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Vacated homes are foreclosed, forlorn FORECLOSURES IN AREA

August 2, 2008 12:15 am

Here is what a prospective buyer would encounter while touring one foreclosed home in Spotsylvania County:

A tree lay on the roof and blocked the front entrance. It was unclear how long the tree, which apparently was hit by lightning, had been on the vacant home.

After maneuvering around the tree to get inside the front door, the visitor immediately smells mildew. There's mold in the refrigerator and water damage in the basement. It's difficult to take the smell for long.

A reporter and photographer with The Free Lance-Star recently visited this home on condition that the exact location not be disclosed.

Realtors say that house, which is under contract, is in worse shape than most foreclosures. But inspectors say it's not uncommon to find significant damage, and many require thousands of dollars of repairs before they're move-in ready.

"It's mind-boggling," said Joel Webber, who has run the Stafford County-based Old Dominion Home Inspection Services since 1998. "It's sad to see it."

Webber said the vast majority of his inspections these days are on homes in foreclosure. Many area residents have lost the pricey homes purchased during the peak of the housing boom a couple of years ago.

Webber said some of the foreclosure homes are in good shape. He said in the past, the biggest problem in foreclosure homes was holes in the wall and other signs of homeowners angry about losing the house.

But he said that's not the case these days. Rather the most common problem, he said, is mildew. Between 25 percent and 50 percent of the foreclosure homes he inspects have mildew, and another 10 percent have mold.

In many of those cases, the banks turned off the electricity after reacquiring the houses. Rain floods the basement, and the sump pump isn't able to remove the water. There's no air conditioning. Houses are sometimes on the market for months in this condition. That's all a recipe for mold and mildew.

Webber questioned why the banks wouldn't take better care of the homes if they're trying to sell them.

Suzy Stone, a Realtor with Century 21 AdVenture in Spotsylvania, said some banks do fix up the homes. But she said most buyers of foreclosures know there will be some problems. Many of the buyers are investors. They buy them on the cheap, sink in some money for repairs and flip them.

Stone said that frequently people take their appliances out of the home before they're forced to leave. They'll also often leave trash behind and neglect the lawn, as they no longer care about the home. Old food is sometimes left in refrigerators.

"I opened the front door and couldn't go in, it was so bad," Stone recalls of one foreclosure home she was showing.

The new owners will frequently have to repaint the home and put in new carpeting and flooring, Stone said. Buyers often have to spend at least $10,000 on repairs.

But that's sometimes worth it considering how little some of the homes are selling for, Stone said. The aforementioned house in Spotsylvania was listed for less than $120,000, about a 50 percent discount from what it might have sold for a couple of years back.

Stone said people with cash on hand who know what they're doing and have a longtime horizon can make a lot of money in this market.

Stone and Webber both urged prospective buyers to do their due diligence before buying a foreclosure home. That includes researching the title and getting the home inspected before making an offer.

"It's a whole different market out there," Webber said.

Bill Freehling: 540/374-5405
Email: bfreehling@freelancestar.com