I wrote an article a couple of months ago which detailed the rise in vandalism & theft across the greater Phoenix and Scottsdale area. As the number of vacant homes have risen steeply along with the spike of foreclosures and total listings, so too have the targets for the scavengers in our midst. The point made was that placing a “For Sale” sign in the overgrown and underwatered front yard of a clearly abandoned house is nothing short of ringing the larcenous dinner bell. Copper, appliances, cabinets, ceilings fans, light fixtures, A/C compressors and anything else that fits in the bed of a ’74 Ford is walking out of vacant properties. Between the absentee owner of record and the agent charged with selling the home, it is imperative that someone removes the telltale signs of lifelessness from the property to deter such criminal enterprise. Far too often, door hanger advertisements are stacked five deep on the knob. The lawn is deceased, but the weeds have never felt better. There are papers in the driveway and not even the thick layer of dust on the front window can prevent prying eyes from determining that the interior holds no furniture.
I maintain that if banks would employ agents who are not already carrying 200 REO listings, they might find someone who will actually pay the property the attention it needs to secure its dwindling equity. Of course, the asset manager for the bank is just as overworked with hundreds of open files stacked upon his desk, so there really isn’t anyone who gives a whit about any one particular house. This is toxic to our market. As these properties are further devalued through negligence, the phenomenon further erodes values of the surrounding areas. It really isn’t all that difficult to make a property a harder target.
However, trimming up the yard and routinely visiting the property (to show signs of life at the home, if nothing else) won’t really cut it when agents insist upon advertising “Vacancy” to any knucklehead with a computer who is looking for a temporary flophouse or a lightly-used dishwasher. I found this snippet in the PUBLIC remarks section of the MLS today:
“Reduced 9/25/WOW. NOW VACANT!!”
I am going to type slowly so that everyone understands this basic tenet of the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service:
T h e r e i s a R e a l t o r r e m a r k s s e c t i o n f o r s h o w i n g i n s t r u c t i o n s.
Y o u d o n ‘ t h a v e t o in f o r m t h e e n t i r e p l a n e t t h a t t h e h o m e i s v a c a n t!
The bank, or absentee owner in this instance, may not care if the house is ransacked at this point, but the neighbors will. It doesn’t make the jobs of us agents any easier, but that doesn’t concern me much. Realtors are like cockroaches. We’ll survive a nuclear holocaust. I do worry about homeowners across the Valley, though. The guy down the street who might be forced to sell because he lost his job does not need his value further degraded by a crummy comp that is even crummier than it needs to be.
The banks are sticking it to a lot of people for the second time, and it needs to stop.
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