Posted by Tony Linton on February 3, 2010 at 11:38am
The new “Mob”You might be thinking drugs?....... Prostitution? No, It’s much worse, it’s legal extortion by our own local municipalities and code enforcement. We have seen all the heavy fines for overgrown grass or debris on properties and even missing mailbox numbers. You might think……heck, they’ve been doing that for years, but I will tell you first hand that the cities are getting incredibly greedy and also much better at squeezing all the juice out of the REO properties. And they do it without any legal recourse “Just cuz they say so”. They used to send contractors out and charge a fine for mowing or pick up trash and base a fee and fine on it, which is ok….now they stick a tag on the door and forget about it…..till someone try’s to clean it up and sell it, Gotcha!... someone has to pay the lien.Many of these type fines or liens could usually be added to the docket and heard at a commission meeting or town hall meeting and negotiated to an amount that sounds reasonable to everybody, but the policies are becoming a little more difficult. In my area they are adding a guidelines reduction maximum amount to no more than 50% no matter how strong of a case you present. Ouch!.....I keep thinking of one property that accrued a $77,300 grass cutting lien at a rate of $500 a day, I was able to get that down to $900 because even the city thought that was moronic. By the standard today that would have cost the bank $38,650…….The property closed at $70,000.As assessed values plundered over the past three years, property taxes have decreased somewhat and the local government has been faced with budget cuts, well haven’t we all? They now require supplemental income, there is very little building happening which means, no impact or permit fees. They are resorting to milking everything they can from the general public such as drivers licenses and tag fees (doubled) Traffic violations increasing and much more expensive. Our local law enforcement just loves to set up a tripod with radar and have a cop in jeans posing as a surveyor to herd the speeders in like cattle.Yes….I suppose I’m whining, but it infuriates me that we are expected to buy off on this way of thinking, what I mean is they want everyone to come to terms with the attitude of “they were speeding so they deserve a $300 ticket” “ the grass was overgrown so they deserve a $10,000 fine” NO……they don’t…and if the city hides behind the fact that they just want it cleaned up or grass cut then clean it up and cut the grass and charge accordingly, not tag it and leave it! People need jobs and they would love to get the work. The extortion is that no one can do anything about and simply must accept things the way they are. They haven’t cleaned up the community or done anything to earn this money, they do it simply because they can.
Michael, Thank you for the input. This scares me because we have many properties just like that in Sarasota, especially around the John and Mable Ringling museum, so far the city has not imposed permit violations on this type property but there are a lot as you have described, mostly 30 year old garage or lanai enclosures to increase living sq ft. Heck… some of them even have heat….I mean A/C. Luckily Sarasota has serious money and south of them is where the stupidity lies. Thanks again for the inpu
Tony, you are spot on with this and it has been going on for a while in Southern CA. Tax revenues are down and local municipalities are targeting those with deep pockets...the banks. I have had code enforcement BREAK into some of my properties over the last two years in an effort to find non-permitted rooms. Literally break the door down (which has to be fixed or I will get another fine). Are you kidding I ask? This home was built in 1950, the garage conversion probably done in the mid 70's and suddenly Riverside County Code enforcement cares about it...NOW? Have a property built in 1935 with no auto sprinklers and the grass is dead? Too bad, replace the lawn and add sprinklers and for every day it's not done we will fine you $100. The vultures always come out in a crisis.
In Florida there are lot of small town who use speed traps as major funding, I remember in the mid 90's AAA try to make some changes in the state legislature and had some articles about it in all the major news papers in the state, but as usual nothing happened, and a lot of tourist keep paying. Good thing for them the weather and the Mouse keep bringing all the snowbirds and other tourist down there.
Hi Rosie, PAS...Premier Asset Services does wells Fargo BPO's and listings but they have not accepted new agents for awhile, at least not the last time I checked. I believe they require Default school for their agents.
Hi Jose, It sounds like your city does it the right way...the fair way. They did upkeep the property for 2 years and then charged for it, I wouldn't be upset at all in that situation. Down here they just charge, get this...I just did the calculations and the same scenario down here would be 2 years= 700 days x $250 a day in fines = $175,000......for putting a tag on the door.
I'm a very laid back, positive person and usually don't let things bother me too much, the reason this is getting under my skin so much right now is a conversation with one of my Canadian couples that come in for the winter, they are retirees and got caught in a speed trap, 38 mph in a 30 zone cost them over $200. The conversation quickly switched to Canada, how if they are caught speeding that the car is impounded for a week and a $2,000 fine. I'm not sure how much over the speed limit or if it is all over Canada but it made me wonder how long it will be before the U.S. gets the same way. Soo many things are slipping by us right now that are becoming the norm.
Hi Tony, I know now that the federal, and state subsidy to local governments has decrease as well as the property taxes, our local governments have to find a way to produce revenue to keep most of the services intact. I had paid high water bills, fines from years ago. I just got a a property on Monday with $3400 in fines because it has been vacant since 2008 and the city has been mowing the lawn the last 2 summers, unfortunately we have to front the money to make sure the buyers get a free and clear title. But at the end it is the responsibility of the banks to keep the maintenance of their assets. Another issue is the bad preservation companies that take the bank money and don't perform the job correctly and the banks who don't hire a third company to double check and make sure the job is done, but that is changing. I have been contacted by a third party company to go and double check after contractors to make sure the jobs are done right. My first assignment I had to go to this property that was supposed to have a very extensive repair, roof, plumbing, ceilings, walls, mold, light fixtures, clean and winterized, for a total of $9,500. when I got to the property to take pictures and do the report the pipes were frozen and damaged, the ceiling was on the floor, the house was a mess, and the contractor had already send the bill to the bank with pictures of the job been completed.
I used to go to school in Gainesville Florida and I remember that form Gville to Waldo and Sparks the speed limit goes from 45 to 35 in quarter mile and then few blocks down it will go down to 25 and there was always at least one police car with radar making money for the town.
Looking at the big picture, yes it is a pain for us having to front the money to the banks and not collecting any interest on it, but if that money helps to keep the police, fire departments, libraries, trash collection, schools, etc working and creating jobs for people who might be buying houses and keeping our jobs, it is all a big circle, or food chain, however you want to call it.
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http://reopro.ning.com/forum/topics/ocwenhomeqpasetc-theres-gotta
can any one tell me how to go about getting bpo's from wells fargo? or the website to register.
thanks
I'm a very laid back, positive person and usually don't let things bother me too much, the reason this is getting under my skin so much right now is a conversation with one of my Canadian couples that come in for the winter, they are retirees and got caught in a speed trap, 38 mph in a 30 zone cost them over $200. The conversation quickly switched to Canada, how if they are caught speeding that the car is impounded for a week and a $2,000 fine. I'm not sure how much over the speed limit or if it is all over Canada but it made me wonder how long it will be before the U.S. gets the same way. Soo many things are slipping by us right now that are becoming the norm.
I used to go to school in Gainesville Florida and I remember that form Gville to Waldo and Sparks the speed limit goes from 45 to 35 in quarter mile and then few blocks down it will go down to 25 and there was always at least one police car with radar making money for the town.
Looking at the big picture, yes it is a pain for us having to front the money to the banks and not collecting any interest on it, but if that money helps to keep the police, fire departments, libraries, trash collection, schools, etc working and creating jobs for people who might be buying houses and keeping our jobs, it is all a big circle, or food chain, however you want to call it.
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