MD homeowners may be charged an upkeep fee

In some regions of the country, the number of foreclosures continues to rise. A fee is intended to address several of the troubles associated with foreclosures. One Maryland county is hoping that fee could be the solution. Allowing a home to fall into disrepair would also trigger a legal charge, under this new bill. Resource for this article – Maryland charging a foreclosure maintenance fee by MoneyBlogNewz.

Foreclosure rate in Maryland high

Ever since the 2008 housing collapses, MD has had lots of foreclosures. Prince George County in Maryland has had one foreclosure for every 457 homes thus far in 2011. In Prince George County, the property value is decreasing while inventory goes up. This is because now of the homes are being maintained well. This is bad in the first place. Add on top of that, that the Prince George County tax revenues are going down, and it is disaster.

Appeal for foreclosure fees

In order to do something with homes that aren't maintained, Prince George County has been trying to appeal to state lawmakers. Foreclosure costs on foreclosed homes of $75 a year would be a fee charged by the county. A county fund would be where all the money goes. It would pay contractors to clean abandoned houses up. Essentially, it would be one more payment on the short term installment loans of foreclosures. The county would also be given the right to send inspectors to check on foreclosed homes.

Reason the reason why foreclosure costs are unlikely

Property values would improve a lot with the short term loan that a foreclosure fee would be. It would help the foreclosed homes stay taken care of. The fee wouldn't be easy to get. It would become a severe issue. The $75 fee would not be collected from the homeowner in debt by the county. However, that means the county may be trying to collect a per-house fee from banks that own the properties and are not maintaining them. The county would have to discover a way to make sure that the payment gets paid. It can be done by simply creating a civil misdemeanor offense for not “keeping a property up to neighborhood standards.”

Citations

Washington Examiner

washingtonexaminer.com/local/maryland/2011/02/pg-council-wants-charge-fee-foreclosure-cleanups