The city of South Bend, Indiana, has lost almost a third of its population in the last 10 years, according to a report from the U.S. Census Bureau. Economists have asserted that part of the reason was the high number of abandoned foreclosed and bankruptcy homes dotting various neighborhoods of the city.
A considerable proportion of foreclosures for sale in Indianapolis, South Bend and other key markets of Indiana have become harder to sell, realtors have reported, particularly when they are located within a block where multiple empty homes can be found. The empty dwellings are turning off buyers and are also forcing old-time residents to leave the city and move to another place.
Despite the efforts of local governments and nonprofit organizations to revitalize neighborhoods by demolishing or rehabbing empty foreclosures for sale in Indiana, the projected benefits of the revitalization has been slow in coming. Some of the newly-renovated houses or newly-built homes financed by local housing agencies have yet to sell after a year of being in the market. According to some residents, building a new home in a block with more than one empty dwelling will not attract a lot of buyers since most of them will not find it pleasing to live next to an abandoned house.
Local housing officials, on the other hand, have argued that difficulties in selling rehabilitated foreclosed and bankruptcy homes have more to do with tight lending requirements. They stated that it is a concern that can be eventually addressed, particularly with cooperation between local agencies and nonprofits. Meanwhile, census reports showed that a lot of the area's residents have moved out of the city in the past decade.
Analysts reported that not even the availability of cheap houses has convinced people to move in and buy foreclosure house properties. The 2010 Census seemed to support this claim as it showed that areas like the tract bounded by Diamond Avenue, Lincoln Way and Portage Avenue have lost almost a third of its population during the 2000-2010 period. The report also revealed that more than 1,000 of the 3,187 residents in the community have left.
Meanwhile, the northwest and near west areas of South Bend also experienced a decline in population, with resident numbers declining to 9,866 as of last year from 13,897. Residents have revealed that most of the empty foreclosures and bankruptcy homes in the city are falling into further disrepair as trespassers strip these dwellings of whatever saleable materials they can find.
