Last month, MortageOrb.com examined the plight of pets left behind when homeowners leave their homes due to foreclosure. By most accounts, this disturbing trend is expected to worsen as borrowers' financial woes continue.
But unfortunately, significant animal-related consequences of the mortgage market's breakdown extend beyond Fido and Fluffy, who are increasingly likely to find unwelcome company in and around their former owners' homes.
As spring turns to summer, rising temperatures and abundant vegetation, growing unchecked by a lawnmower and aided by cool, rainy weather in many regions, have caused unmanageable numbers of foreclosed properties to morph into miniature zoos.
In a scene repeated at homes across the country, rats, snakes, foxes and unspecified ‘large mammals,’ along with the standard ticks and mosquito swarms, took up residence at a previously pristine property in Manassas, Va., that was abandoned by its foreclosure-saddled former owners, reported Nick Miroff in a recent Washington Post article examining the new domestic wildlife problem.
With public safety and health – not to mention resale potential, neighborhood appeal and adjacent homes' values – at stake, what should be done to fight this unprecedented number of potentially disease-carrying and frequently disconcerting invaders? And how much responsibility rests with mortgage servicers and their partners?
‘We're hopeful that the real estate community and banking community will do what they can with the property entrusted in their care,’ Michelle Casciato, neighborhood services coordinator in Prince William County, Maryland, told the Post.
She added, however, that Prince William County will need to allocate an estimated $1.2 million this summer for lawn-mowing expenses alone, as only about half of the unoccupied homes will likely be maintained by mortgage firms and their associated parties.
Furthermore, according to the article, the suburban Maryland county has only one mosquito-abatement inspector, and hundreds of calls from residents concerned with foreclosure-triggered West Nile virus outbreaks are expected in the next few months.
To cope with this particular segment of the critter invasion at unoccupied properties, field services providers and others may wish to enlist the services of a proven, reliable vendor that won't require contracts or compliance reviews: the Gambusia affinis, also known as the mosquito fish.
This tiny swimmer has proven invaluable in California, Florida, Arizona and other areas where both swimming pools and foreclosures are especially popular, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article by Michael Corkery. The mosquito fish can eat up to 500 mosquito larvae every day – providing both environmental and labor-saving benefits by eliminating the need for repeated pesticide applications.
The mosquito-foreclosure connection is well documented. For example, in Santa Clara County, Calif., more than half of the swimming pools recently identified by the Vector Control District as potential breeding grounds for the insects were on foreclosed properties.
A total of 400 of the 700 pools being monitored in the county have undergone foreclosure, according to a KCBS report. Officials provide mosquito fish not only at abandoned properties but also to financially strapped homeowners who are not in default (yet?) but are no longer able to afford proper pool maintenance.
Even so, the scaly servants have yet to gain acceptance with many firms in charge of maintaining vacant properties, Corkery's article adds – although much of the reluctance may be due to misperception.
‘People think some trout-sized thing is going to be swimming around in there clogging up the vents,’ Carlos Sanabria, mosquito control district operations manager for Contra Costa County, Calif., told the newspaper. ‘I explain it's not something you are going to have for dinner.’
In an era when animals – both homeowners' beloved pets and the trespassers that arrive when those homeowners leave – are creating new complications for the mortgage industry, perhaps we should take advantage of any and all animals, like the mosquito fish, that, conversely, might be of great help.
– Jessica Lillian, Commercial Mortgage Insight
