http://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/the ... ned-houses
Interesting that 2/3 are actually owned by someone or some company, but no one can get hold of them.
Interesting blurb about abandoned houses
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FangKC
- City Hall
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- Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2003 10:02 pm
- Location: Old Northeast -- Indian Mound
Re: Interesting blurb about abandoned houses
I remember reading an article a long time ago about real estate fraud that indicated that many "investors" buy really cheap properties in other, far-away cities like Kansas City, and then use them as collateral to finance the purchase of more lucrative property in high-value real estate markets like Los Angeles.
The fraud is that they buy a house in Kansas City for $5,000-$10,000 in cash, and then bribe an appraiser to value the house at $80,000 or more. They buy multiple houses this way and bundle them in a real estate portfolio that shows much more value than in reality. They target cities and states with less strict laws about property registration, and less regulation. They also target cities that have a lot of vacant, derelict properties where cities cannot keep up with bad property maintenance, enforcement, and don't have the resources to identify and punish the negligent property owner.
They also pick these cities because they know there is little punishment when they don't maintain the house, or mow the yard. These property owners don't really care if the county takes the property back in a few years for back taxes, because by then they have already purchased more lucrative properties in other cities using them as collateral, and might even have flipped them already for a profit in markets where properties increase in value in just a few years.
In some cases, they use the portfolio of overvalued properties as collateral several times to purchase valuable parcels. They might buy 30 properties in Kansas City, and use them as collateral to purchase property in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Miami, and New York City.
In some cases, they rent out the houses to poor people, or people with Section 8 housing vouchers for an additional income stream.
This appears to have happened to a neighbor of mine. She rented an old house using a Section 8 housing voucher. She has lived there five years, and has had a constant stream of problems with the landlord doing repairs and maintenance. At times, she's been without running water and electricity. She has trouble getting in contact with the landlord. At times, she has had to come over to my house to have me heat up meals in my microwave, or put some of her food in my refrigerator.
In the five years, the landlord has changed several times without notice. I think it's actually a LLC name change happening with the ownership remaining the same.
Things came to a head this past week. After she had complained to the Housing Authority about the extended lack of utilities and repairs. the City came out to examine the house. They ended up condemning the house on the spot for lack of utilities, and other problems. They (with police in tow) put her out on the street on the spot with nowhere to go, and her possessions remaining in the house. She has been made temporarily homeless by an out-of-state landlord who had been negligent.
Since she has lived in the house (5 years), I have been mowing her yard for free because the landlord didn't provide a mower. She is disabled, and when she moved into the house, she was awaiting disability approval and had hardly any income. She couldn't afford to buy a mower. I did this mainly because she was disabled and poor, and because her yard was not being mowed. I didn't want it to get out of control, and I also didn't want to look at an overgrown yard.
I also mow another yard next to her house. It's also an absentee landlord, who doesn't mow the property. The house suffered a fire a few months ago, and is empty and boarded up now. I just mow the two front yards to keep them from being unsightly.
One of the problems of contacting these absentee landlords is that the property owner registered on the City's KIVA system uses the actual property address of the house they own as their mailing address, and not the address where they live, or where their real estate company is located.
So it's not just a problem of absentee landlords and abandoned properties, this situation adversely affects vulnerable low-income residents who rent from these landlords.
It's the State's responsibility to correct this problem with legislation, which they have failed to do.
The fraud is that they buy a house in Kansas City for $5,000-$10,000 in cash, and then bribe an appraiser to value the house at $80,000 or more. They buy multiple houses this way and bundle them in a real estate portfolio that shows much more value than in reality. They target cities and states with less strict laws about property registration, and less regulation. They also target cities that have a lot of vacant, derelict properties where cities cannot keep up with bad property maintenance, enforcement, and don't have the resources to identify and punish the negligent property owner.
They also pick these cities because they know there is little punishment when they don't maintain the house, or mow the yard. These property owners don't really care if the county takes the property back in a few years for back taxes, because by then they have already purchased more lucrative properties in other cities using them as collateral, and might even have flipped them already for a profit in markets where properties increase in value in just a few years.
In some cases, they use the portfolio of overvalued properties as collateral several times to purchase valuable parcels. They might buy 30 properties in Kansas City, and use them as collateral to purchase property in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Miami, and New York City.
In some cases, they rent out the houses to poor people, or people with Section 8 housing vouchers for an additional income stream.
This appears to have happened to a neighbor of mine. She rented an old house using a Section 8 housing voucher. She has lived there five years, and has had a constant stream of problems with the landlord doing repairs and maintenance. At times, she's been without running water and electricity. She has trouble getting in contact with the landlord. At times, she has had to come over to my house to have me heat up meals in my microwave, or put some of her food in my refrigerator.
In the five years, the landlord has changed several times without notice. I think it's actually a LLC name change happening with the ownership remaining the same.
Things came to a head this past week. After she had complained to the Housing Authority about the extended lack of utilities and repairs. the City came out to examine the house. They ended up condemning the house on the spot for lack of utilities, and other problems. They (with police in tow) put her out on the street on the spot with nowhere to go, and her possessions remaining in the house. She has been made temporarily homeless by an out-of-state landlord who had been negligent.
Since she has lived in the house (5 years), I have been mowing her yard for free because the landlord didn't provide a mower. She is disabled, and when she moved into the house, she was awaiting disability approval and had hardly any income. She couldn't afford to buy a mower. I did this mainly because she was disabled and poor, and because her yard was not being mowed. I didn't want it to get out of control, and I also didn't want to look at an overgrown yard.
I also mow another yard next to her house. It's also an absentee landlord, who doesn't mow the property. The house suffered a fire a few months ago, and is empty and boarded up now. I just mow the two front yards to keep them from being unsightly.
One of the problems of contacting these absentee landlords is that the property owner registered on the City's KIVA system uses the actual property address of the house they own as their mailing address, and not the address where they live, or where their real estate company is located.
So it's not just a problem of absentee landlords and abandoned properties, this situation adversely affects vulnerable low-income residents who rent from these landlords.
It's the State's responsibility to correct this problem with legislation, which they have failed to do.
Re: Interesting blurb about abandoned houses
Any idea how other states regulate this?
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FangKC
- City Hall
- Posts: 18215
- Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2003 10:02 pm
- Location: Old Northeast -- Indian Mound
Re: Interesting blurb about abandoned houses
New law will help Kansas City clean up abandoned houses
http://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/new ... ned-houses
http://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/new ... ned-houses
Re: Interesting blurb about abandoned houses
Finally.FangKC wrote:New law will help Kansas City clean up abandoned houses
http://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/new ... ned-houses