I'm in a foreclosure right now. I pay the electric bill and nothing else. Someone named Keith once owned it. I cut off the lock box and pulled the for sale sign. I moved furniture in and speak to my neighbors. They think I bought it. Many of the other houses in the development are foreclosed. If things go bad I'll move in an hour. I'll stay in the area. Its a good school district and my oldest is graduating from high school. I believe the house is owned by a bank in Germany. It was rolled into one of those debt vehicles. Hey, I keep the grass mowed. I'm the cutting edge of the new America. Get behind me and follow.

This is one reason the large numbers of foreclosures are such a problem. Too many vacant homes in a neighborhood drags down the value of every other home in the neighborhood. They also tend to attract crime, which among other things, further accelerates the downward spiral of the neighborhood.

Expect to see an increase in beggars accepting pennies.

Doesn't make sense.

How can copper be worth MORE than the homes. It's like saying a diamond is worth more than the whole engagement ring, or a car is worth less than its scrap value.

At worst, the homes are worth nothing more than the copper.

This is hardly a 'high paying' endeavor.

Looting of abandoned properties for scrap metal occurs when people can't earn money any other way. It's not just junkies - indeed it's harder work than most would bother with.

This is also a sign that we have a serious UNEMPLOYMENT problem. People are willing to work - and work hard. This is NOT easy work given the returns. Ever do demolition work?

Same factor is at work with the theft of catalytic convertors from cars.

Of course all this is now FAR easier with the availablity of cheap affordable battery powered sawzall's made in CHina........lol

This is a growing problem that has been around long before the "slowing economy." Thieves are thieves, and even in a booming economy they will still be stealing stuff. That's their job.

In my city we had a rash of copper thieves hitting streetlights. They would use trucks and appear to be city workmen and then open the poles near the bottom and strip the copper from the inside.