The Foreclosure Crisis

SPRING HILL - Carol Musco's neighbors moved out last July, another casualty to the foreclosure crisis.

She can sympathize; these are tough times.

What irritates — and worries — Musco are her new, unofficial neighbors. While she's yet to meet them in person, they've certainly made their presence known.

In the narrow space between her house and 3311 Bluffview Drive, she's found hypodermic needles, condoms and liquor bottles. During the week, usually right after midnight, she says she can hear people partying in the empty house. Twice, someone has set off the alarms in the house she shares with her husband, Anthony.

The Muscos' plight is similar to one played out across the nation as a glut of vacant homes attracts squatters and scofflaws.

In San Bernardino County, Calif., police are averaging three calls a day at foreclosed homes for complaints ranging from young kids hanging out to burglaries. In Detroit, neighbors are banding together to tidy up vacant homes so that vagrants aren't attracted by a neglected home.

In Hernando County, the first three months of 2009 have already brought an 11 percent increase in foreclosures when compared to this time last year. For all of 2008, the clerk's office reported 3,256 filings. The total numbers rank Hernando County No. 31 among the nation's counties for foreclosures, as of March.

Some law enforcement jurisdictions in the area of Washington, D.C., rely on maps of foreclosed properties as guides for their patrols. That information is supplemented by community watch groups.

Sgt. Donna Black, spokeswoman for the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, said vacant homes are patrolled on a case-by-case basis. Any reports of trespassers or vagrants will be taken care of, but specifically targeting foreclosed properties would inundate the workload, she said.

"It would definitely impact our calls for service numbers," Black said.

The house adjacent to the Muscos is in desperate need for a fresh coat of paint and a couple of rounds with a lawnmower. The backyard pool is a stagnant black pond. Sundry cleaning and pool chemicals litter the property.

Generally, though, bank-owned properties are in fair condition when they reach the market, said Marilyn Pearson-Adams, president of the Hernando County Realtors Association.

Occasionally the previous owner has made off with the light fixtures or appliances. Last year a rash of copper burglaries caused havoc with air-conditioning systems.

The bank that owns the house on Bluffview Drive has received a notice of its disrepair and has 20 days beginning March 13 to clean it up, according to county code enforcement.