There are times when foreclosures make sense. It can get an underwater borrower out of a difficult economic situation; it can readjust the market price of a property so that it can be purchased by someone who can afford it. I have to question the sense of this scenario though:
In western New York, the city of Buffalo filed a lawsuit on Feb. 21 against 36 lenders — including big names like JPMorgan Chase and Countrywide Financial Countrywide Corp who were involved in 57 foreclosures that led to properties being abandoned and ultimately demolished by authorities.
The struggling Rust Belt city, plagued by about 10,000 vacant homes and commercial buildings, estimated the 57 foreclosures cost Buffalo $1 million in demolition work and another $1 million in nuisance costs — from police patrols to boarding up buildings, to the social toll on communities.
"We have found homicide victims in these structures," Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said in a telephone interview.
"Dog fighting has taken place in these structures. Drug dealing has been conducted. Last year one of our fire fighters was critically injured, losing one of his legs from the knee down, fighting a fire at a vacant structure," he said.
Alisa Lukasiewicz, who runs the city’s law department, said Buffalo drew inspiration from similar lawsuits in Cleveland and Baltimore. "These properties are in a state of legal limbo," she said. "Banks walk away. The homeowners are gone, and the property is still there."
