Politics & Government
The Impact of a Foreclosure on a Neighborhood
Neighbors living in the 400 block of Thunder Ridge took matters into their own hands when no one else would manage the upkeep of a foreclosed home on their street.
Joe Pachay said his next-door neighbors were nice, hardworking people.
They kept to themselves. And one day they were gone.
About a year ago, a U-Haul truck was loaded up and several trips were made one evening. The next day the house in the 400 block of Thunder Ridge was empty.
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Pachay read a sign posted on a window. A bank owned the place now.
Time passed, and nobody was cutting the grass.
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“I said to myself, ‘I’ll do it,’” Pachay said. “It’ll get done quicker if I mow it myself.’”
It turned out that Pachay and a few neighbors on Thunder Ridge took turns mowing the grass and took turns parking in the driveway to make it appear as if somebody still lived at the now foreclosed home.
“I called the bank a few times,” Pachay said. “I was telling them that nobody was mowing the lawn. I got bounced around the switchboard. Then somebody on the other end said, ‘Oh, I thought it was being taken care of.’ I told them, ‘It is. I’ll send you the bill.’”
The grass still doesn’t get mowed as often as Pachay would like. A few weeks ago portions of the backyard fence fell over.
“The fence was down and the pool in the backyard was full of water,” Pachay said. “This neighborhood has a lot of kids. I thought I better do something.”
He siphoned the water out of the pool using a garden hose.
The bank did get around to repairing the fence, but Pachay saved his praise for village of Lake in the Hills officials and the way they responded.
“Things got done a lot faster after I complained to the village,” Pachay said.
Dan Olson, community development director, said properties in town are subject to a “high-grass ordinance,” and the village responds to all complaints.
The issue often times with foreclosed house is finding the right contact at the bank—somebody who will take the responsibility for the upkeep of a property, Olson said.
About 6 percent of properties in Lake in the Hills are in financial peril, according to a website that lists foreclosures nationwide. There are more than 9,000 households in Lake in the Hills, a village official said.
According to the website foreclosure.com, 584 properties in Lake in the Hills — or 6 percent of the 9,000 households in LITH — are in foreclosure or pre-foreclosure.
Also on the foreclosure.com are listings and photographs of 793 properties in Crystal Lake that are in foreclosure or pre-foreclosure, 352 in Cary and 483 in Algonquin.
Do you have a problem property in your neighborhood? Have you dealt with one in the past and found ways to get the bank, or whoever was responsible for the home, to keep up with the maintenance? Tell us in the comments below.
