Wednesday, October 22, 2014

A puzzle

The unit next door to me has been vacant since April of 2012. The unit is a mirror image of mine, with both of our patios in between. The wall that faces the patio is mostly glass - patio doors on the first floor, giant windows reaching to the roof line above.

In the early mornings, I'm accustomed to seeing my own reflection in those windows as I go down the stairs to the first floor. This morning, however, was different: it appeared lights were on in the vacant unit.

Sure enough, a peek through the patio door curtains revealed a weak light shining through the blinds next door. What's up with that?

No car in the underground parking, so if someone was actually in the unit, they parked in the visitor spaces (hard to tell if someone new was parked there - the visitor spaces are intermixed with spaces belonging to neighbors, who have single car garages and a space outside for a second car).

Tiptoeing through the internets revealed a couple of things:

1. The unit is no longer listed for sale on MLS, at least not that my fairly proficient skills could find. It was listed as late as a week ago, for a bargain price.

2. The owner listed on the city property records as of September 2013 is FNMA.

Conclusion: The unit may be coming up in a foreclosure auction soon, and the mortgage company is making sure the place at least looks decent, and has both heat (it's cold here) and light.

While it would be nice to have neighbors on that side, an auction will further drive down the resale value of our units, already much lower than they were due to the economy, and, frankly, my own owners-want-to-sell-in-a-hurry purchase three years ago. An identical unit is for sale in a nearby building, for about what I paid. It's a corner unit, which should make it a bit more desirable.

Anyway, exciting times, at least for me.

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