I always like to read something like this. That is usually a bit hard to find valuable information on the internet.

I understand being angry for losing your home, anyone would feel this way, but cutting down your trees doesn't solve anything, it only turns people against you. The ones buying the home could easily plant other trees or try to repair these ones, but it takes years for them to grow back, such a waste...!
Andrews, Home Insurance Quote

Acts like this are a waste of human resources and natural resources. It took a long time for that tree to grow. It will take time to clean up the tree now. Someone clearly spent time sawing the tree... I wish they could have found something better to do with their time.

I really don't like when anyone makes such a mess and specially to the nature...we all know how much time it takes to grow a plant into a TREE..and this is what happens in the end..this is really a thing beyond getting tortured...It not only affects the nature, but the real estate business as well..the property prices are slashed down for everyone in the neighborhood...so sad..if they had used a good quality Property Management Software early on, they could have benefitted more from this land..:)

Jay,

I was in a home in 85254 (Scottsdale) in Dec 2008 where someone had pumped the pool into the house. It was a "squishy" experience to say the least. Not good. At least the home was all on one level.

Even worse, I was in a home in Chandler in Aug 2008 where they back washed the pool into the second floor and the water was still dripping through the ceiling (the hose was still snaked up the stairs).

In July 2007, I was in a home in Surprise where everything was gone. And I mean everything. Not a single electrical outlet/plate/cabinet/toiltet/light was left. They pulled the copper out of the walls on that one. The bank was going to have to tear open the dry wall and rewire, and put the kitchen back in, etc to sell it.

Then there was the one where the concrete was put into the toilet sewer line in Surprise....

In the end, defacing property is a crime. Whether you paid the mortgage or not. The police investigation really should be quite short, from Craigslist, to the offenders home. But that is my take on it.

I haven't seen anything like that in a while now. It looks like people have improved their behavior. The down side to this market is, one of my REO Colleagues has had a few suicides in properties he was taking back. That was when I realized, property destruction is one thing, loss of life, quite another level of tragedy.

There is a strong human element to this down turn that goes under the carpet at times.

Matt is right. This person is a dumb ass! I do landscaping as well and I think this kind of crap crosses the line. So you lost your house, find a new one don't just cut the trees all up.

Man, that is messed up! I own a landscaping company in Texas and I know how valuable trees are to a property. What kind of a dumb ass cuts the trees in half? I think if you cant afford to pay your mortgage, you should spend more time looking for a job and less time thinking of ways to destroy the property your about to loose. We really need some new laws to help stop this kind of destruction. It would be nice if the courty system took this person and made them remove the old trees and plant new ones. I know just how hard it is to dig out a tree of that size and I think they might learn a lesson if they had to do it.

How sad and pathetic that someone had to further ruin the neighborhood by destroying trees. The worst foreclosure I ever saw was one in which the homeowner's final parting gift to the bank was to pump all the water from the pool into the house. Of course the Realtor with that listing said it needed some "TLC".
.-= Carmen Brodeur´s last blog ..Desert Mountain Members Leave Their Wallets at Home =-.

Jay,

Here's my understatement of 2010: Lots of anger toward banks and taken out on houses & trees.

At the risk of turning comments in to a "one-up" from all of us, I only wish a recent inspection of a house involved a tree (not that cutting a tree is cool).

Someone (whether previous owners or vandals) broke windows, put a sledgehammer through all walls and tiled floors; ripped out all fixtures & cabinets in bathrooms & kitchen; smeared excrement all over the walls and floor with one big "drop" at entrance (how pleasing for the messenger = me).

And this house is in an "exclusive" neighborhood. And this doesn't even mention all the shadow inventory lurking and deteriorating.

We realtors have our work cut out for us as challenges continue.

Thanks, Jay.

Mike
.-= Mike´s last blog ..kitchen =-.

I do 203K loans exclusively. A good portion of my loans are on trashed foreclosures. I have seen it all, even to the point of someone going up on the roof, ripping off shingles and creating roof leaks with a hammer. I've seen all the landscaping stripped a few times as well.

Wow! Thats just sad. I sent a link to my son, he owns a landscaping company. That is just wrong. I've seen some bad REOs but I've never seen someone go outside and cut up their trees. I saw one that someone took a hammer to every wall in the house and that was the worst I've seen in person in the last 15 years.

That is a first for me as well. As a Realtor that deals regularly with investors and foreclosed homes, I am used to and even expect the interior to be less than "pristine" but I can say that I've yet to see the previous owners take out their frustration on the landscaping. Go figure.

I can understand the frustration, but wish people would think of the eventual consequences. It doesn’t bother the bank. It doesn’t hurt them.

antalya

While the ransacked houses are outrageous - the video you linked to above is unreal - the destruction of the trees is particularly painful. How sad. I had forgotten until I came upon this that years ago in the early 70s my parents bought a house whose owner had lost it to the bank. The former owners took a number of things from inside the house and then dug up and carted away all sorts of shrubs. And speaking of landscaping - seeing those cactuses in your photos is a kick - especially since it's about zero degrees outside as I write. Must be nice!

Liz
.-= Elizabeth Bolton´s last blog ..Concrete Buildings In Cambridge =-.

What is really bad is when you reports of Realtors looting vacant houses.

They should be locked up

In Washington and a few other states there is a law called "tresspass to trees" that you can actually go to jail for purposefully and maliciously hurting or killing a tree. I am not sure that many places have these laws but it sure would be nice to smack this guy back for killing the tree.

-Tyler
.-= Portland Condo Auctions´s last blog ..oct_0179.jpg =-.

That is crazy to do. Does not accomplish a thing.

Will look you up when I get the guts to move from NY out there!

Jay - Wow, that's pretty sad. I'm always shocked at the stories about trashed homes. The worst I saw was a home that was just really dirty and stripped of carpet (but I think there may have been a reason other than "trashing" for that). It had one scary room in it, where the kids had drawn freely on the walls for what looked like years. It kind of freaked me out.

The story that I heard that blows me away is flushing dry cement mix down the toilets. No one's the wiser unless they get a good plumbing inspection and it only takes a little bump of cement to stick and provide a place for things to catch and build-up overtime.

I, like you, feel the same way - I can understand the frustration, but wish people would think of the eventual consequences. It doesn't bother the bank. It doesn't hurt them. It only winds up making someone else's dream purchase into a complete nightmare. When it's the invisible damage (like cutting the support beams), we're talking about serious damage to another person's life - not the banks bottom line or the CEO who walked away with a couple of million.

It's sad. Really sad.
.-= Matt Stigliano´s last blog ..Introducing The New Wibiya Toolbar at RErockstar.com! =-.

The worst I ever saw here was a beautiful new home where they left the water on and the furnace off in the winter. The pipes burst and the water damage was like nothing I have seen before. The walls were covered with mold and the floors were warped. The inspector said that the mold was so bad that the only way to fix it would be to take the walls out down to the studs and start over.
.-= Teresa Boardman´s last blog ..Adopt a fire hydrant =-.

Jay, What a sad thing to do to Mother Nature. This was beautiflully presentation. You did a great job on it. One day I hope to do this.

Jay that almost looks like perhaps a neighbor did that. If that tree was still in all it's glory would it be blocking someone else's view? I have not had the experience of someone doing damage to the landscaping. They usually take their aggressions out on the property it's self. Our office had one that they poured pee gravel down all the plumbing and went under the house and cut all the support beams. REO's are sold as is and this one was sold at auction, so no time to do a physical inspection. The buyer's great deal turned into a nightmare.

It sucks people do this stuff.

You're right though, it's better than gutting the inside out which, as you know happens way too often.
.-= Nick@Subject2.com´s last blog ..Owner of House is Dying =-.

I always like to read something like this. That is usually a bit hard to find valuable information on the internet.

A gift that needs to behold and the fact that people appreciated less about what we have right nowu00e2u0080u00a6.Though we all know that these are gifts not a place to playu00e2u0080u00a6they just ruined everything they are not ours we just borrowed it, we should respect and take care of mother nature.

I understand being angry for losing your home, anyone would feel this way, but cutting down your trees doesn't solve anything, it only turns people against you. The ones buying the home could easily plant other trees or try to repair these ones, but it takes years for them to grow back, such a waste...!
Andrews, Home Insurance Quote

Acts like this are a waste of human resources and natural resources. It took a long time for that tree to grow. It will take time to clean up the tree now. Someone clearly spent time sawing the tree... I wish they could have found something better to do with their time.

I really don't like when anyone makes such a mess and specially to the nature...we all know how much time it takes to grow a plant into a TREE..and this is what happens in the end..this is really a thing beyond getting tortured...It not only affects the nature, but the real estate business as well..the property prices are slashed down for everyone in the neighborhood...so sad..if they had used a good quality Property Management Software early on, they could have benefitted more from this land..:)

Do they really have to make such mess? Very unscrupulous deed. Are they out of their minds. I cant understand why do they have to destroy the trees. They should go to hell.

Jay,

I was in a home in 85254 (Scottsdale) in Dec 2008 where someone had pumped the pool into the house. It was a "squishy" experience to say the least. Not good. At least the home was all on one level.

Even worse, I was in a home in Chandler in Aug 2008 where they back washed the pool into the second floor and the water was still dripping through the ceiling (the hose was still snaked up the stairs).

In July 2007, I was in a home in Surprise where everything was gone. And I mean everything. Not a single electrical outlet/plate/cabinet/toiltet/light was left. They pulled the copper out of the walls on that one. The bank was going to have to tear open the dry wall and rewire, and put the kitchen back in, etc to sell it.

Then there was the one where the concrete was put into the toilet sewer line in Surprise....

In the end, defacing property is a crime. Whether you paid the mortgage or not. The police investigation really should be quite short, from Craigslist, to the offenders home. But that is my take on it.

I haven't seen anything like that in a while now. It looks like people have improved their behavior. The down side to this market is, one of my REO Colleagues has had a few suicides in properties he was taking back. That was when I realized, property destruction is one thing, loss of life, quite another level of tragedy.

There is a strong human element to this down turn that goes under the carpet at times.

Matt is right. This person is a dumb ass! I do landscaping as well and I think this kind of crap crosses the line. So you lost your house, find a new one don't just cut the trees all up.

Man, that is messed up! I own a landscaping company in Texas and I know how valuable trees are to a property. What kind of a dumb ass cuts the trees in half? I think if you cant afford to pay your mortgage, you should spend more time looking for a job and less time thinking of ways to destroy the property your about to loose. We really need some new laws to help stop this kind of destruction. It would be nice if the courty system took this person and made them remove the old trees and plant new ones. I know just how hard it is to dig out a tree of that size and I think they might learn a lesson if they had to do it.

How sad and pathetic that someone had to further ruin the neighborhood by destroying trees. The worst foreclosure I ever saw was one in which the homeowner's final parting gift to the bank was to pump all the water from the pool into the house. Of course the Realtor with that listing said it needed some "TLC".
.-= Carmen Brodeuru00c2u00b4s last blog ..Desert Mountain Members Leave Their Wallets at Home =-.

California has seen many foreclosed homes and lots of homes which are torn up but not much of this ... i would have to say this is the first of that. I agree with statements above about what have your neighbors future and home buyers done to deserve this. I guess some people take it out in all kinds of ways makes you wonder what is to come with foreclosures in the future.

It really sucks when people continue doing this thing.

I would probably not buy houses from them anymore if this is what they do when the foreclose the house. Shame!

Jay,

Here's my understatement of 2010: Lots of anger toward banks and taken out on houses & trees.

At the risk of turning comments in to a "one-up" from all of us, I only wish a recent inspection of a house involved a tree (not that cutting a tree is cool).

Someone (whether previous owners or vandals) broke windows, put a sledgehammer through all walls and tiled floors; ripped out all fixtures & cabinets in bathrooms & kitchen; smeared excrement all over the walls and floor with one big "drop" at entrance (how pleasing for the messenger = me).

And this house is in an "exclusive" neighborhood. And this doesn't even mention all the shadow inventory lurking and deteriorating.

We realtors have our work cut out for us as challenges continue.

Thanks, Jay.

Mike
.-= Mikeu00c2u00b4s last blog ..kitchen =-.

I do 203K loans exclusively. A good portion of my loans are on trashed foreclosures. I have seen it all, even to the point of someone going up on the roof, ripping off shingles and creating roof leaks with a hammer. I've seen all the landscaping stripped a few times as well.

Wow! Thats just sad. I sent a link to my son, he owns a landscaping company. That is just wrong. I've seen some bad REOs but I've never seen someone go outside and cut up their trees. I saw one that someone took a hammer to every wall in the house and that was the worst I've seen in person in the last 15 years.

That is a first for me as well. As a Realtor that deals regularly with investors and foreclosed homes, I am used to and even expect the interior to be less than "pristine" but I can say that I've yet to see the previous owners take out their frustration on the landscaping. Go figure.

I can understand the frustration, but wish people would think of the eventual consequences. It doesnu00e2u0080u0099t bother the bank. It doesnu00e2u0080u0099t hurt them.

antalya

While the ransacked houses are outrageous - the video you linked to above is unreal - the destruction of the trees is particularly painful. How sad. I had forgotten until I came upon this that years ago in the early 70s my parents bought a house whose owner had lost it to the bank. The former owners took a number of things from inside the house and then dug up and carted away all sorts of shrubs. And speaking of landscaping - seeing those cactuses in your photos is a kick - especially since it's about zero degrees outside as I write. Must be nice!

Liz
.-= Elizabeth Boltonu00c2u00b4s last blog ..Concrete Buildings In Cambridge =-.

What is really bad is when you reports of Realtors looting vacant houses.

They should be locked up

In Washington and a few other states there is a law called "tresspass to trees" that you can actually go to jail for purposefully and maliciously hurting or killing a tree. I am not sure that many places have these laws but it sure would be nice to smack this guy back for killing the tree.

-Tyler
.-= Portland Condo Auctionsu00c2u00b4s last blog ..oct_0179.jpg =-.

That is crazy to do. Does not accomplish a thing.

Will look you up when I get the guts to move from NY out there!

Jay - Wow, that's pretty sad. I'm always shocked at the stories about trashed homes. The worst I saw was a home that was just really dirty and stripped of carpet (but I think there may have been a reason other than "trashing" for that). It had one scary room in it, where the kids had drawn freely on the walls for what looked like years. It kind of freaked me out.

The story that I heard that blows me away is flushing dry cement mix down the toilets. No one's the wiser unless they get a good plumbing inspection and it only takes a little bump of cement to stick and provide a place for things to catch and build-up overtime.

I, like you, feel the same way - I can understand the frustration, but wish people would think of the eventual consequences. It doesn't bother the bank. It doesn't hurt them. It only winds up making someone else's dream purchase into a complete nightmare. When it's the invisible damage (like cutting the support beams), we're talking about serious damage to another person's life - not the banks bottom line or the CEO who walked away with a couple of million.

It's sad. Really sad.
.-= Matt Stiglianou00c2u00b4s last blog ..Introducing The New Wibiya Toolbar at RErockstar.com! =-.

The worst I ever saw here was a beautiful new home where they left the water on and the furnace off in the winter. The pipes burst and the water damage was like nothing I have seen before. The walls were covered with mold and the floors were warped. The inspector said that the mold was so bad that the only way to fix it would be to take the walls out down to the studs and start over.
.-= Teresa Boardmanu00c2u00b4s last blog ..Adopt a fire hydrant =-.

Jay, What a sad thing to do to Mother Nature. This was beautiflully presentation. You did a great job on it. One day I hope to do this.

Jay that almost looks like perhaps a neighbor did that. If that tree was still in all it's glory would it be blocking someone else's view? I have not had the experience of someone doing damage to the landscaping. They usually take their aggressions out on the property it's self. Our office had one that they poured pee gravel down all the plumbing and went under the house and cut all the support beams. REO's are sold as is and this one was sold at auction, so no time to do a physical inspection. The buyer's great deal turned into a nightmare.