A homeowner in the Lake Tapps community recently posted a great question on I Love Lake Tapps Facebook page about a house sitting vacant in her neighborhood because it’s current homeowners walked away and abandoned it.  She was concerned because what was once a beautiful house was now becoming a run down eyesore that was bringing down the neighborhood and she wanted to know why the bank had not taken ownership of it already to turn around and sell it to someone who would take care of it and if there was anything she could do to speed up the process.

Here’s what I wrote back to her- “I wish I could understand the bank’s logic in all this too! Here’s what I do understand about the foreclosure process- The banks have homes in districts sort of like zip codes which then determine how much of a liability (or potential asset) they are. Homes on and around Lake Tapps are in a district that make the banks say, “I don’t want it, you just keep it” and the homeowners can’t or won’t work with the bank to stay in the house.
Once the bank officially forecloses, the property and it’s outstanding debt, are on their books. Many of the homes in the area are $200-$500k under water and to foreclose on one and take over that debt is daunting. On that note, they have no problem foreclosing on a house that is just $15k under water. It’s totally not fair.
Anyway, there are two things you can do. 1. If you know the homeowner, you can talk to them about maybe doing a short sale so they can finally move on financially (and I by the way list and sell short sales) or 2. You can contact the lien holder (bank) with a written statement and photos about what is happening to “their property.” I can help you with that as well, I would just need the address to help figure out who the bank is.”