Panama city officials tackling abandoned homes

Officials in Panama City, Florida, are moving to tackle the increasing number of abandoned foreclosed properties that are falling into disrepair, according to WJGH-TV.

The source says that many of the forgotten homes that banks have foreclosed on are becoming overgrown with weeds or have garbage in the yard - a potential eyesore for many Panama City communities. Homes owned by out-of-state banks appear to be more problematic than those owned by local institutions.

"What happens sometimes is they buy a lot of foreclosed properties and it just kind of overwhelms them, so they won't do anything," Scott Hair, Code Enforcement Manager, told the source.

Despite these problems with foreclosed properties, the number of foreclosures in the city seems to be dropping. The source reports that the number of foreclosures in the Bay County area is only 85 so far during the first three months of 2011. This figure has many estimating the total number for the year may be much lower than the 80 Bay County homes that were foreclosed on during 2010.

Many other cities in Florida have placed a renewed focus on enhancing the aesthetics of their communities in an effort to attract more residents to the state, as recent census reports showed lower-than-normal population growth.

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