Evicted owners stripping homes of all valuables

FORECLOSURES | 'They took everything' -- some homes stripped bare by ex-owners   

The home in Orland Park sold for nearly $1 million in 2006. But last April, after the property went into foreclosure, it sold for just $375,000.

Sure, the plunging price reflects a weak housing market. But it also reflects another trend: the evicted former owners had stripped the home of all valuables inside -- including its appliances and its plumbing -- leaving only a skeleton of a structure.

"They took everything," southwest suburban Realtor Patrick Zomparelli said.

Chicago area real estate agents say some of the record numbers of people recently facing foreclosure are gutting their former homes on their way out the door. By the time a lender takes possession, the homes have been stripped of appliances, cabinets, light fixtures, toilets, granite counter tops -- even moldings, real estate agents and law enforcement officials say.

National experts on the problem say the stripped items often end up for sale online at Web sites like Craigslist.

Zomparelli said the Orland Park home "would have been worth at least $500,000 if they hadn't taken everything.'' The thieves are likely getting as little as "10 cents on the dollar'' selling the stripped items.

It's hard to say how common the problem is throughout the area, but Realtor Marki Lemons, who works primarily on the city's South Side, said as many as 90 percent of foreclosed properties in some communities have been stripped clean.

"When these people wreck these houses, that should stick with them," said Zomparelli, of RE/MAX Team 2000. "There should be a judgment against them that they can't buy another house until they pay for what they took and the damages."

That doesn't usually happen because the previous homeowners are often long gone by the time the bank repossesses the home, and it's difficult to prove just who is responsible for the theft, real estate agents say. In some cases, vandals may be to blame, not the previous occupants.

Tedd Bertrand, who works for RE/MAX Showcase and is based in Gurnee, said one in five foreclosed homes he deals with in northeast Lake County have been stripped. That's twice as many as before the subprime mortgage crisis unfolded.

"I've seen this happen at all price ranges, from $40,000 to $1 million," Bertrand said.

Lake County sheriff's police overseeing evictions also see stripped homes, though "it's not rampant by any means," said Sgt. Mike Gregory. Sometimes disputes arise when homeowners being evicted claim they should be able to keep items like lighting fixtures that they themselves installed in the home, but the residents are told they must seek a civil court order to obtain property they believe is rightfully theirs, Gregory said.

"If it's screwed down, it stays,'' he said. "If it's connected, it stays.''

Zomparelli said buyers aren't attracted to the stripped homes because they'll have to pump loads of cash into them just to make them livable.

"I've seen lenders offering people money, saying, 'Just get out by this date, don't damage anything, and we'll give you $2,000,' " Zomparelli said. "You know it's bad when they're doing that."

In Chicago Heights, police arrested a former city building inspector for allegedly stealing the windows out of his foreclosed home.

Sam Hernandez, 36, was charged with trespassing and theft late last month, police said.

His wife, Michelle Hernandez, claimed she and her husband were just trying to "clean up the house'' when police arrested him. The family even hired a laborer to remove a window on the home and replace it with an older window because of a leak, she said.

But according to police, Sam Hernandez told them he was removing windows because he was not done paying for them.

"He arrested himself by telling us all of that,'' Chicago Heights police Cmdr. John Murphy said. "It was his decision. The bank signed the complaint for theft and trespassing.''