Maryland lawmakers are tired of swaths of neglected homes in neighborhoods hard hit by foreclosures — and they want lenders to pay. A bill introduced last week by delegates from Prince George’s and Charles counties would require banks and investment companies that repossess or foreclose on a home to pay for maintaining and securing the property, a measure just as much about safety as it is appearance, supporters said. “This is exactly the ‘broken widow theory’ we worry about,” said Del. C.T. Wilson, D-Charles, a co-sponsor of the bill. “When people know that the place is not kept up, that’s when the criminals move in.” In January, more than 700 homes went into foreclosure in Prince George’s County, nearly five times the total of Montgomery County. The more than 4,000 foreclosed homes in the county account for nearly one-third of the state’s total.
Prince George’s has the highest foreclosure rate in the state with one of every 457 homes filing for foreclosure in January, followed by Dorchester and Charles counties.
Experts say foreclosures already bring down a neighborhood’s property value — but neglected properties exacerbate the problem.
“When foreclosures … are vacant or abandoned, those properties are not kept up or maintained, so it not only pulls down the value when it’s finally sold, but also the perceived value when someone drives through the neighborhood,” Daren Blomquist, spokesman for the foreclosure tracking firm RealtyTrac, told The Washington Examiner this month.
The national investigation into robo-signing and lenders has slowed the foreclosure filing process, especially in Maryland. According to recent data from LPS Mortgage Monitor, banks in Maryland take nearly a year to foreclose on delinquent homeowners. In Virginia, lenders take nine months.
The proposed legislation, which has not been assigned to a committee, would authorize localities to pass laws requiring lenders to register their repossessed properties with the city or county and establishing fines for those who violate the maintenance requirements.
“We’re not saying banks are at fault here,” Wilson said. “We’re just holding these banks accountable to the same standard [a homeowners] association would.”
