Special Report: The latest foreclosure horror: the zombie title

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Special Report: The latest foreclosure horror: the zombie title

By Michelle Conlin
COLUMBUS, Ohio | Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:31am EST

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The Kellers are caught up in a little-known horror of the U.S. housing bust: the zombie title. Six years in, thousands of homeowners are finding themselves legally liable for houses they didn't know they still owned after banks decided it wasn't worth their while to complete foreclosures on them. With impunity, banks have been walking away from foreclosures much the way some homeowners walked away from their mortgages when the housing market first crashed.

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And then there are cases like the Kellers, in which homeowners moved out after receiving notice of a foreclosure sale, thinking they were leaving the house in bank hands. No national databases track zombie titles. But dozens of housing court judges, code enforcement officials, lawyers and other professionals involved in foreclosures across the country tell Reuters that these titles number in the many thousands, and that the problem is worsening.

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When people move out after receiving a notice of a planned foreclosure sale and the bank then cancels, municipalities are left to deal with the mess. Some spend public funds on securing, cleaning and stabilizing houses that generate no tax revenue. Others let the houses rot. In at least three states in recent months, houses abandoned by owners and banks alike have exploded because the gas was never shut off.

THREAT OF JAIL

Unsuspecting homeowners have had their wages garnished, their credit destroyed and their tax refunds seized. They've opened their mail to find bills for back taxes, graffiti-scrubbing services, demolition crews, trash removal, gutter repair, exterior cleaning and lawn clipping. At their front doors they've encountered bailiffs brandishing summonses to appear in court.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/10/us-usa-foreclosures-zombies-idUSBRE9090G920130110

[barbtries]

1. what a nightmare.

the banks will never feel the hurt only their victims. the bastards.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Somebody did sloppy reporting on this story.

when they wrote :
"the Social Security Administration rejected Keller's application for disability benefits; the "asset" on Avondale Avenue rendered him ineligible."
AFAIK, Soc. Sec. disability is not based on what you own. It is based on what you have contributed into the Soc. Sec. system.
STATE disability ( SSI) is based on what you own, on the value of your assets..