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Dumfries Leaders Count Foreclosure Homes
posted 6:13 pm Mon March 10, 2008 - Dumfries, Va.
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Noel Rodriquez moved to his Dumfries neighborhood seeking some place quieter than Brooklyn, NY, and he got more than what he was looking for. It's "too quiet now, in my neighborhood everyone's moving out," said Rodriquez.
There are 30 homes that surround Rodriquez's, but one is for rent and five are for sale, including the one right next door.
According to Rodriquez, his " neighbors just moved out because of foreclosure, they took up and left."
County leaders began to wonder just how many of these homes existed, so they counted each one. They found 16 percent of all the Dumfries town homes are vacant or for sale and the fate is similar for 10 percent of houses.
"When you see four, five, six, seven, eight vacant homes out of 15 or 16 it takes on a very different atmosphere," said David Whitlow, who is Dumfries town manager.
Whitlow said he never expected the numbers to be so high and he's still trying to discover why. Part may be Prince William County (web|news) 's tough immigration policy and part a soft real estate market.
Property values are down 10 percent from last year to this year, according to Whitlow.
For now, cutting costs and dipping into budget reserves should balance the books, but the town wonders what will happen next and so does Rodriguez.
Rodriquez bought his home for $170,000 last year and now a similar one just a few blocks away is set to close at $94,000 next week. He is hoping, of course, that values will take a turn for the better.
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