KTVN Channel 2 - Reno Tahoe News Weather, Video - More Foreclosures Affecting Reno Neighborhoods
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John Potter
Channel 2 News
It doesn't take a scorched earth lawn, or foot-long weeds to spot a house in trouble these days. Perfectly ordinary looking homes with green grass and trimmed trees are heading up the courthouse steps, and you'd never know it unless you looked for it. And we did, on a special webpage the Reno Gazette- Journal put up to track foreclosures: http://foreclosures.rgj.com/. The page shows foreclosures from the last 60 days, blanketing the Truckee Meadows in red. We met realtor Peter Moritz on the way to a house with a typical tale…"Unfortunately, people with lots of pride of ownership, and they just could not afford the payments, and moved on."
On a southeast Reno street, appropriately named Badlands Drive, it has never been so quiet…empty houses standing as memorials to Reno's overheated real estate bubble. Those remaining have gone from being neighbors to caretakers. George Worobey is a good example. He told us that "all of a sudden a year went by and it was sell, sell, sell, flip, flip, flip, and this is what we got…empty houses. There's one, two, three....four, five...six."
In Reno, foreclosure rates went up over 5% in June, jumping 1.75% from the same time last year. But it doesn't affect just them…more foreclosures equal lower prices. The more prices drop, the more tempted owners are to walk away from making payments on a home they paid more than its worth.
Peter does think its a good time to buy, but for now, walkways and tighter than ever budgets could keep the foreclosure fire going. Behind all the green lawns, is the scary reality that there are more folks seriously behind on their loans, waiting for lenders to take back their homes.
