Posted on 09/21/2008 4:51:03 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
PHOENIX - That empty foreclosed home down the street today could be a haven for immigrant smugglers tomorrow.
A comparison of data on foreclosures and properties known as drophouses in the Phoenix metropolitan area shows that wherever homeowners are in financial distress, ‘‘coyotes’’ are probably lurking. The smugglers use rental homes known as drophouses to stash illegal immigrants long enough for payments to arrive, then release them to go on their way.
The largest concentrations of Phoenix-area drophouses are in the same neighborhoods that have the largest share of foreclosures, the data shows.
In addition, of the 41 Phoenix-area drophouses investigated for violence in the past year, 12, or nearly 30 percent, were in foreclosure when they were raided.
The weakening housing market and tighter border security make perfect conditions for drophouses to flourish in Arizona, with more than 600 raided in the Phoenix area since 2005.
Landlords have repeated the same story to federal agents and Phoenix detectives: They rushed to rent their homes to be able to make mortgage payments and stave off foreclosure.
Last October, 34-year-old Karla Solano was one of those feeling desperate. She owned three investment properties and had lost her job as a mortgage-loan officer. Home values were falling and her bank was preparing to foreclose on a south Phoenix house she owned. It had been vacant for a month.
Solano put a for-rent sign in front of the four-bedroom home. Days later, three men who looked like construction workers and seemed honest said they were interested. She asked for cash to avoid being burned by a bad renter. They paid $1,300.
Four days later, police got an anonymous tip and raided the house. They found 20 illegal immigrants. One said he had been punched and kicked and told at gunpoint that he would be dumped in the desert if he didn’t pay a $2,500 extortion fee. The coyote eventually was convicted.
Solano said it was an ugly experience. Police grilled her for information and asked for paperwork. She was not a suspect in the case. She feared the smugglers might come back.
‘‘Maybe they thought we called the police and could come looking for us,’’ she said.
Two months after the raid, the bank took the house.
Another problem for landlords is that typically, drophouses are trashed by the time authorities raid them, investigators say. ‘‘Most (smugglers) are opportunists. They see a for-rent sign or an advertisement,’’ said Special Agent Armando Garcia of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ‘‘Ninety percent of the time, the owners don’t want to rent to coyotes. Most usually are unaware of what’s going on until we go in and kick in the door.’’ Investigators say they have seen an increasing connection between drophouses and foreclosures in the past year.
A year ago, they noticed a small flurry of drophouses in newer subdivisions on the outskirts of the Phoenix area. They were the same areas where overextended buyers were beginning to lose their homes. More recently, foreclosures and drophouses have been showing up in higher concentrations in traditional urban immigrant neighborhoods.
The housing crisis also is creating a rise in the number of rental homes, offering smugglers more choices. The number of rental properties registered with the county assessor’s office in Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located, rose 27 percent, to 20,836, in the 12 months ending in August 2008. Tens of thousands of other rental properties go unregistered.
‘‘There will be more rental availabilities, and it will lead to more drophouses because those people renting out their properties are going to be almost as desperate as the people crossing the border,’’ said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Patricia Schmidt of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
SEAN HOLSTEGE | ARIZONA REPUBLIC/SHNS
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I have usually owned my own home...
But the few times I have rented, the landlord usually asked me for more info and proof than I can list here..
Big BARF ALERT for the "landlords"
PING
Terry Anderson at 9-10 PM PST, 10-11 PM MST, 11-12 PM CST, 12-1 AM EST...
http://www.republicbroadcasting.org/index.php?cmd=listenlive
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2087329/posts?page=1
“The largest concentrations of Phoenix-area drophouses are in the same neighborhoods that have the largest share of foreclosures, the data shows.”
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Hmmm. I wonder what that says about the ethnic makeup up neighborhoods where foreclosures are highest?
Surely no lending institution would give a home mortgage to someone who wasn’t a legal citizen of this country.
“
But the few times I have rented, the landlord usually asked me
for more info and proof than I can list here..
“
How “Old School” of you. (that’s not personal...it’s said to reflect
how INSANE things got in the mortgage gold rush)
For a brief shining moment, the mortgage madness allowed the
issuance of mortgages for MORE than the sales price of the home.
And the thieves learned that they could make a BUNCH of $$$ if they
cut out the middle-man (landlord) and just buy a house via insane
loan programs.
Some homes sitting empty as I understand are there because
people that could never realistically be expected to fulfill the
terms of the mortgage got a MORE THAN 100% mortgage...
They took the extra $$$ and if industrious, gutted the homes for
appliances, fixtures and items like the copper wiring.
For a bit of a flashback, go to the thread-link below about how one
major US bank tried to help all those “Immigrants” (i.e., illegals/invaders)
and found out there was only danger lurking in that sector!!!
see post #4 (and two threads linked there)...
Banking on illegal immigrants (Flashback August 8, 2005)
CNN ^ | August 8, 2005 | By Shaheen Pasha, CNN/Money staff writer
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1935383/posts
Surely no lending institution would give a home mortgage to someone who wasn’t a legal citizen of this country.
____________________________________
Yep they do...
In fact here in TN, illegal aliens get HUD loans because they are “low income”
They removed the new plumbing from 3 bathrooms, the new carpeting, the new 6 panel doors, the kitchen cabinets, and everything else of value.
By the time the owner figured this out the place was filled with itinerates just crashing.
Subsequently he walked away from the mortgage and the bank was stuck with the place. They redecorated the place and sold it to someone else at a substantial reduction in price.
Some people just aren't cut out to be landlords!
Today I noticed the house just East of that one had a chicken in the front yard. Since I'm "el grande presidente" of the HOA this year I stopped and told them that NO CHICKENS ALLOWED. Also advised them that if they intended to eat that 9 month old pullet (I used to raise chickens) they'd best be about their business before the cops saw the chicken, seized it, and left them a ticket ( or worse, a felony charge for inhumane slaughter ).
Drove on down the street, turned around, came back and a young girl was carrying the chicken by its legs UPSIDE DOWN, not squawking or anything.
Dinner!
The landlord stopped by later to make a dues payment. He said he'd seen the chicken last week, but he figured they were going to eat it. We both agreed that today was an excellent day to kill and dress out a nice chicken for supper.
If I were to let these guys run chickens around here, I've got 40 other families who'd want to be allowed to raise goats in the garage.
This just can't be tolerated.
Bank administrators and other landlords are examples of today’s business and political leadership. This Nation was founded on moral law (not Roman law—see Puritan and other Reformed settlers, early American laws, traditions,...), but so many people wanted that not to be so during the late 1800s and the past 40 years.
Chickens, goats...
Next it would be fighting kangaroos and elephants...
“Clean up on muawiyah’s street. Bring shovels”
LOL
All I worry about are the machineguns.
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