Painting the grass green
A masters student studying here in Sydney from the US, Amanda, told me last week that US banks are painting the lawns of their repossessed houses green.
Here’s how it goes.
Many US town Councils have laws requiring home owners to maintain green lawns. This is so even where the towns get almost no rain. In Amanda’s town they get just 200 mm of rain a year – about as much as Moree or some far west Aussie town.
When the banks repossessed houses because people could not pay their mortgage the banks made no arrangements for the lawns to be watered so the grass died and went brown.
Horrors.
So the Councils fined the banks as the owners of the properties.
What did the banks do?
They painted the lawns green.
Beyond this point I have no words,
Michael
I’d believe it, sadly.
When we were home at my mother’s house in Indiana in July, I did a load of laundry and then asked if she had a clothesline. “They’re not allowed,” she said. WHAT? This subdivision of McMansions has been built in the middle of reclaimed farmland, with nary a big tree in sight, and it was a 40-degree day with strong sunshine streaming down. The clothes would’ve dried in no time. But no, they’re forbidden by the Homeowners Association. Presumably it makes the neighbourhood look poor or something. So instead they all just use the tumble dryer.
The mind boggles.