Increasing numbers of newer Chandler homes are being abandoned by cash-strapped owners, leaving weeds, green pools and headaches for neighbors and city officials.

"It's scaring me," neighborhood services Sgt. Greg Carr said of the trend. "We're trying to figure out how we can approach this, who do we call when homeowners walk away and we can't find them?"

Carr doesn't have statistics but said home foreclosures are rising and along with them code violations. His counterparts in Mesa, Gilbert and Peoria said the phenomenon is affecting those municipalities, too. A significant portion of the recent Chandler complaints are from newer neighborhoods in southeastern parts of the city where homes once sold for $400,000 or more and values have dropped, Carr said. Buyers who divorce, lose a job or can't afford rising adjustable-rate interest are finding they can't sell their houses for what they owe on them, he said.

One abandoned home in the Brooks Ranch subdivision near Chandler Heights and Gilbert roads has a $499,000 assessed value for tax purposes, tall weeds and a green pool. Carr said he hasn't been able to contact the owners and has asked Maricopa County to treat the pool so mosquitoes won't breed in it. In that same neighborhood a home that sold for $701,000 in March is on the market for $689,000.

Sun Groves resident John Simpson lives across the street from an abandoned house in a 5-year-old subdivision. He said it has been an eyesore for almost a year even after he repeatedly called and e-mailed city and county officials.

"The former owners sold the house for double what they paid, but the new owners got divorced and left."

They even left their Dalmatian in the backyard," he said. "We have the dog now."

Carr said he is so worried about the increasing numbers of vacant homes that he is planning meetings with real estate professionals and wants to develop a list of properties in foreclosure for monitoring.

"We are seeing many more green pools and weed issues in newer homes. Some have never been occupied," Carr said. "We're trying to figure out the best way to approach this problem."

Some tie it to declining home values, adjustable-rate mortgages, discouraged investors and cash-strapped owners.

"It started ramping up during the past six months and I don't see it stopping any time soon," said Ray Villa, acting neighborhood services director for Mesa. "We're getting between five and 10 complaints a week that someone has walked away from a property and is letting it deteriorate," he said.

Villa, who lives in Queen Creek, said one of his own neighbors packed up and left a house. "It's all over the place," he said.

Maricopa County treats abandoned pools to prevent mosquito breeding and the spread of West Nile virus, but that doesn't prevent algae from growing. Carr said the dark green water can be a drowning hazard and the sludge could hide a victim for days. He said Chandler officials are working to decide whether they should drain these pools.

Aimee Upton, an environmental health manager for Maricopa County, said of the 339 green-pool cases turned over for enforcement action since January, more than 100 were at homes "in an ownership change," which included foreclosures.

Figures from previous years were not available. The county routinely obtains court orders to enter abandoned properties with pool violations, treats them with chemicals to kill mosquito larva, then stocks them with mosquito-eating fish, she said.

Most cities have "clean and lien" laws that allow them to cut weeds and bill the property owner. But the legal process can take months, and collection is unlikely when a house is in foreclosure, officials said.

Bill Patena, neighborhood services supervisor for Peoria, said his tactic is to find and repeatedly call the property owners or mortgage holders "because most will come out and spruce up the property. But they only do it when reminded, so we try to call them fairly often," he said.

Patena said he sees a connection between new subdivisions, "exotic" mortgage-lending programs and abandoned homes. "I don't think it's out of control, but we have seen an increase in people abandoning their homes," especially in the newer parts of north Peoria, he said.

Adam Adams, code compliance manager for Gilbert, said he also has noticed an increase in abandoned-home complaints but no concentrations in specific geographic areas. He said a recent complaint came on a house in one of the town's premiere planned communities - The Islands near Cooper and Elliot roads.

"Once the houses are vacated, it's difficult to find the responsible party," he said.

Phoenix code enforcement spokesman David Ramirez and Scottsdale code enforcement manager Malcolm Hankins said there have been no reports of rising code complaints tied to abandoned homes in their cities.

Cynthia Dunham is founder and executive director of The Leadership Centre, a non-profit that promotes homeowner association education and based at Chandler-Gilbert Community College. She said some associations are adding a "refurbishing" expense to their budgets, using assessments made on all properties to keep abandoned ones weed free.

"It is easier to send in a landscaping crew to trim weeds and spray than to have an eyesore," she said. "This is a temporary way to deal with an unfortunate reality."

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