When In Doubt, Squat!

Here's a vid produced by a typically untelegenic print reporter for the LATimes to tout a story in the Times about the increasing numbers of homeowners rendered by economic circumsatances incapable of maintaining their mortgage payments who are nevertheless continuing top reside in thes properties even though they may not have made a mortgage payment in as much as a year. Via Calculated Risk:

CalcRisk continues:

Here is the story: Many borrowers in default stay put as lenders delay evictions

Throughout the country, people continue to default on their home loans -- but lenders have backed off on forced evictions, allowing many to remain in their homes, essentially rent-free.

Several factors are driving the trend, industry experts say, including government pressure on banks to modify loans and keep people in their homes.

And with a glut of inventory in places like Southern California's Inland Empire, Nevada and Arizona, lenders are loath to depress housing prices further by dumping more properties into a weak market.

Finally, allowing borrowers to stay in their homes helps protect the bank's investment as it negotiates with the homeowners, said Gary Kirshner, a spokesman for Chase bank, a major lender.

"If the person's in the property, there's less chance for vandalism, and they're probably maintaining the house," he said.

And from Jim the Realtor, here is what happens sometimes when the occupant moves out:

ASnd then there was the guy in Ohio who bulldozed his rather than let the bank steal it back from him and resell it for more than he owed...