One man who lost his home to foreclosure left a message that the bank, and his neighbors won't forget.
It is common that when people move out of foreclosed homes they leave a mess behind because they are frustrated. But a house on Berryessa Street in Milpitas was left filthy. A window outside the home had to be boarded up.
Some foreclosures are messier than others, but never has the city of Milpitas had to deal with one as unsightly and piled high as this.
"I'm out of money, out of time, had to get out of here," said former resident James Williams
Williams is the boyfriend of the owner who's had the home since 1962. On Thursday morning, it looked more like a trash dump. They even left obscene messages for Deutsche Bank.
"I watched legislation be passed, too late to save me. I watched banks get billions. I got no help," said Williams.
Neighbors say the house had never been the stuff of picture postcards.
"Since I been here it was always a mess," said neighbor Kimberly Ideen.
"Couple of times I called the city," said neighbor Linda Vazquez.
"Did they do anything?" asked ABC7's Wayne Freedman.
"I don't know. They never did anything," said neighbor Linda Vazquez.
Inspectors from almost every city department showed to take inventory. Police are considering charges of vandalism against what is now the bank's property. Building inspectors turned off the gas and power.
"The main thing is to safe it off for the people in the neighborhood," said building inspector Jim Dutton.
A towing company took away Mr. Williams broken down car after he declared it abandoned property. Then Public Works moved in and cleaned off the outside of the property. The city will be sending a bill to the bank which now owns this place.
There were no apologies from him to anyone.
"Why not the bank? If they hadn't have thrown me off I'd have cleaned it up. Nine days? This is what you get," said Williams.
It took Public Works a total of 24 hours to get the house cleaned up, and the estimated cost is $2,000 and they are sending a bill to the bank.
