Foreclosed Homes Trashed During "Sharpie Parties"

Its that type of thinking that scares the hell out of me for our future.

Kids raising kids that have not grown up them self, that is all this is.. Spoiled little brats
tearing up what they can because its 'fun'.

It is sad to see that the younger generation, thinks this is a ok response. Where is your dignity,
where is your self pride? someone posted that they have taken their dignity... Never
You can go through hell and come out on the other side, but you can still have dignity and pride.


Yes big banks and the lot are screwing people, and its not right at all that families have to leave their home. But for someone not personally involved in it, to go in and destroy things just shows how much of a child they are.

The new generation in general (not all) are spoiled and think things should be handed to them, no respect for anyone or anything if its not what makes them happy.

Children solve things out of anger, adults solve things out of intelligence.

As always the news focus on the damaged property of the bank and not on the damaged life of the evicted family/person.

I am not condoning vandalism, but in some cases I do understand the frustration of the people involved.
Buhu poor bank...

Okay, I'll bite. I'm a Realtor who has been listing foreclosures for the past four years. I have seen this type of damage although I never heard of the term " Sharpie Party". I do occupancy checks to determine if the previous owner or tenant is still occupying the property, I am there for the Sheriff lock outs, I am there at court when an owner is trying to save their ownership of a property, and I'm there when it's been vacated. All sorts of scenarios. I get it, the dream they had once of "making it" through the seemingly never ending increase in value in real estate.
I have seen tenants completely surprized and nearly panick when they learn the house they just paid rent on is a foreclosure. I have been lied to, I have had to call a previous owner to leave the tenants alone and to quit taking materials from the house they just lost. I have seen the desperate look in a previous owner's eyes asking me "what do i do now?". But nevermind, that's not what you guys want to hear.
I have also seen the ridiculous level of greed on the part of sellers and buyers during the "boom". I have seen sellers try to cover up damage they neglected to repair, trying to pass it on to yet another greedy buyer who only cared how much equity they would rack up by close of escrow. I have seen the arrogance of people who were "playing the real estate market" during the boom acting as if that 100K they "made" in equity was money they actually earned.
This foreclosure mess is a mess that's not going to go away quickly and it's not one that has clear cut heroes and villains. Right now , the popular opinion has it that the banks are to blame and I agree with that to a point. But, as usual, the very people who voice that popular opinion "forget" it was they who partnered with the very banksters who created these loans that they, too, helped create their own demise.

So, what exactly is accomplished by this silly sort of thing?

No, not silly... Criminal.

Is it to teach a lesson? Really? What lesson is that?

I lost my home, too. Wasn't because the "evil" bankers foreclosed on me, or anything of the sort... It's because I got in over my head...I walked into it with my eyes open, and signed that loan agreement...I jumped through all the hoops, dotted the I's, and crossed the t's.

Cool, I had my home. Ecstasy. Then about a year later... Where the hell is all my money going? Duh...

Very unhappy situation... So I did what I had to do...I sold it. Didn't want to, had to... I sold it at a loss, and my credit was, not to put it too bluntly, destroyed.

No ones fault but MINE... No one tied me down and forced me to accept the loan... It was my responsibility.

People lose their homes...and that flat sucks.

But what does this sort of behaviour accomplish exactly? It teaches the banks nothing. Nothing at all.

All it is is a glorified bunch of children crayoning a wall... Pitiful. Not heroic. Pitiful.

reply to post by jude11


I never said ANYTHING like that. What I said was that it's a crime against the neighbors of those homes to destroy them. If a bank forecloses on you and you want to squat (and not destroy it in the process) fine. But destroying the property only hurts the people living around the homes. And it's a fact that the vast majority of vandalism and squating is not being done by those being evicted but by those scouting out foreclosed homes to party, live and or commit crimes in. I watch the foreclosed homes around me, I have no problem going in and dragging a squatter out if it means protecting the value of my neighborhood.

Originally posted by Sergeant Stiletto
While I understand and sympathize with the sentiment behind this, it's just juvenile and wrong.

What if every time someone didn't like an outcome they behaved like this? It's uncivil and it's criminal. It seems the height of irony and ignorance to be pissed off at the banks uncivil and possibly criminal behavior only to do the same.

Plus think of the natural resources wasted on revenge as well as the even further devalued properties surrounding these homes...

Said absolutely perfectly...There are so many ways to make change in the world without destroying a single thing, but it would take work and most people on here don't want anything to do with that!

Vandals having fun, not high minded rebels attacking the Man.

Want to hurt the banks? take your money out of them and put it in a Credit Union or something. What? thats not much fun? sorry.

It doesn't seem to be a trend just yet.

Plenty of stuff is blown out of proportion by the media.

The crime by banksters wasnt putting people in homes they couldnt afford, BUT knowingly greenlighting credits to people who have not the means to pay them back, with the intention to sell off those credits so that somebody else would be stuck with the bad credit.

The banksters did that with total disregard on the havoc it would wreak on the credit score for the family in question, whom, after living in a nice home they werent able to afford to begin with, were off far worse than before they moved in.

If the banksters would have been honest many of these people who get evicted wouldnt have been in a home to begin with, or in a more modest one that is within their means, so enough of the "putting them on the street talk" and blame them for what they did, ruining their financial means.

Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe
Two wrongs don't make a right.

Sorry.
Vandalism is vandalism.
Sure, the banks are predatory....that doesn't mean that gives people the right to act like animals.

Whenever i go to vandalize a bathroom stall...I make sure they know...by writing I hate vandals all over the wall.

And people my friend are animals...we just pretend not to be.....

A few yars back I bought a 250k$ home for less than a quarter of that because the county required special has mat clean up crews to clean the human waste up. i hires a crew to clean it faked the paperwork rehabed the home and cleared over 100k$ on the sale. thank you idiots

I think I can add a few things to this thread. I'll try to be brief. First, I am the guy who goes in and cleans/repairs these foreclosed homes for hud. The one in shown in the video is pretty bad, but not all that uncommon. The guy says that's the worst he has seen in 15 years of real estate? Well he must not deal in foreclosures too often. I'd say probably about 10% of the homes in our area are left in that condition or worse.

Do I agree w/ it? Yes and no. I can certainly understand it. It's a very sad job going into a home and cleaning up someones previous life. Particularly sad when you get to the pink or baby blue bedroom of the house and see the choo-choo train stickers or pretty flowers all over the bedroom wall. Makes you wonder what happened to the previous family and wonder if they and their kids are still safe and happy...

Do the banks care? Not one iota. They could give two chits if the house is destroyed or not. The dirty work is left to people like me. They get their money. Someone mentioned insurance, fha / hud is insurance. The government pays for the damages, I know this may not be the case for conventional loans, but I work with hud so I only speak of what I know. I am sure the banks making the conventional loans make their money too. From what I can see probably 2-4 times over, regardless of the condition of the home.

As for me, I bought my home in 2006. Made payments on time every month. My home is not upside down. I went through a divorce and missed six payments. Made 18 payments on time after missing the six. I have applied for every "modification" and assistance available. Its all a joke. The bank will make more money foreclosing on me. They have sued to foreclose on me. I saved up the money to pay in full all arrears and reinstate the loan. They wont take the money. They want me out. More money for them. So now I have hired an attorney. I have at least 9 months left in my home before they can kick me out. I have to look at my children as we pack and when they ask where are we going? I don't have an answer. All I know is that I am probably better off than most in the situation because I did not get in over my head and have a few bucks saved. Unfortunately my credit was destroyed during the divorce.

Will I destroy my home? No. I respect my neighbors and the home. There are already dozens of foreclosed homes in my neighborhood of 324 homes. Most sit on the market for about two years. There is no need for me to make the situation worse. However I do understand those who decide to take that measure, and completely understand.

I'm sort of on the fence with this one but one foot is definitely on the grass of the Sharpie side. I don't normally advocate for property destruction but I see something of value in these actions.

Cries for justice by a large amount of Americans have fallen on deaf ears. Our government has come straight out and said that very little to no prosecutions will occur against bankers/banks that committed fraud against the people, which happens to affect many more people than just the ones evicted. And more so, very little is being to change the loopholes... if anything the foreclosure rate seems to be increasing.

If our national demand for justice is to be blatantly ignored, in what manner do we fight back? How do we go about telling our elected officials and their pimp corporate/banker masters that we aren't just going to lay down and take it?

Do people not realize the epidemic being perpetrated against us while the banks wait for the next housing bubble? One bank can hold blocks of property and not sell a single house even to people who can afford them, they are just holding them because they don't want to sell them at today's market value. Do people not realize what this does to neighborhoods and towns? And all the while the homeless rate climbs adding more tax burden on people who have managed to hang on to what they have in this economy that was destroyed by who again? Oh yeah, banks!

It won't stay sharpies and property destruction for long. This really is only a baby step, we are in crisis.

I understand the need for sweet revenge. Losing one's home is extremely painful. But when it comes down to it, the bank doesn't care. We want them to care, but they are soul-less.

The lesson in this for me, watching other people lose their homes, as been to never buy what I cannot afford. Don't put the cart before the horse, and don't count on anything when it comes to job/home security. A sad but true reality.

Originally posted by severdsoul


The new generation in general (not all) are spoiled and think things should be handed to them, no respect for anyone or anything if its not what makes them happy.

I agree with what you say. The problem does start with the parents, not teaching their children the concept of money and how it works. They think it just materializes in their parents' bank accounts, so that they can buy them more stuff. When a parent does not teach their child about money, encourage them to earn it, and learn how to spend it properly, they are doing a big disservice to that child. Then you end up with adult children who are deep in debt with their credit cards, and cannot pay their bills because eating out and electronics or entertainment is what becomes important in their 20's to mid 30's. Then the adult children wake up and realize that they screwed up and want momma or daddy to fix it all by borrowing money or moving back home.

I say we teach the kids early on about money, and really encourage them to learn how to save it and spend it wisely.

reply to post by Sergeant Stiletto


Normally I would agree with you. That it is the homeowner's failing.

But, the big banks fumbled on this. Not only did they cause this mess, they were given money for a bailout on the condition that they help homeowner's out of foreclosure. They used the money to pad their numbers instead.

So I really can't drum up any sympathy, whatever the individual case may be.

Though I think runing the outside property only hurts your neighbors.

Originally posted by texasgirl

Originally posted by littled16
We bought our home years before the whole housing "bubble" hit, but we got it dirt cheap because the previous owners were foreclosed on and had ripped out every permanent fixture in the house out of anger. If not for the previous owners doing that we could not have afforded our home.

We were able to move in for 5% down plus $500 closing cost with a 21 year note of under $400 per month at a high- but fixed- interest. We were able to pay the house off in less than 11 years, which knocked off a LOT of what we'd have paid in interest, and we own our home free and clear! It just took time and work and we fixed things up as we could afford it. Nothing fancy but it's all ours!

If it weren't for the previous owners vandalizing the place we never could have afforded a house this big with such a huge yard. I'm grateful to them! Maybe these "Sharpie Parties" will give other people the opportunity to own their own home too!

Homes may be much cheaper now but it's alot harder to qualify for a loan and come up with a 20% down payment.

That's the way it was when we got OUR home. We didn't have 20% down or credit like Bill Gates, but I needed a bigger house and yard and decided that the worst thing that could happen was that I could be turned down. I started walking into banks and real estate agencies asking what kind of good deals might they have on foreclosed homes until I found something that met my requirements size-wise as well as budget-wise.

The house we got needed a LOT of work, and the interest rate was sky high (12%) due to our crappy credit at the time. But the down payment and closing costs were CHEAP because of all the damage, and they were willing to finance us even with bad credit rather than have to pump thousands of dollars to contractors in order to put it on the market. We did the work ourselves and the notes were cheap enough (less than half of what our friends notes were) that we paid double notes every month allowing us to own it in less than 11 years.

You can find deals like we did, but ain't nobody coming to knock at your door to offer them to you. You have to start pounding the pavement and looking real hard. And don't just call them asking- go in person and look them in the eye when you ask. The worst they can do is say no.

I'm ok with this. If the bankers can break the laws and instead of being arrested for it, be reimbursed by the government then I see no problem with these people breaking the law. My parents bought a house in Maryland back in 1998, they paid up on the house well into the housing crisis then the bubble broke and my dad lost his primary source of income (he was a financial adviser) and had to retrain a new job. Naturally, the house was foreclosed on. While this was going on the siding on the house was falling off due to storm damage. The state government actually sent people over to try to get us to fix the siding. The house insurance wouldn't cover it because it was one small spot and would require residing the whole house. In the end my parents just left it as is when the bank kicked my parents out (by the way they gave my parents exactly 3 days to vacate the premises, no small task when the house is loaded with stuff).

My point being that honest, hard working people were affected by this as well.

reply to post by cosmicexplorer

There are so many ways to make change in the world

Name one.

One that won't get you arrested, fined, beaten by police, put on a no-fly list, labeled a terrorist?

Just one way that we can all follow that actually will produce results of any kind.

Peace

Can someone tell me the loss to a person who is foreclosed on? There is no equity in these houses, and so if anything it is about the same as being evicted from a rental property, but in many cases the foreclosure person stays much longer not paying anything during that time.

Banks do not want this...they lose their ass in every foreclosure, so it is not something they plan for in an attempt to screw someone over to make money....the only person who makes money is the person who holds the sharpie party to trash a house they want to flip, and so they get it at a much lower value after it is trashed.