New Home Development Demolished in Southern California "WOW"

[storres]

I can't believe this. New model homes and community demolish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsgOaCZ2Lag

[4jacks]

That's pretty bad, not a good sign for the real estate market

[matt]

It sounds like it's more a political problem than simply an economic problem. The guy in the video said the city was fining the bank every day for the 12 unfinished homes. It was probably cheaper for the bank to tear the buildings down than to finish them.

I don't know if the bank tried talking to the city or not but it seems like this is bad for the city in the long run. Instead of having 12 nearly completed homes that would eventually generate property tax (when the economy gets back on its feet) now it's just a bunch of empty lots full of rubble.

[4jacks]

I have to admit, I read an article instead of watching the video. The article said something about the unfinished properties having squatters in them and a lot of vandalism, etc. That's probably why they were getting fined.

[matt]

That doesn't make sense. If someone was living on your property and not paying you rent and you didn't mind why should you get fined for that? Aren't you free to let whoever you want to live on your private property?

[4jacks]

That doesn't make sense. If someone was living on your property and not paying you rent and you didn't mind why should you get fined for that? Aren't you free to let whoever you want to live on your private property?

I don't think it was that they "didn't mind" I think it was that they didn't care or didn't want to spend money to properly board up the houses.

They get fined for creating a public safety hazards, there are billions of local ordinances they can be caught for. If there is vandalism that is not being taken down, there's a fine for that, if no one is mowing the lawn, there's a fine for that. There's ordinances for people living with out water/sewer. all sorts of stuff.

My old house was out in the boon docks, but there were three little houses a row, I owned the one on the right, the other two were abandoned, and really weren't habitable. I didn't bother with them for a long time, they were an eye sore, but I didn't care. Both had similar stories, the owners died, had multiple children, who fought about the property and did nothing with it. Then one day our house got broken into. And I called three of our county council members, and within 3 days, they had an inspector out there, and they slapped a condemned sign on both houses. The owner's got out there and boarded them both up. One got sold in an auction, the other guy said he wanted to tear it down and build something, but I don't see that happening. Anyway, I was glad, I got to tell people that both houses would be torn down in a year, becuase they were condemned, when I was selling my house.

But the moral of the story is that if the Neighbors don't like your property then the law can smack you in the behind.

[cccfree]

Home builders are just business owners and they make mistakes like anybody else. Basically if you're going to build homes you're going to have to do your due diligence and see if there's an actual market for the product your building.

If the builder actually had sold those properties before he started building them I'm sure the bank would not have the same problem that he has now.