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The house that nobody wanted
September 29, 2009 at 5:19 am
By MAC CORDELL
Pictured left - From the street, this house at 1312 Milstone Dr., doesn’t look too bad. While the house is abandoned and no one claims ownership, neighbors have worked to try to maintain the property as best as they can.
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HUD, lending company refuse to claim vacant home on Milstone Drive
Realtor Meg Michael calls it “the forgotten house.”
In the middle of a nice, middle class neighborhood, the house, 1312 Milstone Drive, in Marysville, is abandoned. The residents are long gone, having moved out in 2005 when the foreclosure papers were served. Countrywide bought the property at sheriff’s sale, but never had the deed in the mortgage giant’s name. Instead it was deeded directly to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Local, county and state documents list HUD as the owner of the property.
The problem?
“That property is not owned by HUD,” Tom Leach, director of the Columbus field office for HUD said Friday.
He says the property belongs to Bank of America, which bought out Countrywide. What they did with the property, he says he doesn’t know and what they do with it in the future, Leach says, isn’t his problem.
As the house continues to deteriorate — a bird’s nest fills the front light fixture; the garage door is cracked and dented; posted fliers fill the windows; the front door is rusting; cobwebs cover the doorways; siding has warped around the front entrance; a broken latch hangs off a dilapidated gate — neighbors feel like it is their problem.
“I can’t stand looking at an unkempt property,” said Johnan Goertz. “It is only going to hurt my property value. If I ever go to sell, who is going to want to buy a house next to a foreclosed property?”
Neighbor Beckie Borda added that she has friends and family that come to her home, and the vacant house next door can be embarrassing.
“I don’t want it to look bad, you don’t want it to look shabby when they come to your house,” she said.
Michael hasn’t forgotten it, and she is doing her best to remind others of it. To be certain, it was Michael who figured out no one wanted the property. She discovered the issue earlier in the year when she determined the home wasn’t listed for sale anywhere.
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