Foreclosure
The Inland Empire is a region around the I-15 and I-10, roughly 40 miles west of Los Angeles. After a history of rural isolation, it witnessed a surge in growth, the unanticipated effects of which have made the area emblematic of the recent economic crisis. "We grew so fast", a local real estate agent reflected, "so we fell even faster." Between 2004 and 2007, over 360 000 homes were purchased. By November 2008, virtually all are worth less than what is still owed on them, and over a third have defaulted.
The area owes its high concentration of economic distress to its birth as a “logical” commuter convenience: new real estate and loose financing lured families who work in Los Angeles and San Diego to invest in the exurb communities with pools and swathes of lawn, at the cost of two-to four- hour commutes per day. Banks facilitated the surge with generous loans, and families built expensive backyards for their children and purchased new cars for their gas-consuming commutes. Buoyed by fiscal optimism and the pursuit of capitalist progress, people refinanced their homes and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on pools, spas, tiki bars and fire pits. Lake Elsinore, a city in the Inland Empire, launched its urban identity campaign with the exhortation, “Dream Extreme”, a slogan that didn’t anticipate the effects of variable-rate mortgages, falling property values, and rising gas prices.
One of the appeals of a planned community is the homogeny of status and property: that parity is dissolving as vacated properties go to seed alongside their identical neighbors, and people liquidate, or abandon, assets acquired to keep pace with their peers. Local signs offer tours of foreclosed homes and aid: “Stop the F-Word! 1-800-RESCUE-ME.” Residential streets are lined with “bank owned” signs, and forelosure notices dot windows. The epidemic has yielded some odd industries: laid-off real estate agents have turned to businesses that “trash out” foreclosed homes. Some people abandon a full furnishing of goods: large TVs, leather sofas, family photos, 401k statements, and even an urn. Other industrious workers freshen dead lawns with green spray paint, while code enforcement officers drain abandoned pools. As one says, “You know something is wrong when the lawns are brown and the pools, green.”