Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Foreclosed Pools a Mecca for Skateboarders

Pool builders hard hit by housing crisis

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 29, 2008 8:12 AM CST

(Newser) – Skateboarders in California are making the most of the mortgage crisis: they’re turning the swimming pools at foreclosed homes into skate parks. Tracking local foreclosures, one Fresno skater arrives at empty homes with a pump and buckets, drains the pools, and hops on his board, the New York Times reports. The newly-made parks are drawing people from around the world.

“God bless Greenspan, patron saint of pool skatin’,” one skater writes online. Pool makers aren’t so cheery about the crisis as their work orders sink. “You’ve got people that still want to build pools, but now you’re getting maybe 20% or 10% that can actually qualify now,” says one builder. Pools left stagnant pose a threat as a mosquito breeding-ground; some skaters like to see their drainage as a public service rather than trespassing.

[Images (2)]

[Videos (1)]

Contra Costa County public health worker Jeremy Tamargo looks at a water sample for mosquitoes from this dirty pool at an empty foreclosed home in Concord, Calif., Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2007. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Skaters are coming from around the world to skate in pools at foreclosed homes. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

Pool skating. (bigmanbowers)

View larger videos >>

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next »

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

$26B Mortgage Settlement a 'Modest' Help: Experts

Many struggling homeowners not covered in deal

(NEWSER) - The $26 billion mortgage settlement announced yesterday will be a boon for some—but the terms of the deal leave many homeowners out in the cold. Recipients of loans owned by the Federal Housing Administration, for instance, won't directly benefit from the settlement; nor will those with mortgages held by private investors, the New York Times reports. Millions of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans—about half of America's mortgages—aren't part of the plan, either. More»

Banks Ink $26B Deal to Help 2M Homeowners

49 states sign on to deal with nation's top 5 banks

(NEWSER) - America's five biggest banks have hammered out a $26 billion settlement for their role in causing the mortgage meltdown, reports the Wall Street Journal . The deal—the biggest of its kind since 1998's $206 billion settlement with the tobacco industry—was hammered out during almost a year of negotiations between the banks and all 50 state attorneys general, reports the New York Times . The money will go to some 2 million homeowners affected by the crisis. More»

Be a 'Foreclosure Supervisor'—for $10 an Hour

Pro Publica looks at want-ads, finds little has changed

(NEWSER) - In the wake of news that banks and law firms hired unqualified people to process the backlog of foreclosures, Pro Publica decided to spin through the want-ads to see whether things had changed. Not so much. The results varied, but "requirements for many foreclosure jobs—often advertised by staffing or temp agencies—still offer low pay and require little education," writes Marian Wang. More»

Feds Start Criminal Probe of Bank Foreclosure Mess

Lenders may have broken fraud laws with flawed paperwork

(NEWSER) - Banks have begun making moves to get foreclosures moving again, even as federal investigators begin a criminal investigation into the whole sorry affair, reports the Washington Post . The task force will look at whether banks broke wire and mail fraud laws or misled federal housing agencies by submitting flawed paperwork to take people's homes. More»

Speedy Evictions Made for Big Profits

Mortgage companies like Fannie became foreclosure factories

(NEWSER) - The Washington Post fleshes out a fuller, and more outrageous, picture of how the foreclosure mess came to be. Big mortgage companies—including government-owned Fannie Mae—had so many cases to clear off the books, they gave law firms and other processors bonuses for speed and penalties for delays. Guess which one they pulled out all the stops to get? This fueled a system of incompetence in which people with no knowledge of foreclosures couldn't be hired fast enough to keep the paperwork moving. In short, quick evictions meant profits for everyone involved in the chain—except homeowners. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Foreclosed Pools a Mecca for Skateboarders