Neglected properties can spell ruin for nearby homeowners, and that's not right, a letter writer laments.
EDITOR,
I’ve had the opportunity to be out and about throughout our town, and I have to say it is heartbreaking to see so many homes in foreclosure or for sale. What is even more disturbing is what some of these homes are doing to other properties in their areas.
It would be great to see any one of our city leaders pushing to demand enforcement of the city’s blight ordinance. Perhaps the city should give one or two warnings to the property owner or the lending institution that holds the mortgage to clean up the area visible from the street. If not, the property could be maintained by the city of Tracy and a lien put on the property to be paid by the owner or mortgage company at escrow when the property sells.
It is a shame to see property values go down because of these unkempt properties. Most owners are still trying to keep up their property, while these bring the whole area down.
What prospective buyer wouldn’t balk at buying a home in Tracy when they see some of these properties? At this point, it doesn’t matter how these homes got this way; someone needs to be held responsible for maintaining them, and right now, no one is taking responsibility.
I discovered that my son is mowing two lawns on his block. Both homes are empty, but at least his neighborhood appears a little more pleasing.
— Mike Wootten, Tracy
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"I discovered that my son is mowing two lawns on his block. Both homes are empty, but at least his neighborhood appears a little more pleasing."
While he shouldn't have to this, it is a very proactive, adult and good neighbor response to the immediate problems in your son's area.
Yes, it would be nice if the city could take care of all these things for us but honestly that is not currently practical, not saying that it couldn't be.
Yes, the financial institutions who actually own these properties should step up willingly and take charge of their responsibilities, or forced to by our laws to take responsibility. But those things unfortunately take a lot of time to get done. In the mean time the offensive property grows weeds and looks horrible, bringing neighboring property values down.
But in the long run, since that doesn't appear to be happening in all cases, if I were attempting to sell my home and a home across the street or down the street in foreclosure or otherwise abandoned by the homeowner, creating an eyesore as a result of poorly kept up yard, you can bet I personally would be down there mowing and watering the grass to enable me to sell my own home for the price I desire.
My thanks goes to your son for taking a common sense approach to this sort of problem and if others would simply follow his lead all of us would fair better for the effort.