This house has no chance. Mt Vernon is a short but rough street in Upper South Providence; the only charming item within four blocks being this blue home. Built in 1920, it hasn’t received a lick of updating in almost 90 years and is structurally showing all classic signs of an aging vacant. Though aside from a few broken window panes, it has not yet been pilfered, or burned, and the listing maintains the copper is still intact.
This house is currently for sale for $20,000. In six months, they won’t be able to give it away.
Other Forgotten Homes in this area include the jumanji biosphere 11 Comstock and the multiple-time-boarded-loser at 3 Mt Vernon.
Update April 2009
Front door kicked in, temporarily re-secured. Windows broken and boarded. Wonder now what’s missing from inside.
Update June 2009
Little more graffiti, couple of shingles missing.
*photo by funsicle
Nearby Houses:
None yet photographed. Please take a picture if you see one.
What is sad is that both 3 and 24 Mount Vernon are now owned by Fannie Mae. 25 Mount Vernon was foreclosed by Bank of America and sold to a cash investor. 3 Mount Vernon has been vaacnt since the summer of 2006 when it was closed down as a drug house how Fannie Mae financed the building for over $270,000 is incredible. Oh by the way 32 Glenham around the corner from these homes- Fannie Mae too. Will the community get control or will they return to the speculation game?
Well, and the question there Ray is “what to do?”
It feels like, with bank owned speculators—and it’s hard not to say at this point the banks have no interest in getting these into the hands of owners. They’re willing to wait and wait and wait and hope they can sell falling apart homes again for well into the six figures. Like they haven’t learned a thing.
So, what does the community do?
Problem One: Banks hard to even track down on many properties
Problem Two: Banks asking way too much money for houses needing total rehabs
Problem Three: Submitted offers sit for months and months and months while banks wait for top dollar. And they will wait.
Problem Four: Where is the city with prosecutions, fines, taxes, liens on properties which need caring inhabitants?
Problem Five: Is the city or state willing to issue new legislation/ordinances aimed at pushing hostile turnovers of properties if need be? Do we have the political will?
I guess, too, we’re hoping our attempts at creating a tool to facilitate this discussion and the data aggregation needed to address policy issues will not be futile. We think there are ways to be constructive…we hope we can help.
I think it will take state or city action. Here it is as I understand it. The “banks” are really just “servicing agents”, they don’t actually own the property or hold title to it. The “assets” are security for “securitized bonds” which were issued long ago in denominations of a million, some larger. The bond holders are the owners. In order for property under the bonds to be sold, a lot of signatures have to be obtained. Many times it just isn’t worth it, or the bond holders are in no mood to hear it. They are probably also waiting to see what comes for “Toxic asset” relief. Considering the real value of the “security”, they have little to lose. Think if you were a bondholder and had 270,000 invested in a mortgage on a property now worth 30,000, you have already lost your shirt. You may as well wait to see what the future brings. If it burned, it might be worth more as an empty lot. If you had 5 burnouts in a row, you might have a “developable” piece of property.
You have to be careful what you wish for. If the city went ahead with “prosecutions, fines, taxes, liens on properties” there might be a lot more abandoned property. Values have fallen so low, many owners would walk before expending the sums required. I really can’t blame them, it is an economic decision. The disparity between “code” and “prevailing conditions” is so great that I suspect 20-35% of the buildings in Providence could be condemned.
I can’t see the city tackling the problem building by building. That is too much work, they aren’t paid for that. I wonder if a situation could be arranged for the property being sold and the sale price going into escrow until the mess is sorted out.
Drove by this house yesterday. Boards removed, has been painted. Still didn’t look occupied – possible bank job? Will try to look for sales notice.
I saw this property listed on Fannie Mae’s ‘Under Contract’ list earlier this summer.
The sale has been completed by Fannie Mae the buyer was Julio Candelario -$17,000 Sadly, instead of bundling this house with 3 Mt Vernon and 32 Glenham and their role still with 2 Mount Vernon, Fannie Mae sells these without any regard to the neighborhood.
Can’t expect Famnnie Mae to concern themselves, that is “over my pay grade”. Still it is good to see that they will sell. I haven’t had one of those tower roofs done in years, the cost runs about that of a whole normal roof. Most of the rest of the exterior looks easily salvageable.