The mortgage melt down and the foreclosure rate is hurting more than home owners. As more and more homes are being left vacant, squatters are taking over and this is hurting our neighborhoods. A squatter could range from transients that move into the abandoned home to kids that use the empty houses as their own personal party pad. There was a recent story in the Contra Costa Times about real estate agents that are becoming increasingly more fearful when they visit these homes and are appalled by the damage some of them contain.

Photo by respres

Realtors speculate that the souring economy is making the problem grow, as homeless or evicted people search for a shower, cool air, or a stove to cook on. Some leave by day, when agents may show up.

Occasionally, it’s neighborhood partyers who sneak into a vacant home for reckless fun.

Boarding up a Bay Point house where vandals kicked through the walls in several rooms and yanked out cabinets, rehab contractor Randy Rodriguez said he found the remains of a sordid party.

“You see a lot of gross stuff,” he said. “We see more squatters. They’re so aware these houses are abandoned.” Realtors often call police when they suspect a squatter — and that’s what authorities recommend neighbors do as well.

“We make contact with them and let them know, this is not your house,” said Pittsburg police Lt. Brian Addington, who acknowledged an increase. “More often than not, the banks are not interested in pursuing a trespassing charge. A lot of times, it’s people down on their luck, they are homeless, a drug addict. They’re looking for a place to stay for the night.”

A Pittsburg city ordinance requires property owners to board up vacant houses. Addington said banks often cooperate.

Luckily there have been no reports of violent squatters. They seem to use the homes at night and vacate during the day. There have even been reports of drugs and paraphernalia being found by the real estate agents during inspection. Besides the damage, alcohol and drugs being found is more than enough for Real Estate Agents to be extra cautious when visiting these houses. The report identifies Pittsburg and Antioch as the primary locations of the squatters.

Though the city ordinance requires the properties to be boarded up, this is not enough to stop someone or a group from gaining access.

This is a shame. Realtors now carry pepper spray and are taking self defense lessons just to do their jobs. I was interested to hear if any issues like this have happened in Concord so I emailed a couple local Realtors and asked. Here was a reply from a Concord Real Estate Agent.

Hi Koka,

We have run into this problem.. I have run into this problem myself.. in a house that was supposed to be vacant in Concord .. we rounded the corner to the bedrooms and in it were about 3 people sleeping with hefty bags all around (presumably their “stuff”).  I approached a nice condo off Oak Road in Walnut Creek that had had its door kicked in.   We do need to be more careful out there in vacant houses.  Though the magnitude of the foreclosures and therefore vacancies, are not as great here.. I think its the only reason we don’t see it as much. In some areas of East County it seems every other house is boarded up, vacant, foreclosed so there is no “neighborhood” keeping any sort of watch.  Here there are isolated pockets, i.e. off Solano that have a large number of foreclosed and vacant homes … but again, not “as bad” as East County from what I can tell…

…a house sold last year for 1.5 million dollars in Alamo. No one ever moved into it. It eventually went into foreclosure and the week before the foreclosure date there were trucks and banging and evident construction. my parents and neighbors “thought” that finally someone had bought it and were moving in… wrong… someone (maybe the owners) had stripped it… in Alamo… The problems are not isolated to only the “less affluent” areas.

Thank you for the reply. I am surprised to hear that you found people in the house. That must have been frightening. I know we hear about these problems more in some areas than in others. I don’t think any neighborhood is completely safe. In this day and age, having neighbors keep watch over each other is so important. I really hope this foreclosure mess isn’t going to turn nice neighborhoods into areas filled with crack houses and more crime. If you live in an area with foreclosed homes, you should feel some if not a lot of responsibility to keep the trash out. Once these homes are taken over and destroyed it brings down neighborhoods even more and lowers the overall housing prices. If you know of a local house being used by squatters, please make a call to your local police department and let them know.

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