Foreclosure's Filthy Aftermath

As foreclosures become more frequent, so do the bizarre and shocking stories of abandoned animals, insect infestations, and deplorable living conditions

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The mortgage mess is getting even messier. Literally.

Malnourished and flea-ridden animals, feces-covered floors and urine-soaked furniture, piles of rotting garbage, swarms of diseased mosquitoes—these are the horrors that may await the ill-fated sheriff, property inspector, Realtor, or passerby making that first visit to a deserted home.

And with foreclosure activity well above last year's levels and still on the rise in many parts of the country, nasty surprises have like these become more common. In April, there were 147,708 U.S. foreclosure filings—default notices, auction sale notices, and bank repossessions—down 1% from the previous month but still 62% higher than a year earlier, according to Irvine (Calif.)-based RealtyTrac. (See BusinessWeek.com, 5/15/07, Slide Show: "The States with the Highest Foreclosure Rates&quot.)

"It's almost every day now that we see a [foreclosed] house in awful condition," says Scott Mitchell, president of National Property Inspections, a company that provides home inspections and assessments in the Las Vegas area. "We've really noticed it increasing in the last month and a half." RealtyTrac estimates that Nevada had the highest foreclosure rate in the country in April, with one filing per every 232 households.

Nothing to Lose

"They know they are going to lose their house, so they have no pride of ownership anymore," Mitchell says. "They'll leave the water on so there's flooding and mold everywhere, they'll tear the chandelier or the ceiling fan out of the ceiling, kick the doors and walls in. Then the critters start taking over—ants, scorpions, and Black Widow spiders."

In and around Sacramento, Calif., mosquitoes that may carry the deadly West Nile virus are thriving in the thousands of uncared-for swimming pools on properties left vacant by slower home sales and rising foreclosures. With 30,505 foreclosure filings reported in April, California documented the largest foreclosure total in the country for the fourth month in a row, according to RealtyTrac. In Amador, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba counties, more than 1,500 homeowners handed their homes over to the bank in the first three months of 2007, according to DataQuick Information Systems in La Jolla, Calif.

Sometimes, frustrated homeowners get creative. A man in Eagle Creek, Ore., recently put three 200-pound pigs in his repossessed home. They quickly tore up the place, ripping away the foundation and reducing the back porch to rubble. When police found the pigs, the animals were unharmed, if a little cranky.

Left for Dead

Many animals are not so lucky. Pets are often silent sufferers during the foreclosure process. Homeowners in financial straits may make them a low priority to begin with, and when foreclosure leads to eviction, they are sometimes abandoned without food or water and left to breed uncontrollably. In the month of May alone, authorities found 23 abandoned animals in a house in Lake Carmel, N.Y.; three pigs trapped in an Oregon home; 20 birds in a Lorain (Ohio) house; 24 horses on a Bixby (Okla.) property; and more than 60 cats in a home in Cincinnati. All of these properties were in foreclosure, and most of the animals were injured, infected, dehydrated, and starved nearly to death.

"There are a lot of hoarders and neglected animals and people who just don't realize how fast things can spin out of control," says animal rescue worker Gail Silver, who discovered the foreclosed home in Cincinnati with more than 60 cats trapped inside.