Thread: Insurers of Foreclosed Homes Brace For Arson Epidemic

Insurers of Foreclosed Homes Brace For Arson Epidemic

Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008 10:45 a.m. EST

The real estate market could be going up in smoke – literally.
Insurance fraud investigators are bracing for an epidemic of arsons as desperate borrowers torch their homes for insurance money.

Recent arson incidents could be the start of an alarming trend. A Houston man allegedly burned down his home for insurance money to dodge foreclosure, the fraud group reports.

Authorities became suspicious, in part, because the house was virtually empty of furniture and appliances and the power had been shut off. The insurer paid off the mortgage and gave the owner $10,000 in equity but is now is trying to recoup its money.

In Grand Rapids, Mich., a woman facing foreclosure was arrested for torching it for insurance money, and in Woodland Park, Colo., a homeowner was charged setting fire to his home on the same day he was to be evicted for foreclosure.

"Certainly Colorado is in the same boat as a lot of states, where at one point we were leading the nation in foreclosures,â€

Truly right. The creeps are always out in force when their little stash is threatened. I know I've seen some really suspicious fires in construction projects in my career. One was even next to a bridge on-ramp and did multiple millions damage in addition to the almost finished building. It makes you wonder if there are any honest people left in this country anymore. I doubt it.

Between wildfires in CA and arson fires across the US it's a wonder the insurers are not calling it quits.

Don't believe for a second that arson will be committed simply for insurance purposes, especially if it is the homes of IAs involved.

I've had several arson fires committed on the property I manage, and several other attempted arsons because of evictions and a couple after finance companies foreclosed on manufactured homes which were uninsured.

We've also had homes thoroughly trashed following evictions and foreclosures. As in so destroyed they were deemed uninhabitable.

Illegal aliens will do this because their line of thinking is that if they can't live in the home, no one is going to live in it....even if they've got to burn it to the ground.

Believe me, if insurance money is involved, all that is for them is an added bonus.