Homes in disrepair

After watching the foreclosed home down the street slowly devolve into a state of dilapidation, Mary Dinius said she was forced to take matters into her own hands.

Sick of the untrimmed landscaping, dirty pool and overgrown grass blighting her street, the Mesa North resident paid her gardener an extra $40 to mow her former neighbor’s lawn on Cheyenne Street.

“I don’t have a lawn mower, but if I had one, I would’ve taken it over there and done it myself,” she said. “It hadn’t been done in months!”

Dinius didn’t know the home’s former residents, but it is only one of many foreclosed homes in the Mesa North/Del Mar neighborhood that have slid into a state of disrepair.

While hit only slightly harder than other local neighborhoods, Costa Mesa real estate agent Larry Weichman said the neighborhood reflects a growing pattern: the rise of neglected, foreclosed residences throughout the city that will most likely get worse before it gets better.

“People will no longer take care of the properties because they don’t have any vested interest in them,” he said. “Sometimes you’ll even find them stripped of appliances, or with holes left in the wall.”

“[These homes] will affect the values of surrounding properties — there’s no doubt about it,” he added.

Costa Mesa Chief Code Enforcer Jim Golfos, whose office is charged with tracking down property owners and enforcing building upkeep, said that the city has fielded such complaints about a number of such homes.

Technically, whoever owns a property — in this case, a bank or other loaner — is legally responsible for its maintenance. But, given the vast size and influence of national banks, a number of properties tend to slip through bureaucratic cracks, Golfos said.

“Recently, it took us about three weeks to get through [a lending institution’s] lawyers — that can be a lot harder than dealing with an individual resident,” he said. “But, we still approach it like anything else and try to get them to clean the property up.”

Code enforcement will continue to investigate foreclosures in the city and contact owners of derelict homes, he added.

“This is a phenomenon that just came to light [in] the city three to four weeks ago,” he said. “We’re moving along and compiling a list of all the foreclosed properties we want to keep our eye on.”

He encouraged residents frustrated with a local property not to take Dinius’ route and maintain the properties themselves, but to call his office at (714) 754-5623.

Home foreclosures over the past 111 days:

Costa Mesa:

Homes taken back by lenders/banks: 66

Homes set to auction 21 days or less: 33

Homes served with a notice of default: 149

Newport Beach:

Homes taken back by lenders/banks: 13

Homes set to auction 21 days or less: 15

Homes served with a notice of default: 64

— Source: ForeclosureRadar.com

CHRIS CAESAR may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or at chris.caesar@latimes.com.