Foreclosures in California 2008
October 3rd, 2008
Foreclosures in California are through the roof in 2008. Inland Empire in California’s Riverside County used to be one of the fastest growing communities in this sunny state. Housing market was booming just a few years back but now the area is getting deserted as the foreclosure crisis set in. Houses on every street in new developments are sitting vacant bearing signs signaling the foreclosures in California are at the highest level:
- house up for auction
- house for sale by a bank
- short sale
Short sale take place when the house is worth less than owner actually owns. The video by SoCal Connected shows shocking reality of the Foreclosures in California 2008 crisis. It features interview with the owner of a company that has deals with banks to trash out whatever former owners left behind. The workers come and literally trash everything out, dumping it in a trailer and towing it to the landfill.
Another interview features a guy who spray-paints the lawns of foreclosed houses. The lawns are not looked after since house owner had abandoned the property and the lawn turns brown. The guy comes and stray-paints it to make it look green again.
Code enforcement officers need to deal with pools that are left filled with water which turns green and is nothing but a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Young couple with a child that still remains in the area even though they’ve got no neighbors and most surrounding houses have foreclosure labels. When they bought a house, they followed an advice of their accountant who made them believe they were making a great investment with superb tax write off. Fast forward few years later, it’s 2008, the foreclosures in California crisis got out of control and they’re paying $3100 a month for the house that’s not worth more than $1000 a month. How terrible must that be 
Inland Empire is now like California’s ghost town. Many new houses are vacant and the crisis could get even worse when people with 5-year adjustable mortgages start getting their due bills that they can’t afford to pay. This is not the end to Foreclosures in California. 2008 was surely a bad year. It looks like there are still many more to come.
Foreclosures in California 2008 video credit: KCET
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