Images from the housing market collapse have been sparse, mostly foreclosure signs on overgrown lawns. That is, until one bank in Southern California decided to demolish four model homes and 12 nearly finished spec homes that it had acquired through foreclosure.
A local business blogger caught the following video of the destruction in process:
As reported by Patrick Thatcher of Victorville Daily Press, the developer who owned these houses filed for bankruptcy and Guaranty Bank assumed ownership of the foreclosed property.
Dean Smith, a Real Estate officer at Guaranty Bank, explained that the land around the buildings lacked paved road and other infrastructure required to bring the development up to code. "There are still substantial dollars that need to be put into the land before the city of Victorville will give certificates of occupancy on the houses and the bank isn't willing to put forward that amount of money," Smith told Thatcher.
The city of Victorville had fined the bank because the homes were out of code and Smith said the bank would be fined again if something was not done with the houses.
With a housing market suffering from an inventory glut, Guaranty Bank would have had a difficult time selling the homes once they were finished. "Our projections are that those houses would sit the way they are for at least five years, what would they be worth then?" Smith said.
According to the website that released this video, Visions for Victory, there are other bank owned houses in Southern California that are scheduled for demolition. This could be happening in other areas around the country as well.
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