Foreclosures: Cities take on unwelcome caretaker role

An increasing number of empty homes across Dakota County and the increasing number of empty desks in local city government offices are combining to cast an unseemly shadow on neighborhoods more accustomed to a focus on pride of ownership.

The dire economy, which has led to an explosion in foreclosed properties, also has cut deeply into city budgets. Towns such as Lakeville and Burnsville simply don't have the manpower to attend to the abandoned homes, some of which have become eyesores at the least and health hazards in the extreme.

"It's a challenge," Lakeville Community and Economic Development Director Dave Olson said. "On top of everything else, [attending to the homes] is not revenue generating."

Ron Anderson has been a property inspector for Burnsville since 1999 and said his department has been overwhelmed by the steep rise in foreclosures. Burnsville established an ordinance earlier in the year that called for its staff of home inspectors to take care of any issues involving foreclosed homes, with the cost being reimbursed through a special assessment on the property.

But when budget cuts reduced the staff of two full-time and one part-time employee down to one inspector, the workload was overwhelming. The ordinance was rescinded over the summer. Lakeville also is down to one inspector.

Olson said his department relies on a monthly list of sheriff's sales provided by the Dakota County Community Development Agency to stay on top of foreclosures in Lakeville. A sheriff's sale involves the county taking over the responsibility of selling the property. Other abandoned homes are sold through short sale, with the mortgage holder selling the property for less than its value in hopes of at least recouping the money owed on it.

There have been 1,349 sheriff's sales in the county through September. Last year's sheriff's sales totalled 2,063. Apple Valley, Burnsville, Eagan and Lakeville all had in the neighborhood of 300. The numbers are down slightly this year.

"Some banks are better than others [in keeping up the maintenance of the property]," Olson said. "But a lot of holders of these mortgages are from out of state, which sometimes means problems can develop."

Once a house is secured, the city no longer has access to the inside without a court order. And it is inside where the real problems can develop.

Many of the worst cases involve a broken water main that ends up flooding parts of the home. Left undetected, that leads to mold problems. Cities will be proactive in the coming weeks to make sure water and gas lines are turned off in the empty homes.

Such damage can be particularly troublesome in a townhouse, where units usually share common walls. Olson said the city has had to hire contractors to strip a home down to its studs to eradicate some problems.

Burnsville has a 10-day ordinance for lawns, Anderson said, which stipulates how long a homeowner can go between cutting the grass during the summer. Lakeville allows grass to grow to eight inches before requiring the lawn to be cut.

As city councils and city staffs have had to cut their budgets, one mantra has been the need to avoid cutting services. Councils and staffs converge again this month to begin establishing budgets for 2010, knowing that some things just aren't possible.