My morning inspection was kind of canceled today

[Scottpat]

While heading to my morning inspection I received a call from my clients agent. He said that I might want to go and have a cup of coffee or something because the inspection was going to be delayed.

I was just down the road so I drove over only to find a deputy Sheriff sitting in front of the home and the agent was talking to the deputy. Seems that the house was just foreclosed on! The deputy was serving the papers, a group of guys were emptying the house and the locks were being changed! It looked like the folks that lived in the home had already moved everything they wanted to keep. Not much was being put out by the curb. I would like to give the Williamson County, TN Sheriffs Department kudos for being nice and placing a tarp over the items on the curb to keep the light rain off the stuff.

I have had a few cancelations over the years but this was a new twist that I have not come across yet!

Oh well, I need to go and look for a new winter coat and due some chores around the house.

[hausdok]

While heading to my morning inspection I received a call from my clients agent. He said that I might want to go and have a cup of coffee or something because the inspection was going to be delayed.

I was just down the road so I drove over only to find a deputy Sheriff sitting in front of the home and the agent was talking to the deputy. Seems that the house was just foreclosed on! The deputy was serving the papers, a group of guys were emptying the house and the locks were being changed! It looked like the folks that lived in the home had already moved everything they wanted to keep. Not much was being put out by the curb. I would like to give the Williamson County, TN Sheriffs Department kudos for being nice and placing a tarp over the items on the curb to keep the light rain off the stuff.

I have had a few cancelations over the years but this was a new twist that I have not come across yet!

Oh well, I need to go and look for a new winter coat and due some chores around the house.

Hi Scott,

It's nice that they did that; a few years ago I looked at a home in a small town not far from here that had been foreclosed on. When the Sherrif served the papers, the agent working for the bank has a moving company crew standing by. They very efficiently emptied the house right onto the front lawn. I was hired by the bank's realtor to determine the extent of damage to the home. The homeowner had removed every appliance, the kitchen counters and cabinets, the plumbing fixtures, the toilets, sinks and fiberglass tub and showers, every piece of plumbing that he was able to get to in the walls and crawlspace, the garage door opener and the water heater and furnace. He made an effort to remove the gas fireplace from the wall of the living room but the builder had apparently placed it into the chase and then framed up around the thing and he couldn't get it out without cutting away wall framing.

The bank's agent wasn't as nice as the sherrif in your instance. He was pissed about the condition of the house and left all of that guy's stuff out on the front lawn in the rain. There was a big cardboard sign hung on the headboard of a bed that said something like, "Notice to absent homeowner, You have 24hours to remove these items from this property. Got Junk? has already been contracted to remove all debris from these grounds. If this property hasn't been removed from these grounds by 1:00 pm (date), Got Junk? will begin hauling it to the landfill."

It was sad, there were kids clothes and toys, photo albums, pictures in frames, and all of the furniture and other stuff that you'd expect a family to own sitting out there in the rain. There wasn't any deputy guarding it. Every once in a while a car would stop, someone would get out, walk up and read the sign on the bed, walk around the pile looking at the stuff that was there and then stand there awkwardly wondering whether they should grab what they wanted or leave. They'd see me with my pen in hand and my clipboard, think better of it, go back to the car and drive off. I could tell that those who'd stopped had every intention of coming back to load up their car just as soon as I'd left the property.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Ben H]

Mike, why would a person take the time to steal everything bolted down in a home first, and leave their true personal belongs behind? Doesn't seem to add up in my tiny brain.

If I were going to, not that I ever would, I'd get my crap first, then trash the place. Too much stuff to trip over while packing the water heater. []

[Marc]

Mike, why would a person take the time to steal everything bolted down in a home first, and leave their true personal belongs behind? Doesn't seem to add up in my tiny brain.

If I were going to, not that I ever would, I'd get my crap first, then trash the place. Too much stuff to trip over while packing the water heater. []

Maybe there was a recent split or separation with one spouse not home when the other one trashed it.

Marc

[hausdok]

Mike, why would a person take the time to steal everything bolted down in a home first, and leave their true personal belongs behind? Doesn't seem to add up in my tiny brain.

If I were going to, not that I ever would, I'd get my crap first, then trash the place. Too much stuff to trip over while packing the water heater. []

Haven't a clue. Well, maybe I do; there were several unopened envelopes with an IRS return address lying on the stoop near the entrance.

Maybe he was selling all that crap in order to feed the family and really couldn't have cared less about the place and just got locked out before he'd had a chance to pack up.

Maybe he'd been bagged by the IRS for tax fraud or something and was sitting in stir? Don't know; just thought it was pretty sad.

Stuff like that's being repeated all around the country, I guess.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Ben H]

That seems logical. As does Marc's idea. You are right though, it's very sad. I suppose it falls back on "Walk a mile in a man's shoes" type situation.

[Tim Maxwell]

In the past year the most common cancel/postpone problem has been loan glitches. I had one yesterday.

It is not easy to get a mortgage nowadays unless all your stars align just right.

[Mike Lamb]

I was at an eviction to a rental prop I managed. I unlocked the door and the sheriff went in gun drawn. No one was home. Everything inside went out on the lawn in the pouring rain. Even though the husband was a certifiable dirt bag, he had a wife and 2 small kids. It was a sad scene just the same. The stuff stayed outside for a couple days and slowly disappeared.

Once, I pulled up to an inspection and the house was on fire. The firemen were hosing it down. That inspection got cancelled.

[gpdewitt]

Mike -

I have to wonder if you had been scheduled one day earlier, if your inspection might have turned up whatever caused the fire! That's assuming it wasn't insurance arson.

[asihi]

My neigbor is a cop in one of the suburbs of Chicago. From what he told me regarding people's possesions being left at the curb after a forclosure, once the sherrif moves the stuff out it becomes public property. He said that they get calls all the time about people going through other peoples possessions and they tell them there's nothing they can do.

It's disgusting and vulture-like, but apparently not illegal.