Foreclosure leaves North Palm couple's belongings on street for thieves

[Liberal_in_LA]

NORTH PALM BEACH — Code enforcement officials responded Friday to protect furniture and other personal items that eviction officials placed in the driveway of a Lighthouse Drive home.

"People were like buzzards around fresh meat. At one point, there must have been a dozen cars. People were grabbing and taking everything," said Chuck Huff, the village community development director.

People illegally sifted through mattresses, desks, lamp shades, dishes, books, golfing equipment and dozens of other items. Property piled on a person's driveway is not open to the public without the owner's permission, Huff said.

"It's sad. My wife's bowling trophies are somewhere in there. We're a very sentimental family," said Christopher James, the former owner of the home that was foreclosed on earlier this year.



http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/foreclosure-leaves-north-palm-couples-belongings-on-street-1403994.html?cxntlid=cmg_cntnt_rss

[BoWanZi]

1. When you are being foreclosed on, its not like you don't have ample warning

And this just seems odd to me. I thought that with foreclosures, they just locked the doors the day of the actual foreclosure sale and everything inside was now the property of the new owners. I thought that the only time the sheriff does these kind of property dumps is when you are evicted from a place that you are renting. Like if you dont' pay your rent and get the final sheriff notice, they will be out on that day to pile your stuff outside.

But still, if the foreclosure was done properly, then the resident has plenty of warning to get their stuff out and into storage or something.

[RB TexLa]

2. Unfortunately many bury their heads in the sand and think it won't happen even

as they get the notices.

[AlabamaLibrul]

5. I find your view on the matter repulsive

and as part of your re-education I suggest you start here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x789743

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=789743&mesg_id=796102 also addresses the "Just put your stuff in storage!" thing.

[BoWanZi]

9. LOL, repulsive. So then I suppose you think the evictees did good...

... by letting their stuff get put out on the side of the road or something? I'm sorry, but there is a point where you have to face reality and realize that your home is going to be taken back after you quit paying on it and you need to put the stuff you really want into storage of some sort.

What other choice do they have? they can sell as much as they can if they want to but that takes a while. You really need to be disciplined and bite the bullet and make a plan. I personally would not want to save stuff like large furniture, sell that off first, but keep all the smaller stuff that you will need when (hopefully) move into some other place.

You provided zero options or solutions for the evictees and their stuff yet slammed me for voicing a rather harsh yet realistic opinion. What should happen? Should the govt come in and pay for storing your stuff and move it to a storage unit so that you can sort out your life? I don't think there is enough money in any city/state/fed budget to even conceive of doing something like that.

if you have been getting notices of foreclosure eviction for months, you still have ample notice to do something about it even if it means selling everything or giving most all of it away.

And trust me, I know what that is like, my wife and I lost a home 9 years ago to foreclosure and had to deal with exactly that situation.

[EFerrari]

8. Yeah, they should just move it to their new place. Oh, wait --

[Urban Prairie]

3. When my wife and I were given an eviction notice after foreclosure

we went to court, and I explained my disability to the magistrate/judge, and we managed to negotiate a few more weeks' time to get our stuff out of the house before we were physically evicted, possessions and all. Despite that, it still took a lot of time and we got everything out just in the nick of time before the final court-ordered E date. There also were a few things that we left behind that I was undecided on whether to keep or let them get tossed to the curb, and came back to our former home :( the day after, no one had come yet to clean out the house, so I went in and got the rest over the next several days, even removing the built in dishwasher and below-sink food disposer..heh!!

[MadHound]

4. This is news?

Not to make light of these folks' tragedy, but frankly this sort of thing goes on all the, all over the country, and has for years and decades now.

I suppose that this is getting play because it is happening in a more well to do neighborhood.

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. I find it really sad that people would take advantage of someone's bad fortune

by grabbing their stuff

[MadHound]

7. I find it sad as well,

But I find it a bit hypocritical to make this into a news piece when the fact of the matter is that in "lesser" neighborhoods this is a daily occurrence nationwide.

Welcome to asshole America.

[Phentex]

14. Was thinking the same thing! I see apartment contents outside on...

a regular basis. I always find it sad regardless of the circumstances. And there are always people grabbing stuff. Seemed far too common.

Now this is happening in the "good" neighborhoods and it's news.

[Hannah Bell]

10. if it was just out on the curb, how would they know?

[Shagbark Hickory]

15. Apparently it was on the driveway according to the article. I wondered the same thing. nt

[SoCalDem]

11. Around here, many foreclosers outsource the duty

and they are forbidden to "save" anything..it must all be taken to the dump.. even working appliances. Our PBS did a story about it & asked why places like goodwill were not allowed to take the stuff, and the answer was that it "took too long", and the charities would not "take it all".. The outfit doing the foreclosure had FIVE other house to "do" that day..


When this happen to a neighbor of my friend, the neighbors took the stuff & put it in their garages and then took up a collection to rent a storage unit for the family..but if you don't know your neighbors, this probably won't happen..

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

12. with the exception of the mormons, charities usually just plain don't show up,

I used to work in a supply chain position for a large retailer and had to get rid of unsold merchandise. Trying to donate stuff was usually a waste of time. It was always a blast when I held back a ton of stuff for a charity only to have one dude show up in a Kia and take maybe a tenth of it but more often than not they would never be heard from again.

[xchrom]

13. Foreclosure served with a side of humiliation. Nt