Foreclosure landscaping blight: Inland Empire proposes "green lien"

Foreclosed homes have plenty of issues, among which is blighted landscaping.

The Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District hopes to rectify that problem. In an effort to keep those lawns from turning brown and further decreasing property values, it has proposed implementing a voluntary "green lien" on the abandoned homes.

The lenders or other owners of the repossessed homes who participate in the program would allow the water board to keep the water meters running until the vacant homes are bought. The buyers will pay off the lien to the water board as part of the purchase deal.

"We hope this will minimize the damage to the landscaping and the neighborhoods," said Greg Morrison, a spokesman for the water district, which covers 96 square miles, including areas of Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. "It's a lot more expensive to plant new landscaping than pay the water bills on these properties."

The board will take up the proposal on Aug. 28.

-- Diane Wedner

Photo: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Questions or comments? E-mail diane.wedner@latimes.com

Comments

[sheila]

another genius decision rewarding stupid choices and depleting natural resources. we are in a drought. if they let the lawns die, water consumption will be reduced, at least temporarily and maybe the new owners will have the sense to replace them with landscaping more appropriate to the area.

it seems to me that they should pass an ordinance requiring that every foreclosed house be listed for rent and for sale within 30 days so these places don't sit vacant for 6 - 18 months and drag the whole neighborhood down.

OT - i'd like to know what kind of nasty repercussions people are feeling from the "meltdown," i was stung last night by a new $10 fee to use the automated phone payment system on a major credit card. no warning, no exceptions. i suspect there are going to be thousands of incremental fees and expenses chipping away at our income and further depleting our purchasing power in the coming 5 years. anyone else?

[TakeFive]

"The Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District hopes to rectify that problem. "

I think it's telling that the water board is floating this idea in the midst of a supposed drought. Sounds like a scheme to make up lost revenue, or perhaps to pay for those inane Be Water Wise! commercials.

[Dan]

Forget a "voluntary" program - more often than not, participants would be the banks and investors left holding the bag. Why not just fine the banks if they don't maintain the home in respectable condition. That includes watering, mowing, trimming, picking up the trash, cleaning the pool, painting, fixing broken windows, etc. If the "owner" doesn't follow their moral obligations, then let the city hire someone to do it, place a lien for the work done, and sell it at auction at pennies on the dollar to pay off the leins to someone who will live in and love the property like the dream home it was probably intended to be. That'll generate some local jobs, save the neighborhood, the house, every other utility customer, and the taxpayer.

[intheknow]

Not a good idea to keep the water meters/ water service on!!

Why: squatters, water damage.

Yesterday I was showing a REO house. The previous owner (assumption) took out one of the vanity drawers in the bathroom. Broke the end, stuck it under the bathtub faucet (proped up with another drawer) turned the bathtub on --flooded the house.

Hmm --it's nice to have a green yard but it's nicer to not have to worry about mold somewhere you can't see.

Nice idea --but often it's easier to be friendly to the neighbors and have them watch the house / water the grass --all you have to do is be friendly and you would be surprised at what neighbors will do for you!!

[Laker]

All fine, but the land/property owner has to pay for that. If they don't have money, then county has to put a lien that will be paid from the funds that are paid to him once (if at all) he sells the property.
Greedy banks will thus be more interested to get rid of their REOS as it will increase their caring costs.

[Maggie Knowles]

Why should buyer's absorb the expense? Let the lenders/banks who got us into this mess pay. They're getting bailed out on many fronts and made much money during the lending-free-for-all they created.

Here's another solution, save the water and let the lenders/banks purchase and install fake grass, like the lady in Orange County I recently read about in the LA Times online:

http://tinyurl.com/6f32fd

[Anonymous]

Most of the western US is entering a water crisis of heretofore unknown proportions and we're worried about the values of these crappy homes in the IE that should just be plowed under? Seriously? Are these people serious? We should demolish these homes. They should never have been built. Most of them were unsustainable in every way, shape and form from the very beginning. None of these places should have lawns, now or ever. There should be no concern about the landscaping costs to rebuild lawns. Lawns should be forbidden. If these idiots think the value of their property is decreasing now because of brown lawns, wait until they see what happens when the spigots turn off for good. They won't be able to unload these houses for $1 in the desert that will surround them.

[mbob]

Baaaaaaaaaad idea.

Most water district statistics (except for Mojave!) are fictions put forth to enable formerly fat cat developers to justify over building in areas that were not, are not and never will be habitable without massive, grotesque subsidies of every sort.

The degree to which unsustainable, unsupportable and unliveable settlements have been thrown up (literally) can be measured by the speed at which they revert to their natural state: uninhabitable except by horny toads, sidewinders and trap door spiders.

[LA]

Water's a valuable commodity in many communities. So leave the meters running on unattended properties? Trust the neighbors not to hook up their own garden hoses to free water? And you know, it might take a long time to fill a water truck and steal water in volume, but there are knuckleheads who would try it.

[the problem]

Can we waterboard this Water Board?

[Nick]

I second Shelia's plan. Keeping the water on is a bad idea which would probably lead to lots of fraud and issues. On the other hand, passing an ordinance to fine owners of abandoned properties would be a very effective way to decrease the blight of abandoned properties. Instead of treating the symptoms, treat the causes.

Make it something like 3x the normal property taxes, due each month, or the city takes the property and auctions it off to pay the taxes due. If you could somehow speed up the foreclosure process for neglected units at the same time (eg: city could petition for accelerated foreclosure if upkeep was not being performed, along with fining the "owner"), it would be even more effective.

[fezco]

Realtor: 'Look at this lovely lawn on this POS, fontuckian, mcmansion'
Buyer: ' How much?'
Realtor: '$150K plus the $2K water lien since you weren't around to water it yourself for the last 10 months'

So our local gov't fools want to charge us a water tax lien before we ever buy.

Let the grass dry up. We're in a drought dammit.

[E]

Just pave it over and paint it green.

[Roger Ramjet]

The banks love to levy those fee's on anything they can think of, but whoooooo! For them to upkeep their REO'S, heaven forbid!

[Jodi Summers]

There is no more fresh water on Earth today than there was a million years ago. Yet today, 6 billion people share it. Since 1950, the world population has doubled, but water use has tripled. Californians use nearly 23 trillion gallons of water a year, much of it coming from Sierra Nevada snowmelt. But climate change is producing less snowpack and is causing it to melt faster each year, jeopardizing future supplies.

Obviously, the Inland Empire's water tsar has a different opinion than the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, a.k.a. LADWP, which continues to stress the importance of using water wisely. Continued growth in population and commerce, and unpredictable climatic conditions are constant reminders that our water must be managed and used wisely. Since approximately 84 percent of the City's water is imported from hundreds of miles away, it simply does not make sense to waste it.

Original post: http://www.socalgreenrealestateblog.com/?p=11

[James]

leaving the water on is a good idea, but adding the cost to the buyers part in a sale is the dumbest thing ive heard. its hard enuff that these places wont sell cause they are so messed up and need alot of improvements. making the buyer pay for water he hasnt used is pretty bad and will just turn off potential sales. the banks should be required to water the lawns ansd lanscape them every two weeks at the most and they should eat the cost for giving out all these risky loans that back fired on em. honestly the banks are making money and can afford that easily