Capitol Hill Seattle Blog brings us this sign of the times this morning:
A soured development project to build a multi-million dollar home on 10th Ave E took an even worse turn when a real estate agent discovered earlier this month that the three-story residence had been stripped of “numerous items” including all appliances and fixtures — even the garage door was missing.
According to a Seattle Police Department report, the property was foreclosed on “after the builder could not sell it.” The home is now for sale from Columbia State Bank, the lender that foreclosed on the property, for $1.5 million. It was listed for between $2.2 and $3.3 million while it was on the market.
An agent of the Columbia State Bank inspected the property on January 21 and found the building to be intact, according to the SPD report. The real estate agent discovered the property had been stripped on February 9. According to the report, the bank employee believes the items removed from the 10th Ave E home may be worth more than $20,000.
The gutting of and/or theft from foreclosed homes has been a growing problem in other parts of the country for some time now. From what I have seen and heard, this issue has not been very common to date here in the Seattle area.
However, with still-elevated unemployment, especially in the construction industry (i.e. – those who would know what to take and how to take it efficiently), is the problem of theft from vacant bank-owned homes going to get worse here? It seems likely.