News of “vampire foreclosures” is lurking the US market and is said to be a big threat in the US housing recovery.
RealtyTrac recently reported “vampire foreclosures” about a growing number of homes around the U.S. that have been seized by a bank, but are still lived in by the original owners. According to the housing data provider-RealtyTrac, an estimated 47% of bank owned homes across the country are still occupied by the original owner and this goes up to 65% in cities like Chicago, Houston, Miami and Los Angeles.
The homes are not listed at the moment because banks would like to make some money with these so called vampire foreclosures by waiting for the market to improve. And who better can take care of these properties than the original owners themselves? This is maybe the case why banks allowed these owners to live so they do not have to spend anything for the maintenance of vacant houses. However, what will happen to these previous owners who are still clinging to their houses? What if suddenly these banks decided to evict them? The idea itself is scary and will of course hurt the pride of these owners once it happens.
According to Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, these properties are “sucking the life out of the housing market.” And “The concern with these homes is that they are inevitable inventory that had been delayed from hitting the market,” Blomquist said, ”We don’t anticipate these properties will derail the housing recovery when they hit, but they will certainly take some of the steam out of the recovery.”
Another foreclosure category described is the creepy “zombie foreclosures” where properties are vacated by the homeowners but are still languishing in the foreclosure process. And since no one is living there for quite some time now and no upkeep for the maintenance, so the houses are distressed and will need major repair once sold.
This Halloween just make sure the previous owner does not come back to haunt you if you have a stake in a “vampire home”.