Foreclosed suburbia...Squatter's paradise?

The other day, as I walked my neighborhood (tract housing), the scope of this sub-prime crunch (and economy in general) became quite apparent. Of the less than 200 homes in this less than 5 year old community, about 15 are vacant and in desperate need of upkeep, and another 20 or so might be vacant based on their appearance, but I can' tell for sure.

My thought is...if the economy continues it's not-so-slow slide into the toilet, by the time the inner city scum makes it's way out to the suburbs in search of pickin's, my neighborhood will be a treasure trove of empty 3 and 4 bedroom houses for squatters.

I imagine defending my home would be hard enough without possibly hundreds of scumbags having multiple bases of operation right in my back yard...almost literally. There are no basements here....I'm thinking sandbags might be a wise investment given the very non-bullet proof nature of tract housing.

Anyone else in the suburbs notice any trend in vacant houses? Never dawned on me until I saw it first hand.

 

all i can suggest is an investment in night vision goggles and a NV scope of good quality for at least two of your rifles.they think they will own the night,prove them wrong.

 

There was an article somewhere about gang-types moving into vacant suburban homes in south Sacramento. I'm too lazy to search for the article, but I'll opine that Cal is going to be hit pretty hard...

 

Indeed, I have noticed a few empty homes in my AO. It's been a couple months since I've seen anybody at either of three homes close to me. Prices here aren't high - I would think they'd resell quickly.
But, they are putting in newer tract homes all over, making some large developments up and down the highway. Maybe folks are going for the nifty shiny new homes . . .

Or maybe things are really going into the toilet . . .

 

Around here my neighborhood has several homes for sale, many are empty. There are also some homes that appear to be just abandoned.

The homes that are for sale just aren't selling. Neither are the new homes near the area, the new homes are priced less than the the ones in my neighborhood.

Looks like I'll be stuck puttin' money into the money pit for the time being.