Due to the state of the banking industry in the past year there has been a lot of turbulence in neighborhoods. I would say around mid-2008 the number of foreclosures increased dramatically. On top of the new foreclosures, Oakland does have pockets where homes were sitting empty because they were too pricey for people to buy due to the speculation of the past 5 years. As a result of all of the “flippers” and other speculators, during the "housing bubble" many of these homes were not remotely worth the asking price.
The situation on the streets had been brewing for months, properties in previously undesirable locations and homes selling for near a million dollars sat empty. What does this have to do with my house? Let me tell you.
When you have a whole legion of houses that have been laying empty for extended amounts of time you have some common side affects, vandalism and theft. I have seen this multiple times. If a house sits empty for any extended amount of time, people are going to make use of it whether they are supposed to or not. Things like squatting and looting become prevalent. The best way to say it is people went shopping.
Some one took the garbage disposal.
(I did not know they where sought after items)
Washing my face will be a challenge... no vanity or sink.
I am not sure of the actual culprits. I will not blame it on the neighborhood because that does not seem fair. Some of this could have been done by the previous occupants. I can tell you this though: someone did not behave very nicely.
Of particular of notice to me were the acts of minor of vandalism. As you can see in the above photo the garbage disposal was removed. Someone in their need for a hasty exit, left then the water on. It was not a shooting geyser but rather a gentle but STEADY spring of a bout a .10 of an ounce per minute. This may not seem like very much water but believe me is adds up over time. Imagine every hour you walked into your kitchen and poured a tall coffee (Starbucks size) onto the floor. If one were to do this 24 hours a day it would be about 7 gallons per week (mind you this is my best guess by eyeballing it.) Needless to say the sub floor and the cabinets where ruined. It had also leaked into the basement below and rotted some of the wood in the wall. The basement below had a fair amount of stagnant water in it including one of the light fixtures. At the time of discovery my brother and I turned off the water at the main so it can at least dry out. Needless to say the damage was done.
Also during the time of its listing it was real-estate agents and building inspectors left their mark as well (ripped up carpet and holes punched in drywall.) With all of this it did not seem so bad. Fix a couple of thing s and move right in right? Well yes and no…
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