by Calculated Risk on 8/28/2007 01:22:00 PM

From David Streitfeld at the LA Times: Blight moves in after foreclosures

Houses abandoned to foreclosure are beginning to breed trouble, adding neighbors to the growing ranks of victims.

Stagnant swimming pools spawn mosquitoes ... Empty rooms lure squatters and vandals. And brown lawns and dead vegetation are creating eyesores in well-tended neighborhoods.

We tend to think of REOs as "inventory", but to the neighbors they are a nuisance.