This reminds me of something that comes after a long night of Jagermeister.
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Why don't they drain them?
Rich, this is happening all over the Valley here in Phoenix. People are literally walking away from million dollar homes!
Weird... Where I'm from we simply empty the pool. Works kinda the same way only you dont have a pool full of dead fish when your done. Wonder if Josefa will be back with a bag of "fish gators" or "fish ducks" to get rid of the fish.
Hi all. I have been reading your blogs for months now and you all seem like great people!! :) i have finally decided to join you. (if you will have me.) MT, i know exactly what you mean about the jagermeister!! :) BLAH
Cool!! a few waterproofed cameras, some big screens in the house and ya got aquarium walls! With some magnification power, you could even maybe get down far enough to see the rotofirs that the mosquito larvae are eating that the fish are eating that the kingfishers are eating that the hawks are eating that...
Hi all. I have been reading your blogs for months now and you all seem like great people :)I have decided that I would like to join all of you (that is if you will have me) :)and MT I know what you mean about the jagermeister!!!
Ok. Putting mosquito-eating fish in the pool is a good idea. They could open the drain in the pool and drain the pool, which would be easier and which should have been done when the house was vacated. I'm open. What am I missing here?
I think someone forgot to pay the poolboy. Did they think sex was all he wanted in return for keeping up the pool?
Oh, yea. I'll bet we'll be hearing a lot of frogs around here before long too.
My dream home ... a concrete backyard with a swamp to accentuate the drab red fence
At last, the location of Jimmy Hoffa's corpse.
Bravo for not using chemical pesticides. More people probably get cancer from the stuff they spray to kill the mosquitos than die from West Nile itself. We had a few cases in Michigan in the last few years - I think only 2 or 3 people died and everyone started spraying pesticides over every bush in the state! And people wonder why they get cancer. The environment is a web, what we do to the web, we do to ourselves. Be eco-friendly, be organic. Pesticides and herbicides are toxins, even if they say they are safe. They're still poisons. Don't put poison in your back yard. Don't put poison on your lawn.
Look out! Here comes the Creature from the Black Lagoon!
Rich....Their really going to too much trouble. All they have to do is pour in a little motor oil that will float on the surface of the water. The mosquito larvae will die when they come up for air.
Looks like Flubber! I know somoe has seen that movie am I right?!
Well I have cleaned pools for 2 years, this is a problem that is quite common. Usually the agency that is trying to sell the house or has taken over the mortgage for the house is responsible for making sure the pool stays clean. For this reason exactly, that it becomes a hazard to other homes in the area. Why aren't they going after those people to fix the problem? Let me add, its almost impossible to completely drain a pool esp. for an extended period of time. You take great risk of the pool popping or floating out of the ground. In some cases the plaster or "concrete" will break and will be a very costly fix. I think if you are person affected by these conditions in your neighborhood take my suggestion and go after the companies who are responsible for the house. They should be held responsible for cleaning the pool, just as they are for the upkeep of the yardwork. Good Luck
You want it drained? You pull the plug! I would never put my big toe in this "pool" and besides, Josefa needs work.
My question is what happened to all the money that was invested in the ARMs? The government is bailing out the banks and they just passed legislation to help people pay their mortgage. So what happened to the people that invested in those ARM's? Theory: they got richer.
This reminds me. I need to clean out the wading pool in my backyard.
so---JDTSeaT----you are saying the entire sub-prime crisis was a conspiracy plot by the Environmentalists Terror Group--know as the ETG to bring down the government and turn the vast concrete world of California back into a swamp land---- ED---I think we have a subplot for the Sparky movie---and if we find Jimmy Hoffa while we filming----do you think Twit the Wit will want a cut----we can use Earl as the bad guy----abusing camels---now motor oil---what next with that guy--- Widget---that was my first thought also--- Welcome Salty---
Its too bad the "powers that be" don't read these comments!! They might learn something! The readers who suggest draining the pool, for instance. And Earl who suggests pouring oil on top of the water to suffocate the mosquitoes. But I guess the lenders figure that's too much like work. Especially when it might prevent other innocents to contract West Nile virus!!
Welcome, Ambersaltlakeut... you don't need to have our permission to join this distinguished crowd! LOL... just jump in anytime!
I have just begun posting, but have read quite a few previous comments. Such intelligence and wit is a rareity. As for this photo, I confess that I just find it so sad. To know that someone lived here, who no longer is able to, is vividly depicted here. No matter whose fault this mortgage mess is, this is a reminder of the ultimate result.
Hey everyone...I'm back. It was absolutely mind-blowing coming up the Eastern Seaboard seeing all the For Sale and Foreclosure signs in front of the houses along the way. I'm taking an educated guess here, but in Florida as I walked around the LeHigh Acres area, I would say that about 3 out of 5 homes were either up for sale, or had already been foreclosed on.
Hey this looks like my pool after the tarp that was covered with muck was blown into the pool during some serious wind gusts (I know it wasn't anchored right). I covered it back up, but can't wait to see what its like when I open it in a few weeks.
Isn't this an awfully nice pool and spa for such dilapidated surroundings?
"Paw.... Jethro fergot ta drain the cement pond!" Welcome aboard Amber. Welcome home AP.
Welcome Amber. Like SouthernLady said, "Jump in anytime." Better to jump in here, than in the pool. Come on in, the water, I mean, the blog is fine.
Welcome to Amber (aka Salty?) and BelindaAberdeen (I used to live in Balto) Welcome home AP. I trust your trip was safe. I hope your Lady and family are getting by and doing better.
Thanks MT....Glad to be home again. Florida's not my bag...
time for the UNconvienint truth. It Cost money, to maintain these properties if even the bankers or who ever have theses places can't affor to maintian them then why, On earth do they reposes them.. _____________ For once I 'd like to see some one reposes a bank. Now that would be an interesting story.
Earl, I think vegetable oil is commonly used vs. motor oil although I don't clean pools for a living. My solution for this mess would be 1 gallon of bleach for about a buck fifty then remove as directed in the pool manual.
Being in code enforcement in the midwest, I can tell you that it's often impossible to get the mortgage companies that have foreclosed to do anything about the properties. They don't put their name on the property, it stays in the owner's name. This means they often have to be held responsible. It seems to be a common, rather dirty trick that the mortgage companies use. Houses sit for years sometimes, the people that lived in them have been locked out, but there isn't anybody on record other than them as the property owner. Even writing citations to these mortgage companies doesn't seem to help. They don't respond to them, don't even appear at court for them. Until someone can make these companies actually be responsible for the properties rather than only being concerned about their monthly payments coming in, I'm afraid this type situation will continue happening all over the country.
I work with lenders to do Shortsales. We have 8 offers on one property. The lenders can't get it together enough to except one of these offers. By taking thier time we could lose these qualified buyers. Our homeowner paid $300.00 to the mortgage company to process this Shortsale. this is a very bad situation when the lenders can't get it together to help these people.
Some of these companies need to be criminally prosecuted. That means, not the little guys, but the honchos go to prison, not get a little fine and a slap on the wrist. So many people have been convinced that they could afford houses that they couldn't. Whoever wrote and approved those loans should be now held responsible. I'm not saying the homebuyer is completely innocent, they should have known better. But, if they were never approved for loans they couldn't afford, they might still have somewhere to live. I wouldn't have an ARM if it were the last loan on earth.
Interesting. Think of the "Great White Flight" in the 50's, such as to placers like Levittown, NY or Riverside, CA and all the neat rows of sodded backyards, picket fences, bbq's etc. and then look at a picture like this or all the rent, sale, auction and bank repo signs around (tons here). Kinda eerie.
And my friends wonder why I can't bring myself to drink gree tea.
When I worked as quality control for builders in San Diego and Riverside, the sales people would BRAG about how they could talk so many people into buying homes they couldn't afford, even homes with water seeping UP INTO THE FOUNDATIONS from being built on recently dried up lakebeds. The greed of lenders is astounding. What's even more telling is the whip cracked over the construction dudes as the bubble began to burst. They were pushing those homes like they were drug-dealing.
As much as I love to swim and would to be able to take a dip anytime I wanted, I know I could never maintain a pool and the cost of doing so is just too much for me. This wiil serve as a reminder to get a place with a pool. Now maybe a freshwater pond or lake. Geez, waiting, if they are just walking off leaving their places, do you think I could become a squatter and eventually get the squatter's rights to the places. Maybe I should move to Phoenix. I've like what I've seen of Arizona so far. :)
Ray - remember what happened to the old woman who swallowed a fly? Gaters would be what I'd use next to take care of those fish.
I wouldn't suggest using oil in the pools to float everything to the top. Its very harsh on the surfaces of the pools (i.e. plaster, concrete, or fiberglass) the best thing to do is just vacuum the pool to waste meaning you vacuum everything out it would only take one or two visit to clean this pool. My question is, why isn't someone paying to have it cleaned. Like the city....
Stryder There was an old lady that paid PMI, Why oh why did they promise her the sky. Perhaps she'll fly. Could we put ducks in first then Gators. Cuz who likes ducks anyway?
Comet is right about this happening all over the place here in Phoenix. Mr. Rich, you gotta be from New York, right? Mosquito fish are not good eatin', man.
justjarod... you could say the same about car dealerships/salesmen as well...
Amanda Thanks for the lesson in pool physics. I could see the pool becoming unseated any weight in it.
Jesse James and John Dillinger were right. They justfied robbing banks because they said banks stole from people. I always thought that was just a convenient rationalization. However, here you have something similar to their situation. A person pays on his house for a few years and then can't pay anymore. So, the bank keeps all his payments and takes his house. If you've ever bounced a check to get socked for overdraught charges, late fee penalties, etc., you might be able to sympathize with the folks.
Christa-I heard they got a hold of Prof. Brainard, he'll be there soon to help with the pool.
This just in from the Valley of the Jolly--Highly esteemed local celebrity, J.G.Giant, displaying uncharacteristic behavior, was arrested Saturday morning after trampling several businesses and exposing his goods to Dolly Madison, Little Debbie and Betty Crocker. Mr. Giant happily submitted to a UA, using an abandoned residential swimming pool to leave his sample.
NEO - LOL! That was hilarious!
Oh Ray, you are in so much trouble with Ducky! The O'girl is going to rip your tongue out. We can all feel the wrath building even now...
Ewwww, NEOSHO... funny, but ... ewwww! Can you imagine that stream????
I don't get it. Why don't they just drain the water? How much more cost effective could dumping a bunch of fish in the pool be? And what are they gonna do with the fish later on? Mosquito fish to get rid of mosquitos...bigger fish to get rid of the mosquito fish...pelicans to get rid of the bigger fish...cats to get rid of the pelicans...a small chinese man to get rid of the cats...and the cycle goes on...
NEOSHO scores for the girls.....
Sales at 2000 Flushes went flat when they changed the dye from blue to brown. The new green color isn't catching on either.
NEO - you forgot to mention that Dolly Madison and Little Debbie are currently in counseling for the experience, and that Betty Crocker is trying to contact and post bail for Mr. Giant. Inquiring minds want to know...
But who is taking care of The Little Gree Sprout while the Mr. Giant is in custody? Could Dolly or Debbie be his mom? Inquiring minds want to know...
Sadly, the authorities granted custody of the Sprout to the Pillsbury Dough Boy, who is by no stretch of the imagination as innocent as he appears to be. POPPIN' FRESH does not mean what the general population has been led to believe. And "Nothin' says lovin like somethin' in the oven" means exactly what the general poulation has suspected all these years. Poor, poor little Sprout! Nothing good can result from this situation.
As to the question of the Sprouts mother-there is none. The Little Green Sprout results from a freak accident during which Mr. Green's bulbs were divided.
I don't blame the mortgage companies at all. Corporations have been getting rich off the stupid for years. If you were too financially immature to do the math yourself, I don't feel sorry for you.
When they (the pools) pop out of the ground, it's called "corking". I personally like when that happens, at least to hot tubs, because DH works on those and it means big, big $$ when he gets a call to come fix one!!
SL - you ain't kiddin'. Though we didn't experience pushy sales people, when my wife and I bought our new car, we had customer service which bordered on stalking. We recieved 3 postcards, the sales rep's personal cell #, 15-20 phone calls, 4 letters of thanks and an invite to a new owner's seminar.
Rather than continue to raise interest rates and then foreclose on more homes than the banks can deal with themselves....why not go back to whatever rate and amount people were paying when they bought the house? At least for the time being. People don't lose their homes; banks aren't stuck with loans they can't collect on or houses they can't unload and everyone wins. Someone saw this coming. I don't know what it looks like in the rest of the country but here in Massachusetts we have a bizillion new 400-complex apartment buildings cropping up on every hillside. They talk about affordable housing and a one bedroom affordable apartment will run you $1100. Someone please explain to me what is affordable about that? This makes no sense to me.
After you feed the moskito fish? how big they grow? may be the next buyer will be interested in fishing in their own back yard and trow a fry fish party for the neighbors.
I work as a professional commercial/retail property manager. Here's my take: On one side, the Fed's are starting to clamp down on the lenders. On the other side, the banks just need to be shown it's in their best financial interest to keep up these houses. A possible solution: I'm putting together a proposal to offer the lenders. For a monthly fee, my company will manage these properties, hire a pool guy, gardeners, etc. and have someone do weekly inspections. Monthly maintenance is cheaper than rehabing it when it comes time to sell it.
Speculative greed is what I have seen up here in Maine. Our economy was absolutely crushed by the Boston and New York money that came here about 18 years ago. They bought up all the houses and land they could, because to them it was cheap, then they sold and resold this realty only trying to make a profit, and not to live here. Prices doubled, tripled and quadrupled overnight. When I bought my land, I paid $18,500 for it, the last offer I recieved for it as bare land was $625,000. That's insane! My Parents house, where I grew up, sold for $23,900 in 1989. Three years ago it sold for $259,000. You can't keep selling houses over and over again, to make a profit. Common sense will tell you that someday the bottom will drop out. And it has..... I haven't let this greed effect me, my place is not for sale at any price... And most Mainers are all hoping that the greedy SOB's "From Away" will all lose their shirts and go home and leave us be. Sorry if I sound bitter, but, I have watched the real Maine people being bled to death, for 18 years.
Lunch - I'm trying to say this as carefully as I can because I really DO think you have a point and I don't want to piss you off, but have a little compassion...or empathy. The buyer DEFINITELY is not exempt from responsibility and SHOULD know what is within budget and what's not, but don't you think that these truly nefarious lenders have an unfair advantage? They would dangle a dream home in front of a potential buyer and say - verbally - "I think you can do this!", knowing full well that the mortgage will be well beyond means. He or she will get their commission, score a sale for their company and wipe their hands. Who commits the greater sin, the stupid or the smart leach preying on the stupid?
The stupid. Don't worry about offending anybody, especially me. I have no compassion for the stupid, and hope social Darwinism flushes them out of the gene pool...no pun intended.
ambersaltlakeut: Welcome! Anytime is a good time - always wear your party shoes here...cause you never know when the next party is taking place. MTfromLA: I caught a very bad visual on that...ewww that smell!
You can't just drain the pool..it'll get filled with rain water.... i was struck by the vivid green of the water...wnder what else is growing in that pool...cure for cancer?
OK, who peed in the pool?
