Ugh!

There is always something new in this business.

Yesterday I looked at an REO house. I had attended the foreclosure sale a few months ago & the bank took it back. It just came on the market so my realtor & I went to see it. It is a small 2 br only 4 years old. Everything looked good when we walked in until we saw the walls. The sheetrock was damaged like I had never seen, but not the usual fist-size holes. The damage ran up to the ceiling. Then as we walked around & noticed the damage was above each electrical outlet, we realized what happened:

someone had pulled out the electrical wires all over the house. We then called the listing agent & she had a fit as she had just been there the day before.

The doors were locked & there were no broken windows so the best guess is that the previous owners or someone with a key came back. Looks like some angry people. I made an offer but now I am wondering what other damage there might be.

Dennis

Dennis,

Welcome to the wonderful world of copper thieves. My family has a house that has been vacant for a couple of years in a not so good neighborhood and the copper thieves came in and stripped out all the electrical wires just as you mentioned in this house. They were even brazen enough to take the wire that led from the pole to the breaker box (while it was still hot!!!). We found a very mangled pair of pliers that had melted when they used them to disconnect this line. Needless to say all the sheetrock in the house is ruined as they just rip the wires up through it to get them out.

Only good news for us is the house will be bulldozed anyway once we sell as the place is being sold as commercial property.

Heck lately they are even stealing bronze statues (as bronze is mostly made up of copper) around town in the parks…

Jad