City to clean up messy yards of foreclosed homes | Development

Have you noticed how nice a home for sale looks? Whether it is listed by the owner or repossessed?

That's because it's hard to sell a mess.

But it's a different story with foreclosed homes not yet for sale.
 
"They are very neglected. Many things can happen -- graffiti, grass grows, trees," said real estate broker Robin Stanko.

Some homes will sit in weedy limbo for years. A Federal Way home caught fire and was condemned. Now, it's owned by a finance company. Neighbors asked the city to do something:

"A year after there was a fire in the home, and it was clear no one was going to pursue doing anything to it. We started calling. And that's taken years, yeah, at least five," said neighbor Tina Moorhead.

Neighbors keep their grass green, their flowers fertilized. But they say the burned-out house is hurting their values.

Federal Way is listening and has a new law that allows the city to clear up yard messes. It's a result of foreclosure messes.

"We had noticed there had an increasing amount of dumping or overgrowth on some of these properties that had been abandoned because of the foreclosure process, for bankruptcy," said Patrick Doherty of Federal Way community development.

The home is one of two the city identified where they might move in, clean up and put liens on the properties. Enforcement begins June 20.

"I've seen some of the others in the area, and I wouldn't mind having this number one," said Moorhead.

If you live in Federal Way and alongside a mess, don't get your hopes up. The truth is the city may not have enough money to clean them all up; there is only $85,000 in the budget.

The city says before it acts, it will ask property owners to clean up messy yards. It expects the $85,000 in the budget is enough to handle complaints this year.

As for next year, well, the city says that's a question mark.