Negligent owners in Indio could be fined
As foreclosure rates hit all-time highs, valley cities explore ways to keep empty houses from attracting vagrants
INDIO - The abandoned, foreclosed home on Caribe Street looked OK from the outside.
Inside, it was obvious that squatters - homeless people who stay the night in vacant houses - had invaded.
Plates with crusted food, empty beer cans and pillows were strewn throughout the home.
Used, wadded-up toilet paper piled high in the bathrooms.
"I wouldn't want to live next door to a house like that," Indio police Lt. Forest Meadows said.
It's a scene that's starting to crop up in neighborhoods across the valley - a byproduct of skyrocketing foreclosures.
Indio, with nearly 1,500 homes in foreclosure in the city's limits, is leading valley cities in taking a stand.
A new law goes into effect April 4 targeting abandoned homes with overgrown landscaping, stagnant pools and other eyesores that scream "empty" to squatters.
The law requires that abandoned properties be registered with the city and maintained. If not, the owner - usually the bank in foreclosed situations - could face fines or criminal prosecution.
"This is a nationwide problem. We're just being proactive. We're trying to get ahead of the game," Meadows said.
Other Coachella Valley cities are following.
In Desert Hot Springs, where abandoned homes also are being used for unsupervised parties by youths, a similar ordinance was approved Tuesday by its City Council.
In Palm Springs, the subject of abandoned buildings including homes was discussed at a recent City Council study session.
The problem Indio and other cities face with foreclosed homes is not knowing who the owner of a home is and who is responsible for its maintenance.
Homeowners are walking away from their homes without notifying their lenders, Meadows said.
And banks in some cases won't take responsibility for properties until more than six months into the foreclosure process, he said.
Meanwhile, the grass is dying, the landscape is overgrown, and mail and phonebooks are piling up.
Of the 1,480 homes in the foreclosure process, about 450 are bank-owned, Meadows said.
Nationally, foreclosures rose to an all-time high at the end of 2007 - the result of borrowers with adjustable-rate loans walking away from properties before their payments spiked.
Refinancing didn't work because of a lack of equity, or they couldn't meet the new loan standards.
In Riverside County, foreclosure filings rose 177 percent from a year ago: 7,549 in January compared to 2,721 foreclosures in January 2007, according to Realty Trac, a national foreclosure database.
Because Indio is the largest city with the highest housing inventory, Meadows said it's not unusual for Indio to also have the highest number of homes in the foreclosure process.
The nearly 1,500 homes in the city in the foreclosure process represent about 4 percent of Indio's inventory.
Meadows is not calling the situation a "crisis," but said it has caused a headache for the code enforcement department.
"It's probably one of the biggest things that has affected the city in (recent) years," he said.
Law applies fees
In Chula Vista, where drug users, transients and evidence of unsupervised parties have been found in empty homes, a law requires lenders to register the foreclosed home with the city.
They also must pay a $70 fee and are required to retain the services of a local property management company.
Meadows said city officials reviewed that ordinance and others around the state to create Indio's.
There, lenders will be required to register foreclosed homes with the city, and pay a registration fee. The city has yet to determine the price, but the fee is to offset the cost of enforcing the law.
Each property also is required to have a name and a 24-hour phone number of the local management company.
Not registering would be considered a misdemeanor, and the city can seek civil remedies or criminal prosecution.
"This ordinance will allow us to hold the lender responsible," Meadows said.
Brian Holcombe, president of FirstBank, said on the surface the ordinance seems reasonable, but in most cases unnecessary.
"If I had to register a home, from my perspective, that would be a bureaucratic administrative step that I don't think would add any value to the community," he said.
He said FirstBank doesn't have a single home in foreclosure in the Coachella Valley because they didn't initiate any sub-prime loans.
Holcombe said he guesses that most of the unkempt foreclosed homes belong to national lenders that don't have a local presence.
Stephanie Grant, assistant vice president of public relations for Wells Fargo, wrote that she could not comment on the law. But she e-mailed the following statement:
"We recognize that it's not good for a house or for a neighborhood when a home is vacant. We suffer significant financial losses whenever foreclosure becomes necessary, and neighborhoods may suffer from vacant homes. Wells Fargo has a strong business interest in selling a real estate owned house as quickly as possible."
With six code enforcement officers, the city won't be able to canvass every single home.
But if a neighbor calls or a resident notices an unkempt home, officers will investigate, Meadows said.
Getting ready, educating
The police department will educate lending companies and the California Desert Association of Realtors about the new law before it goes into effect, Meadows said.
Sue McCollum, president of the Realtors association, said she'd be happy to learn more.
"This is a concern of Realtors and of the actual neighbors in the neighborhood," she said. "It would be very beneficial to upkeep these homes, and it would be the responsibility of the people that own the homes to do that."
Indio Councilman Mike Wilson said he's relieved to have the new ordinance in place.
He had a squatter staying in a foreclosed home across the street and saw what it did to his Sonora Wells neighborhood.
"They were coming late at night and leaving early in the morning," Wilson said.
"If we're maintaining the front yard and pools and Jacuzzis it takes away the squatter or transient issue," he said.
Glass remains at a foreclosed home on Kenya Drive that had been boarded up by the city due to vandalism. (Marilyn Chung, The Desert Sun)
Trash strewn about a foreclosed home on Caribe Street is evidence squatters likely invaded the empty home. Most foreclosed homes remain clean, though the lawns become overgrown and brown. (Marilyn Chung, The Desert Sun)
Tell-tale signs
Transients look for the following when searching for a place to stay for the night:
Yellow grass
Overgrown landscaping
Piles of mail at the front door
Broken windows and gates
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