he was frustrated because he hasn't had a vacation in a while," Sgt. Eubanks said.

But he isn't currently employed.

Now, the house will be boarded up to keep anyone else from causing any more damage.

http://cbs13.com/local/lodi.home.destroyed.2.711960.html

[xxqqqzme]

5. I worked in real estate (from the legal side)for many years.

Trashing a house being foreclosed is nothing new. One reason buying foreclosed property is so iffy. You don't know what's been done to the house or what the costs of the repairs will be. I've seen wiring ripped out; toilets/sinks smashed; motor oil smeared on carpets & walls. I understand the frustration. It is all around a horrible thing.

[catnhatnh]

7. "Its bad behavior compounded by bad behavior"

Yeah, except one sides bad behavior is widespread and backed up statistics and the other is unsupported anecdotes- "honest they tore all the "W's off the keyboards"...and used for another worthless equivelency argument-See-they deserve the screwing they got-they're animals.....