Foreclosures Leave Behind Long Beach Lonely And Eerie

June 24th, 2008

Annabel Hall of North Long Beach misses her neighbours as foreclosures leave behind Long Beach lonely and eerie. The two families exchanged visits but suddenly one fine morning they woke up to find the couple across the street had vanished – quietly and silently gone away, most probably ashamed of their fate. Like many others in this locality they had fallen behind in their mortgage payments and so their house on Morningside Street came to be foreclosed.

All that happened a year ago. But the brown one storey three bed roomed stucco-building stands silent and empty even today. There are no cars on the driveway and no lights after dark. Like many other houses in the locality this one too stands silent and ghostly without the warm noises of playing children and barking dogs. The ‘No Trespassing’ and advertising signs stood out prominently. Some body had sprayed graffiti across the garage door – an ominous sign of things to come. Feeble beeps from smoke detectors in need of batteries could be faintly heard from the outside. One by one this scene is being repeated in Long Beach as people are just walking away from houses whose values have fallen to less than the loan amount.

In about a year from April 2007 to March of the following year Long Beach recorded 748 foreclosure postings according to a study conducted by the Economic Development Bureau of the city. Of these there were 561 single-family houses and 187 were condos with a price ranging from 4100,000 to above $1 million. The numbers were way above the normal.

No area has been spared the mark of foreclosed units. Realtor Richard Daskam feels that the number is far higher than what is being officially calculated. Short Sales are confusing the numbers. Some may be about to be sold. If that is happening then the problem will begin to slow down.

In the fiscal year of 2008 that ends on 30th September, the city will be $500,000 less in property taxes. In 2007 the budget had been projected at $65.6 million but the city had funds amounting to $62.3 million. The gap is expected to be filled up with increased oil revenue as it has one of the largest oil fields in the country.

The crime and disease related problems emanating from abandoned units are something that cannot be quantified in numbers.