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Foreclosure, it’s just a state of mind

Author | joe | Posted on | July 6, 2008 | 21 Comments

In Sterling, apparently.

A story circulating in Sterling the past year is the Loudoun County government has cast a blind eye to many instances of squatting; specifically, when a house is foreclosed and everyone is evicted, little by little people show back up and occupy the residence. Sometimes it’s by entering through a rear entrance, sometimes former tenants of these boarding houses still having keys and going in through the front door, usually a strictly nocturnal phenomenon. People have even been seen sleeping on roofs at night, but by morning the houses are empty again.

Complaints to Loudoun County Zoning Administration, needless to say, have resulted in no action.

Well, the new trend we are heralding here at the NOVA TownHall Blog is to transform anecdotes into documented reality, and with evidence coming in from around the community and my own observations from the front driveway, we will continue that trend right here.

Exhibit One: House A from our June 23 post. You know, the one across the street from my house which Loudoun County Zoning assured us idiot citizens was perfectly above-board: “A family of six and two unrelateds” – no reason to inspect.

Well tonight, someone shows up and occupies House A which was supposedly foreclosed and all the boarders evicted from.

house_a_july_5_sm.jpg

There are some lingering bad feelings about this particular residence, mainly because the voluminous collection of refuse in the back yard is still there: thirty to fifty bags of garbage a variety of junkyard-style trash in the yard and the back deck piled with refuse. When the car arrived, neighbors called the police tonight and five Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office cruisers showed up, deputies surrounded the house, knocked on the doors, but whoever was inside did not open up. No warrant, so no authorization to enter.

But let’s hand it to our Sheriff’s Office: they knew the resolution of the June situation and that the house was supposed to be empty, and they did all they could – at the present time. That’s the plus side. The minus side is we still have a festering landfill right here and our government entities are apparently powerless to do anything about it – a situation that could have been entirely avoided if our zoning enforcement officer had done what obviously needed to be done about two months ago when the first complaint was filed!

Thank you, Terry Wharton. I am sure someone, somewhere, is pleased that this property owner like so many others in Sterling was given a free pass.

Alas, we’re not the only ones with a problem caused by a broken Zoning Administration division. This is 504 W. Beech (I will make no attempt to protect anyone’s privacy because this one is so egregious):

504_w_beech_sm.jpg

The house on the right is 504. Neighbors complained about a boarding house being run from this location for well over a year, and the house was foreclosed several months ago, yet it remained occupied. Neighbors continued to complain to no avail. When the tenants finally left they cleaned the place out, from the major appliances to cabinets to doors to the garage doors.

The house to the left of it has a For Sale sign on it – has been on the market for quite a while. Too bad for them, eh? Laws on the books are not enforced, and the law-abiding citizens of Sterling (who I am convinced our county government considers first-class “chumps”) consequently get hosed.

504_w_beech_back_sm.jpg

Yes, even windows were removed. A resident of this court said they watched all this happening, reported it to the appropriate agencies in Leesburg, and were ignored.

It gets worse. There is another specific case going on right now which may be far more revealing than either of these, because evidence is piling up about a home purchasing mortgage-and-refinancing scam which might explain much of what has been happening in our area. It appears some of these boarding houses have been the result of a loophole in lending practices, in which someone can buy multiple residences, sell and refinance them several times over, then leave with a wad of cash and sticking the lending institutions with the bill. In the lag time between purchase and physical foreclosure, the residence is rented out to illegal boarders, and the rent money kept as additional profit. Banks, and eventually taxpayers, are left to pick up the final bills.

More to come – I expect MUCH more – on that matter. The Loudoun County government, in particular the Zoning Administration division and possibly the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office and some other departments, definitely has some ’splainin’ to do, if you ask me.

UPDATE: A group of Loudoun citizens met tonight to discuss these and other issues, and the consensus was we really need to find out whether any of the members of our Board of Supervisors – beside Eugene Delgaudio – is even conscious of what is happening here. The violations would not likely be allowed to stand if they were occurring anywhere other than in Sterling.

Something is very fishy in our county government, folks. I sense a groundswell of outrage from the citizens in eastern Loudoun.

UPDATE: The car in front of House A was gone by 6:30 the next morning, and did not return last night. Yesterday afternoon someone looked in the backyard and said the gate was open and it was relatively clean, so thank goodness for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office! Even though they would not have had to be there if Zoning had done its job in the first place, our deputies do get results just by maintaining a presence. UPDATE II: Another neighbor informs me the bags of trash had been removed over a week ago so all that was back there when the deputies came was junk like car seat, wire spool, miscellaneous construction-related trash.

Category: Community, Den of Thieves, Sterling Crime Wave, immigration
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Comments

21 Responses to “Foreclosure, it’s just a state of mind”

  1. Linda B
    July 6th, 2008 @ 6:11 am

    Car was gone as of 6:30 a.m. Maybe they just didn’t hear the banging.

    Let’s hope they took their little homecoming reception to heart and stay away for good this time.

  2. Jack
    July 6th, 2008 @ 7:49 am

    Since the house has been forclosed on, one may assume that it is being broken into. Thus, one may accost the person when he gets out of the car, and hold him at gunpoint until the police show up.

  3. Joe Budzinski
    July 6th, 2008 @ 8:09 am

    Hmm, one would like to have a little legal verification before venturing on such a course of action, but one WOULD be interested …

  4. kevin
    July 6th, 2008 @ 9:15 am

    Also assuming the gun would ensure your safety.

  5. g.stone
    July 6th, 2008 @ 10:14 am

    Enough is enough.
    If you have had it,let these supervisors know.
    Everyday until something gets done.

    The loudoun County Zoning Dept is broken. Firing Terry Wharton and brinning in a professional reform minded official is a good place to start solving this problem.

  6. Loudoun Insider
    July 6th, 2008 @ 10:52 am

    This absolutely sucks – keep up the good investigative reporting work, Joe. The more people see of this the more action will finally happen.

  7. dan
    July 6th, 2008 @ 11:49 am

    We had a similar occurrence near here a year or two ago. I know LCSO was involved, but I can’t remember to what extent, think maybe the receiver got an eviction notice. The person lived in the home for 1-2 months after foreclosure.

    I would not play amateur LEO and hold the person at gunpoint. As there is no imminent risk of bodily injury, you could very well be charged with brandishing, or assault.

    A gun, in practiced hands, always provides a good measure of safety Kevin.

  8. Cathymac
    July 6th, 2008 @ 12:19 pm

    I am surprised by people continuing to live in foreclosed homes, as I would assume that all the utilities are off and it is basically just a place to sleep. Maybe I am not so surprised actually, if there is no fear of re-entering the homes.

    The documentation of these boarding houses, foreclosed properties and what is happening in Sterling is fantastic, Congrats on great reporting Joe.

  9. Joe Budzinski
    July 6th, 2008 @ 1:33 pm

    Cath, the nasty truth is the squatting occurs after the electic and water have been turned off – not yet the case in the house across the street (and we will do everything we can to keep it from getting to that point.)

    Everything except show up on the property armed. I have to think Jack was kidding about that.

  10. BLACK VELVET BRUCE LI : Northern Virginia Invites Organized Crime
    July 6th, 2008 @ 1:57 pm

    [...] over at NOVATownHall continues to lay out the evidence of a massive zoning enforcement problem in the Sterling area of [...]

  11. novatownhall.com presenting true investigative reporting on Sterling’s foreclosure problem « HoodaThunk?
    July 6th, 2008 @ 10:30 pm

    [...] foreclosure problem Joe B. over at novatownhall blog is laying it out there again, this time on the foreclosure situation in Sterling and the consequences of Loudoun’s zoning enforcement being so lax. If you haven’t seen [...]

  12. ACTivist
    July 6th, 2008 @ 11:03 pm

    I’ve had a real bad night. I was going to rant with a new post but saw so much activity that I decided to wait for a slower time-period. Now I see more of this boarding going on and I’m really at wits’ end. Just call me and I will disable the vehicle so that it can’t leave without a wrecker. After all, frustration makes good people do strange and bad things. And the BOS just don’t seem to understand or get it.

  13. Washington Examiner Takes Loudoun County Government To Task Over Failure To Enforce Zoning | novatownhall blog
    July 7th, 2008 @ 8:10 am

    [...] Foreclosure, it’s just a state of mind [...]

  14. Dennis B.
    July 7th, 2008 @ 9:36 am

    We had a similar squatting incident in our stretch of N. Argonne Ave. about a month ago. A house at 317 N. Argonne was vacant with grass about two feet high in the yard and someone had stretched a sheet across the front window. The next door neighbors called the Sheriff, two cruisers showed up and deputies evicted two young hispanic males who had been living the house. They loaded their belongings in a pickup and left, presumably to find another vacant residence in which to squat.

  15. Helen B
    July 7th, 2008 @ 11:51 am

    The other issue regarding unsold homes is the rental debacle. A house near us on N. Argonne has had several gang activities reported and we keep a close eye on it. The 2 level house has had 2 sets tenants on the bottom and the top level has at least 2 gang members. Just last month cops were called due to 2 groups fighting.
    Also, I just emailed a real estat agent to clean up the house next to us, which is empty.

  16. Loudoun Activist
    July 7th, 2008 @ 12:44 pm

    Regarding House A… would it be possible for the bank that owns the house now to leave a letter with LCSO authorizing deputies to enter at any time? That way no warrant would be required for entry, and squatters could be evicted quickly.

  17. Joe Budzinski
    July 7th, 2008 @ 1:19 pm

    L.A. – That is a great idea. I need to find out better how to access this information. I know someone who gets foreclosure info very quickly but all I know is to check the county tax records which only show bank info way after the fact.

  18. The Oath
    July 7th, 2008 @ 8:12 pm

    You could always file a nuiscance suit against the current owners of the property…it can’t be that hard. Then you could have judge order the owner, here the bank, to move their ass and square the property away.

  19. ACTivist
    July 7th, 2008 @ 8:17 pm

    The Oath,

    What you suggest takes time and money and some of us are already going in many directions all at once. It would be nice to have a central enity to do this on behalf of the citizens. I wonder if the banks are paying the taxes or is the county giving them a by just like they do with most other businesses.

  20. Loudoun Activist
    July 8th, 2008 @ 7:58 am

    Banks do not typically pay real-estate taxes or HOA fees on foreclosures. As for the current lender, the info should be available from the Circuit Court but I don’t know if it’s online like the tax records, or if you’d have to physically go to Leesburg to look up the info for the “problem” properties even before they go into foreclosure. If you have any friends in the RE biz, they could also find it quickly since I think they have that info available online.

  21. Cathymac
    September 18th, 2008 @ 8:01 am

    Could the teal car above be the veh linked to the shootings last night at E. Poplar and S. Buchingham?

    Veh description from LSCO news release:

    “The vehicle is described as being dark in color, possibly green or teal.”

    The veh pictured is lighter, but this is worth a mention – BarbaraN brought it up on the LCA.

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