Oh the stress of owning a home. Even worse the stress of losing one cause your ass couldn't keep up with your $3,000 mortgage. Trying to be a big baller and shit. Call yourself keepin up with the jones'...now you homeless. But in the eye for an eye society we live in homeowners ain't just bowing down. Matter of fact they lighting up...their homes. Setting the house on fire is the peoples new way of getting back at the lenders and realtors who came and snatched away the house. Get it y'all. If you can't have it nobody can have it. You don't need no water let the muthafucka burn! BURN MUTHAFUCKA! BURN!...lol....LMAO!!!
Krizz
Broke homeowners linked to arsons
By Marilyn Lewis @ MSN MoneyAuthorities in economically stressed cities see an increase in torched houses. Is the nation's mortgage mess transforming more Americans into criminals?
Arson is nothing new in Detroit. It's a time-honored weapon of the angry, vengeful, distressed and dispossessed in a city that gets hurt harder and sooner than others, making it a perfect place to spot early evidence of stress from the real-estate meltdown.
Arson is nothing new in Detroit. It's a time-honored weapon of the angry, vengeful, distressed and dispossessed in a city that gets hurt harder and sooner than others, making it a perfect place to spot early evidence of stress from the real-estate meltdown.
The Detroit Fire Department can't draw a definitive link between its rising arson rate (151 arrest warrants in 2007), rising foreclosures (up more than 65% last year) and falling housing prices (the region's median house price dropped 17.3% in the past four years, to $145,173).
But Capt. Steve Varnas of the department's arson section says he sees a connection: In 2005, the city issued only 80 arrest warrants for arson -- about half the number last year. "Things were going great," Varnas says. "There were fewer desperate people in 2004 and 2005."
Across the U.S., homeowners are searching for ways to escape from mortgages they can't pay -- or don't want to. A few are turning to arson, but it's too soon to turn anecdotes into meaningful statistics. Consumer pressure and state laws require speedy settlements, which means insurance companies are quick to pay up and slower to complete complex arson investigations.
But Capt. Steve Varnas of the department's arson section says he sees a connection: In 2005, the city issued only 80 arrest warrants for arson -- about half the number last year. "Things were going great," Varnas says. "There were fewer desperate people in 2004 and 2005."
Across the U.S., homeowners are searching for ways to escape from mortgages they can't pay -- or don't want to. A few are turning to arson, but it's too soon to turn anecdotes into meaningful statistics. Consumer pressure and state laws require speedy settlements, which means insurance companies are quick to pay up and slower to complete complex arson investigations.
Definitive answers will come later. But the signs of trouble are there if you're looking for them:
The FBI reportsthat arson grew 4% in suburbs and 2.2% in cities from 2005 to 2006. The 2007 numbers aren't out yet.
In California, a state hit particularly hard by foreclosures, insurance companies must tell the state within 60 days if they suspect a fire is "questionable." Last year, more than 120 reports were filed, and in 14 foreclosure was named a possible factor. The previous year, just 70 reports were filed, with seven citing foreclosure, says the state insurance commissioner's office. (Not all reports become arson cases.)
The FBI reportsthat arson grew 4% in suburbs and 2.2% in cities from 2005 to 2006. The 2007 numbers aren't out yet.
In California, a state hit particularly hard by foreclosures, insurance companies must tell the state within 60 days if they suspect a fire is "questionable." Last year, more than 120 reports were filed, and in 14 foreclosure was named a possible factor. The previous year, just 70 reports were filed, with seven citing foreclosure, says the state insurance commissioner's office. (Not all reports become arson cases.)
Arrest warrants for arson in Detroit rose 89% between 2005 and 2007. "We are up to our eyeballs in arsons," says Varnas, of the Detroit Fire Department. "We're not only dealing with hardened criminals. We're dealing with desperate people."
A trend -- or arson as usual? In Stockton, Calif., where foreclosures are rampant, Deputy District Attorney J.C. Weydert is wondering whether he's looking at an arson trend or just a coincidence.
A trend -- or arson as usual? In Stockton, Calif., where foreclosures are rampant, Deputy District Attorney J.C. Weydert is wondering whether he's looking at an arson trend or just a coincidence.
Weydert, a prosecutor with San Joaquin County's Economic Crimes/Insurance Fraud Unit, usually handles a residential arson case every two or three years. "Now I've got two in the pipeline," he says. Industry analysts are divided. "When the economics are dismal, people are doing things that perhaps they thought they would never do," says Joe Toscano, a Connecticut arson expert who, with 11 other investigators, spoke recently by phone about the issue from a meeting of the International Association of Arson Investigators.
The association's members, from seven cities around the country, say arson fraud will rise; they've seen it happen before. Arson always grows when the economy plunges, Toscano says: "Based on 35 years' experience, yes, I anticipate there will be an escalation."
But John Hall, in charge of fire analysis and research at the 112-year-old independent National Fire Protection Association, sees no link between economic stress and arson.
"We have been collecting statistics for over 25 years, and there has never been a development in the economy that has shown a clear impact on arson," Hall says.
But John Hall, in charge of fire analysis and research at the 112-year-old independent National Fire Protection Association, sees no link between economic stress and arson.
"We have been collecting statistics for over 25 years, and there has never been a development in the economy that has shown a clear impact on arson," Hall says.
Tales from the trenches Some recent cases:
In Woodland Park, Colo., a homeowner was accused of burning his home just before he was evicted in a foreclosure action.
In Houston, a man was charged with faking a racial hate crime to cover arson at his home.
In Russellville, Ind., a woman was accused of trying to cash in on an insurance policy by offering her neighbor $5,000 to help torch her home and cover up the crime.
Those working in the field hear their own stories. "I have heard of builders torching incomplete homes that can't be sold," says Vince Brannigan, who teaches in the University of Maryland's department of fire-protection engineering.
Lawyer David Brisco of Cozen O'Connor says he's seen an increase in residential arson in the past six months. He investigates arson claims for insurance company clients in California, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Nevada. His colleagues, though, haven't noticed an upturn, and the firm, with 23 offices nationally, does not keep statistics.
In Woodland Park, Colo., a homeowner was accused of burning his home just before he was evicted in a foreclosure action.
In Houston, a man was charged with faking a racial hate crime to cover arson at his home.
In Russellville, Ind., a woman was accused of trying to cash in on an insurance policy by offering her neighbor $5,000 to help torch her home and cover up the crime.
Those working in the field hear their own stories. "I have heard of builders torching incomplete homes that can't be sold," says Vince Brannigan, who teaches in the University of Maryland's department of fire-protection engineering.
Lawyer David Brisco of Cozen O'Connor says he's seen an increase in residential arson in the past six months. He investigates arson claims for insurance company clients in California, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Nevada. His colleagues, though, haven't noticed an upturn, and the firm, with 23 offices nationally, does not keep statistics.
