By Mark W. Olson

Home foreclosures continue at a healthy clip.

However, the cities of Chaska and Chanhassen have dodged many of the problems cities are having with vacant foreclosed houses.

“We’ve seen foreclosures at a higher rate [than in the] past, but they haven’t been concentrated in certain areas and they haven’t brought up the major issues,” said Chaska City Administrator Matt Podhradsky.

“Chanhassen and Chaska have got good neighbors, so people are watching out,” said Chanhassen Assistant City Manager Laurie Hokkanen.

It hasn’t been a “real huge issue,” agreed Chaska Public Works Superintendent Tim Wiebe.

However, Wiebe noted that his department has been saddled with some extra responsibility due to vacant foreclosed properties.

Wiebe, who handles weed inspection for the city, receives complaints regarding uncut lawns. The city of Chaska requires that grass be no more than a foot high, Wiebe said. Anything higher results in a notice to a homeowner. “Normally there’s four to six weed notices on a normal year. This year it was at least a dozen to 15 or so,” he said.

The department will check who is paying taxes on a property and send out a letter. “Sometimes they reply and say they don’t own that anymore, or we don’t get a response at all,” he said. After 10 days of waiting, a city crew will mow the lawn and bill the property owner.

However, if the home is in foreclosure, it can be a chore to attempt recouping the cost from a bank. “It seems like banks are constantly selling loans,” Wiebe said. “I’ll call California and they say ‘It sold to a bank in Arizona,’ and they say, ‘No I sold it to New York.’”

In Chanhassen, the city has needed to mow about 10 foreclosed properties, Hokkanen said. The cost of the mowing was added to taxes on the properties, which resulted in about $2,500 worth of city services, and another $1,800 for a tree that was removed, she said.

Water turned off

State law obligates gas companies to contact the city when gas is shut off, so the city can also shut off water and avoid frozen water-pipe breaks from damaging homes.

“About this time last year, we turned off water on 58 homes and since then we turned 35 of those homes back on,” said Chaska Water and Sewer Superintendant Dean Hylland.  He estimates that 95 percent of the water shut-offs are a result of foreclosed homes.

In Chanhassen, there were 22 gas shut-offs. However, there were only two that resulted in shutting off the water, Hokkanen said.

The city of Chaska receives weekly reports from CenterPoint Energy between Oct. 15 and April 15. With the onset of winter, Hylland said the city “might be looking at the same thing as last year. [There’s] still quite a few foreclosed homes out there,” he said.

Some of the mortgage companies in warmer climates “don’t realize homes freeze up,” Hyland said. “It hadn’t dawned on them that these houses will freeze up and totally ruin the homes – the interior of the homes,” he said.

The city also tries to cover its bases by keeping an eye on who isn’t paying utility bills. Since Chaska owns its electric utility, it will shut off water if electricity is shut off.

Neighbors

The “Who owns it” question has also proved troublesome for neighbors.

In April, downtown Chaska resident Greg Swan called the city to report problems with a neighboring foreclosed house. While the bank had hired a property management company to mow, there were other problems, including trash in the backyard, broken windows, and a basement light that is constantly on.

Swan contacted the Chaska Police and said he was told that the department can enforce ordinances on citizens, but not bank-owned properties.

Chaska Police Chief Scott Knight said that code applies to all houses, regardless of ownership. “A home, whether it has been foreclosed on or lived in or vacant, code still applies to that property,” Knight said.

One of Knight’s key concerns is making sure a property isn’t deteriorating to the point where it becomes a public safety issue or attracts kids who would use it as a hangout.  If that happens, the police will contact the owner and make sure they secure the property, he said.

However, finding the foreclosed home’s owner can be a game of “hot potato,” taking longer to solve a problem. “We can step in and do what we need to do to make a property reasonably safe if we have to,” Knight said. However, he added that taking action on a property can even become a “constitutional issue.”

“There are some things that are cosmetic, and probably distasteful to have to look at every day that don’t necessarily violate code,” Knight said.

Ultimately, the trash next to Swan’s house was carted away and the windows fixed, but apparently not due to any sort of intervention, Swan said. “I feel like the buck’s being passed a little bit,” he said.

“Legally there’s only so much we can do, but as a community I wish we could stand up and say ‘We’re not going to take this,’ or we need better support of this thing,” Swan said.

2009 Sheriff Sales

                                   Jan.   Feb.  March  April   May    June    July     Aug.     Sep.       Total

Carver Cty.               37       21     26        23        27       33          23       22        30        242

Scott Cty.                 60       84     52        53        73       72          85       47        71        597

Total                        97       106    78        76       100     105         108     69        101       839

Source: Carver County Community Development Agency