When you drive down any neighborhood street in America right now, you will see that many of the homes that people were once clamoring to buy, now bear “for sale” signs. Many of these homes have been foreclosed upon, and sit vacant, waiting to be purchased. With all of these vacant homes just sitting there, it seems inevitable that they could become targets of theft and vandalism. We all know that empty homes can sometimes be an open invitation to thieves to steal appliances or leftover furnishings, but it is not just appliances the thieves are after; in fact, many thieves are overlooking the appliances altogether for something much more appealing these days; the wiring and the pipes! That’s right folks, you heard right.It seems that real estate brokers and local authorities say that these once majestic homes from coast to coast are being stripped by thieves for copper, aluminum, and brass. This comes at a time when copper and other metals are trading at an all-time high. Most of the copper and metals are shipped overseas to China and India, and it’s big business. ”We’re in an incredibly unfortunate time, where the nonferrous metal commodities market for scrap is at an all-time high. Houses are being stripped pretty quickly once they go through the foreclosure process,” Cleveland city councilor Tony Brancatelli said. What’s really unfortunate is that many buyers are going to closings only to find that their would-be homes have been stripped, making it necessary to renegotiate the selling prices, minus the stolen items. The problem is further depressing home prices because banks are now balking at lending to prospective buyers of foreclosed homes that have been stripped of copper pipes and other metals. The problem has become an epidemic.
“In my district, we’ve got a lot of foreclosed homes and we’ve got a ton of people who are breaking into these homes, stealing the copper wiring right out of the walls,” said Andy Meisner, a lawmaker in Michigan’s state Legislature, who plans an April 15 hearing on two bills intended to tackle the issue. “It is a problem that is really affecting us throughout the whole state,” he said. “When all the copper is taken out, the house basically becomes a knock-down. It then has a depressing impact on property values.” Interestingly, scrap copper sells for about $3.50 a pound — versus $0.70 just three years ago.