How has foreclosure impacted your neighborhood?

Foreclosure on a widescale in a neighborhood or area tends to make a huge difference in property values, but there are other effects too. There is certainly a sociological change to a neighborhood because an older history fades and a newer history begins as residents move out and others move in.

Sacramento area real estate appraiser, Ryan Lundquist, talks about one condominium subdivision in Vallejo CA (Hillcrest) as a springboard to discuss how foreclosure impacts our neighborhoods in ways beyond just property value.

How have you seen foreclosure impact your neighborhood? Has it put a damper on community involvement? Have you seen less participation in a Neighborhood Watch group, for instance? With so many households strapped for cash in this economy, and more people feeling hopeless, how does that effect the ethos of a community?

I’d love to hear your thoughts below.

Ryan Lundquist
Certified Real Estate Appraiser
http://www.lundquistcompany.com/
http://www.sacramentoappraisalblog.com/
http://www.facebook.com/SacramentoAppraiser

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Related posts:

  1. Tenant Rights during a Short Sale or Foreclosure
  2. What is the “Broken Windows Theory”?
  3. Foreclosure Update from Foreclosure Radar for April 2010
  4. July 2010 Foreclosure Report from Foreclosure Radar for California
  5. May 2010 California Foreclosure Report

2 Responses to “How has foreclosure impacted your neighborhood?”

  1. Bryan McDonald says:
    August 11, 2010 at 7:52 pm

    Holy cow, that is a HUGE decrease in value. There have been some areas in my market hit harder than others but I have not seen anything like that. Do you think things will pick back up for those condos? They sound affordable, or are there still a lot of foreclosures that are driving values?

  2. Ryan Lundquist says:
    August 11, 2010 at 7:58 pm

    I know Bryan, the decline is incredible in this complex. Foreclosures are still driving the market. I doubt there are very many of these condos that have much equity now because of how many years it has been since prices have been this low. This means that the majority of condos in the subdivision are distressed to some degree because most of them are underwater. Overall, the trend over the past six months or so when viewing all sales on a trend graph shows a bit of a spike, so it looks like there are encouraging signs.

    This is not the typical situation. Most of the time property values are not this extreme in the Sacramento area. But this is an exception and it’s a beastly example for sure.