Sarah Burge/The Press-Enterprise Among items taken from this French Valley area home was the garage door. Posted on 10/03/2010 6:06:44 AM PDT by Inappropriate Laughter
In what could be a first in Riverside County, a former homeowner is charged with a crime in connection with damage to a property in foreclosure.
A San Diego police officer and his wife have been charged with a felony in the trashing of their six-bedroom tract home, which was in foreclosure, in the French Valley area of southwest Riverside County. From stones smashed off the facade to dye poured on carpets, the damage totaled $200,000, according to court records.
The extent of the damage and the "obvious malice" pushed the case into the realm of criminal behavior, Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Mike Hatfield said.
Sarah Burge/The Press-Enterprise Among items taken from this French Valley area home was the garage door.
(Excerpt) Read more at pe.com ...
If the owners bought the appliances shouldn’t they remove them? Or do you mean like a water heater or something?
“If the owners bought the appliances shouldn’t they remove them? “
Appliances that came with the property as part of the mortgage? Hell, no. That is theft. How many people install their own toilets or stoves when they move in? Extremely few. Certainly not the number of missing stoves and toilets I have seen. It is pure BS to say a mortgagee paid for all that is missing.
>> destroying property in that manner that doesn’t belong to you
Maybe they restored it to its original condition.
I wasn’t justifing it I was trying to clarify. I’ve never owned a house and I assume that I’d be buying stoves and the like myself. Toilets being removed though?? Are they worth anything?
Foreclosures happen and unfortunately, it is not the fault of the Bank, the mortgage companies, the realtors or anyone else. It is the homeowner and some through no fault of their own have lost their jobs, become injured, disabled, etc and this is the reason they fall behind. As a Realtor, I see a lot of foreclosures happen when people buy Beyond Their Means. It sounds like a cop who has a paycheck coming in maybe got in too deep over his head. I don’t feel sorry for him. I feel sorry for the ones who lose their homes b/c they lose their jobs through no fault of their own. These 2 idiots had no business trashing the home. They should have stripped it down and sold those things to save their home and catch up on the mortgage rather than trashing it. And with a felony charge on his record, this cop stands a chance of losing his job over this nonsense.
I have looked at lots of houses before I bought mine. I started to see a difference in vandalism and poor up keep. The foreclosure I finely bought was turnkey. They last owner came by to give me the garage door opener. I had already changed the code on the door. From the time I made the offer until I moved in most of the potted plants disappeared off the patio. I didn’t want then and didn’t know if it who was taking them. The real estate agency was pay someone to keep up the yard so it could have been them.
Sometimes I begin to think maybe it isn’t such a bad idea to bring back debtor’s prisons.
Unfortunately, true, from first-hand experience.
We looked at one where they had cut a huge hole(like 6 feet) in every floor in the house.
If California didn’t have an anti-deficiency law, the lender could recover money damages for the reduced value of the property. If the former homeowners tried to discharge the debt in bankruptcy, the lender would have a very good basis to oppose discharge.
I’ve represented a lot of landlords in my career. Based on my experience, I would never become one myself. If you have good tenants who pay on time and take of the property, it’s great. If you don’t, it’s absolute hell. And Section 8 tenants will usually subject you to something even worse than hell.
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