There’s been a lot of talk about how to reduce the inventory of empty and foreclosed homes. One of the solutions is to use them for something else. How’s this idea from FEMA- let’s use these homes as hurricane shelters:
Trying to make the best of a bad situation, federal officials might use foreclosed homes as temporary housing for hurricane evacuees in Florida as soon as this summer.
But the idea is still in its infancy and many questions remain unanswered, including whether the banks that own the foreclosed homes would agree to such a plan.
"It makes all the sense in the world,” said Jack McCabe, a South Florida real estate analyst, who has watched tens of thousands of homes go into foreclosure. "We have a lot of vacant units available.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency told The Associated Press that it might consider using foreclosed homes if hotels, shelters and other housing options are full and only for a catastrophic situation, such as Hurricane Katrina. The idea was discussed at a hurricane drill this week in Florida.
It might not be popular with neighbors, but then again, having them empty and abandoned hasn’t been a popular idea either.
lol…where to begin? only used for “catostrophic situations?” i’d argue that are homeless problem is a catostrophic situation. why not just use them as shelters then? in theory and logic….this article makes some sence. in reality….i can’t begin to imagine the issues and problems that will keep this idea from ever being so. i’m sure the neighbor with his house on the market would love to use “and you’re right next door to a shelter” as a sales pitch.
Holy heck, you can only imagine what this would do to the value of surrounding properties…
Why not use them as extra housing for longer term public housing projects too?
If you think renters aren’t as invested as owners in keeping a house or neighborhood nice, try people who’re put there by the government, have not paid a security deposit, and who have no intention of staying.
I’ve got a better idea… Why don’t they just end this self-imposed moratorium and release the houses for sale? In San Diego there is a genuine shortage of inventory amidst overwhelming demand. I hear the same thing from agents in other magnet real estate markets. The banks, state and local governments are hurting themselves by trying to control the situation with an umbrella style policy. Real estate is an inherently local phenomenon.
Lets see after Katrina, we gave these “victims” (In common vernacular, we call them deadbeats) “temporary” trailers to live in. What happens?? They refuse to leave.. I mean why would a deadbeat ever leave a free place to live. Now that administrations have changed instead of rightfully throwing them out, they are allowed to “buy” them for 5 bucks. Now we have no emergency trailers for those who actually need them and whats our plan? Give someone a “temporary” house.. Who wants to bet this one plays out the same as the last go round, only now instead of a 10K trailer owned by the government, its a 100K home in someones neighborhood thats owned by a private organization.
Wow! I JUST got back from Las Vegas to look at buying these cheap foreclosed “bank owned” homes. The prices are 60% off of what they were 3 years ago on average. Some are discounted more, depending on many factors.
I want to move out there and pay cash for a home, but home sales peak in June and I think they will go down further. The scary thing is that there are some subdivisions that are only about 60% occupied. You wouldn’t know it unless you actually looked at the “lock boxes” on the front doors. The realtors are not putting up For Sale signs on all homes. Jobs are tough to find up there. The casino cashier said that jobs in the casinos are tight and fully staffed.
I can figure out what is worse…having a home with a payment, or moving to Vegas and paying cash for a home? I wonder if Vegas is going to get hit so hard that home values will shrink in half of what they are NOW?
Any suggestions out there?