: How Foreclosed Homes Affect Neighborhood Security

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(420 Words)
Foreclosed homes can affect neighborhood security in a variety of direct and indirect ways. These include the following.
The owners of the home might return and cause problems
It is an unfortunate situation when someone cannot afford to pay for their home and it gets foreclosed. Unfortunately, a lot of people decide to then do something bad because of their anger. They may come back and vandalize the house, for instance. They may just show up in the neighborhood. Other residents might feel uncomfortable.
The home might not be taken care of and make the neighborhood look bad, thereby attracting less desirable people
When people know that their home is going to go into foreclosure they may stop taking care of it. They may purposely try to make it look bad because they want to get revenge at the bank. When they leave it is often not taken care of at all for a period of time. This time can also be very long because of the fact that many homes are sitting on the market and having difficulty attracting buyers. When you have a home that looks very bad in the neighborhood then some of the better people might decide to leave the neighborhood. The other homes might go down in value, and with lower class people you might end up having more crime. People might see the neighborhood as a place where less people care and you may have an increase in problems.
Someone may use the foreclosed home for nefarious purposes
If someone knows that the foreclosed home is empty they may decide to break in to try to use it for something. It may be some neighborhood kids just looking to make trouble. They may be more comfortable breaking in because they know that it is empty. Someone may even decide to use it as a place to store drugs or someone may just squat there.
There may be a lot of people coming in and out of the neighborhood to look at the home
Neighborhood security may be threatened by all of these people. Some may drive too fast. Some may decide that it is a good place to commit a crime such as breaking in to a home. They may be a lower class if they are looking for a home that has more problems if it is foreclosed.
Foreclosed homes can be detrimental for neighborhoods, and one area affected is neighborhood security. The above points highlight some of the problems that can occur.