“Price reduced,” “For sale” and “Bank-owned” signs pepper properties throughout the Georgetown South community in Manassas.
The neighborhood is in the 20110 ZIP code, the area the foreclosure crisis has hit the hardest in the Washington region, with a foreclosure rate of one of every seven houses so far this year.
The property at 9793 Bragg Lane features a “Bank Owned” sign in the front yard. The gate on the white picket fence in front of the property is open, but the house is dark, and a knock on the door yields no answer.
“It’s mainly we have a lot of vacancies and foreclosures,” said Hanna Senft, the president of the Georgetown South Homeowners Association. “People overdid the loans. I guess they just can’t afford to keep up with the payments.”
Senft said she began to notice the problem at least a year ago.
“We’ve had to cut back on some services and increase the dues for next year,” she said. “It’s difficult trying to collect, because most of these people just disappear.”
She said the community has had to cut back on landscaping services, and repairs on a playground probably will be deferred, she said.
“They don’t really voice their concerns,” she said. “They just don’t show up. They don’t pay their bills. We’ve tried to steer people toward assistance of how to manage [finances].
“It’s been difficult,” she said.
