I wonder if the bank will follow up with criminal charges?

Now someone correct me if I am wrong. Selling your house goes into paying back the loan you defaulted on, right? So doing this is like shooting yourself int he foot. Also, can the person who the property was sold to now have this guy arrested for destruction of property? I think we need some new laws on this. Not just for people trashing houses. In many cases lately, people have been leaving their pets in the home, then leaving. The animals destroy the house trying to get out, and by the time someone buys the house and goes to check it out, the animals are either dead, or so close they have to be put down. I heard about this on NPR, and I have to say it sickens me.

I sympathize with the guy for losing his house but I just don't understand why people think its ok to trash a property just because you got foreclosed on. Yes, its unfortunate what happened to the owner but doesn't he think he might have just a little bit of responsibility in how things played out?

They should...I mean, technically, he came onto their property and vandalized it...It's definitely an unfortunate, ugly situation, but I'm pretty sure this wasn't the best way to handle it.

@Toof_75_75: Sorry, this was supposed to have been in response to "laserjobs".

Gee, this guy sounds like such a mature, responsible person. I can't imagine how he would have trouble making mortgage payments.

I'm glad i'm not this guy's neighbor. I feel bad for him if he fell for a scam, but he is the one who didn't make his payments in the first place. No reason to act like a jackass to the rest of your neighborhood.

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->:

My understanding is that California is a no-recourse state, meaning that once you walk away from the house, the bank can't come after you for the difference between what they sell the house for and what you owe on it.

As far as the pet thing, I don't get that either - how you could have a pet living with you, looking up at you with those kitty-cat eyes, and then just leave it to die.

Did he write "Douche" bank or "Deutsche" bank, b/c I don't see a "t" in his writing.

This would not have turned ugly if Woot would have sent him the black ear buds to match his black ipod.

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: If the thing about the animals is true, that's really sickening. I hope to god it's not, but considering what certain people are willing to do to animals when they're stressed and upset, it really wouldn't be a surprise.

Like Deutsche Bank gives a flying f***.

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->:
Our family business is land surveying. We survey properties in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan for buyers. One of the scariest things you can find when surveying an abandoned foreclosed property is evidence of a dog. You know it's going to be a rottweiler or a pit bull and it is going to be hungry or dead.

@sir_pantsalot: Well played! LOL

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: I have a feeling this guy wan't going to payback any portion of the defaulted loan reguardless of how large or small the amount is. See that's part of the whole "Fuck it!" crowd. That's just how they roll. They don't give a fuck. I can't do it. I'm just not hardcore enough.

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: Getting your house foreclosed on is harsh, but that is just uncalled for. I would seriously go apeshit if I saw somebody doing that to their pet. F-ing ridiculous.

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: I believe animal cruelty is a felony in most states.

Forget trash in the yard. An easy 3/4 slice through the support beams in the basement with a chainsaw is definately the way to send a message.

Just make sure you do it while you still own the house. You can't vandalize your own house, right?

Just don't try to collect an insurance claim.

@abernie: Nobody thinks they have responsibility to actually make payments on time... well, at least the people who aren't making payments on time. Then their house is foreclosed, and they pull shit like this, and blame the bank for not being more lenient. I feel bad for these folks, I really do, but it's a preventable situation.

I once was doing a historic survey of a house that had been purchased by the State of Utah so a bridge could be built. The kids of the previous owners went into it, had a party and trashed the house. The state made the previous owners fix all the damage. They thought the house was going to razed, but the state planned on moving it and selling it for affordable housing.

If you saw more people held accountable for damages, it might happen less. Then again, how are you going to make someone pay who just lost everything? I gusess it all comes down to your own values.

@sir_pantsalot: ROFLMAO. Nicely done!

@darkjedi26: No kidding. A foreclosed home is already dropping the neighbor's property value. Now that he's trashed the place, I'm sure it'll take months for the bank to even begin to think about cleaning up. This is just an asshole move on every level.

@sleze69: You can't vandalize your own house, right?

I imagine it would fall into some manner of safety or standards violation that you could be-- in the very least-- fined for.

I like how people blame the banks when they get foreclosed on. They are not keeping up their end of the contract. Even if the bank "swindled" you, its your signature and you should know what you are getting into. I did not jump in and buy a home and I get no bailout. Instead I make good sound financial decisions, outside of buying cigars and coffee once in a while.

@darkjedi26: If I was his neighbor, I would've shot him and called the police.

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: I was thinking the same thing. Fitting, I suppose.

I used to clean foreclosed houses with my cousin back in high school (around 1995). You'd be amazed how many people do this.

More often than not the houses would be torn up, doors kicked down, carpet ruined (you don't want to know how many ways people can ruin carpet). At one house the owner had given their kids markers and literally had them run around the whole house marking up the walls.

At least once a week we had a house that smelled so bad you couldn't stay inside for more than about 5 minutes. We'd buy these deodorizing bombs and set them off then come back a few days later to finish up.

@strathmeyer: A brilliant scheme. What could possibly go wrong?

@madanthony: @SybilDisobedience: @BrianDaBrain: @howie_in_az: [www.npr.org]

Some do it to spite the new owners, some do it b/c they think the animal will be "good" on it's own.

@BrianDaBrain: Have to say that your statement isn't even close in a majority of cases. I'm currently in forclosure status on my house because my husband (who makes all the money) decided he didn't want to be married anymore and filed for divorce and moved out....leaving the mortgage unpaid for 4 months unbeknownst to me until I got the notice in the mail after he was gone. By that time I was almost $10,000 in the hole on payments and had a job that pays only half of what the full amount due monthly is. As soon as I found out about the non-payment by my spouse, I contacted my lender to try and work out something with them; they wouldn't budge (it's Countrywide so that should say something right there!). I spent hours and then days on the phone with so many of their "specialists" and different departments trying to find some way that I could save my home. It's now 7 months later and my house is for sale with a local real estate company and hopefully I'll be able to get enough from a sale (if it can be sold) to cover the debt or at least get close enough to get a short sale. In my case, and in a lot of others (where people were fired or laid off permenantly) there just isn't any money to make the payment or not enough to appease the money hungry loan holders. I've spent the last 5 months trying to find work and there just isn't any jobs that pay a decent wage because the economy crunch is effecting businesses as well and they're not wanting to hire new staff. I've got a job at $7.50 an hour, no vehicle, and two kids and praying that I find something soon.....

@sleze69: Besides, that's Florida man. You would not catch anyone dead on the bay with a basement.

@sleze69: And then get sued when the new people move in and die :P

@sleze69: You can in cases of domestic disputes. I.E. if I throw a lamp/push it over while argueing with my SO, even if it wasn't at her, and it was my own lamp, I could still get arrested.

I do like your solution b/c it isn't necessarily "destructive". Like rather than flattening someones tires, I take the "stem" out of the valve, and leave it there. It empties the air out, and unless you have spare stems/a tool to re-insert it, you can't re-inflate it. But it isn't destructive. Your method will still support the house, but a quick daughterboarding should repair it.

@njovin: Way OT, but how do you get started in a business like that?

@njovin: We have lots of skunks in Upstate NY. A couple of dead ones scraped off the highway and tossed into the living room will make a house uninhabitable. You'd have to burn it down.

I saw this story on the local news and remember hearing the house had been in the family for 30-40 years. So, in that timeframe, shouldn't the mortgage have been paid off by now? This house would have appreciated astronomically in the last decade (SF Bay Area) so did the guy take out a home equity loan or something and now owes more than the house is worth? Regardless, it's immature to trash the house but if there aren't any criminal or monetary repercussions, I can see why it happens.

@The_Red_Monkey: I seriously regret not going for the $300K home while I was in college only to get forclosed on, get bailed-out and get to keep it. Hindsight is 20/20.

You all are being too hard on this guy.

"Gee, this guy sounds like such a mature, responsible person."

"Yes, its unfortunate what happened to the owner but doesn't he think he might have just a little bit of responsibility in how things played out?"

"No reason to act like a jackass to the rest of your neighborhood."

Seriously? It's easy to tsk-tsk about other people's responsibilities, but this isn't hard to understand. He thought he was getting one thing, got something way worse, got thrown out of his home, and took revenge. I'm sure he's very sorry that this does not comport with some people's ideas of personal responsibility and neighborliness.

The system we use for financing homeownership has failed to function properly, and a lot of people got lied to, ripped off, and generally screwed so that someone else could make a profit. When the system doesn't work, and the government is fiddling around with it, people are going to take things into their own hands.

I suspect that years from now, Mr. Williams person will remember fondly the time when he got the shaft and threw it in the bank's face.

There's a story out of Maryland that a guy sent a comment through the official Md. website, threatening to choke the governor if he ever saw him...this guy was pretty angry, and the courts fined him and put him on unsupervised probation. What you do in response to a situation can really turn on you... it's sad this guy lost his house, but his response to the situation clearly gives a better idea of what kind of individual he was to begin with. Everyone acts in passion, and finding out you've lost your home is definitely a trigger...I commend the man for seeking help, but not doing the proper research to go through a reputable and OFFICIAL bank or lending group is what got him into a bigger mess to begin with.

@Skybolt: Taking revenge is never a good thing.

This is nothing new, unfortunately. It happens around here regularly. I feel sorry for the guy in the story, since he apparently got duped, but people being foreclosed tend to get really angry and do irrational things. My friend's wife works in real estate and told us about a very expensive house in a suburb near where I live. The house was worth probably $800,000. The owners got foreclosed and had to move out, then the bank tried to sell the house.

When the owners moved out, they left all their windows wide open (no screens), and filled their giant soaking tub in the master bath with birdseed. In no time at all, the house was TRASHED. The smell was horrendous. Usually, banks are reluctant to spend any money on having houses cleaned or fixed up (I walked through plenty of messy townhouses being foreclosed with my friend when she was house shopping recently - though not THAT messy) when they are just trying to unload them. And if the house goes to auction, buyers have to bid on the house "as-is" and often can't even tour the house first.

I don't know what ended up happening in the case of the "bird house." Pretty creepy.

@BrianDaBrain: Indeed!

Will a jury convict this guy? I don't think so. Especially in the the bay area.

Imagine it was all a paperwork error and now he screwed up his own house. Yikes.

@abernie: I thought he was scammed out of his house? Now hes scamming the scammers.

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: Oh, I can just picture it.
"Well, I'm getting foreclosed on; me and the kids will have to be out pretty quick. But this is an opportunity for Rex! He'll finally get to live like a true wild animal! You know...locked in a dark, stuffy house. With no temperature control. And no food. And no water. And no opportunity for escape.
"...Just like nature intended."

Ugh.

I guess he got the last laugh in the end. I mean, he lost his house. There is no "he could have handled it better" or "think next time before you act" routine to do. You are KICKED out of your house. I would have done the same. It is easy for people who have no problems like this to look down on others but when the system plays hardball and fucks you, you lash out, and fuck them back.

I applaud him for his balls. I would have done the same.

Foreclose on me? O yeah???

Try making money off it now assholes. LoL

I don't know...I can't imagine it being so b/c it seems like so many politicians don't value animals like people are purposely try to keep them categorized as "property", though I'm not entirely certain.

I think it SHOULD be, and in a perfect world animal abusers would get the same treatment they gave the animals, but I just can't beleive it for some reason.

Wow - you gotta work pretty hard to make a property like that look worse. On the other hand, the mess might distract from the toolshed-like architecture of the dwelling and therefore enhance its appeal.