According to Lew Sichelman at  Houselogic the foreclosure crisis affects the value of your Charlotte Area home in numerous ways.

If you need one single reason to be glad Uncle Sam is helping your neighbors avoid losing their houses to foreclosure, look no further than the value of your own home. You are personally going to pay the price of your neighbors’ misfortune if the bank takes back their house.

Here are some startling statistics.

Each foreclosure within 660 feet (1/8th mile) of your house can drop your home’s value by a factor of almost 0.75%, according to the Center for Responsible Lending, a consumer watchdog group.

The closer a foreclosure is to your house, the bigger the impact. A university of Connecticut study suggests one foreclosure within 300 feet of your home will lower your property value by 1%.

If you live in a neighborhood with few vacant homes and a foreclosure occurs within 250 feet, a University of California, Berkeley study suggests you could lose 2.2% of your home value.

There are ways you can combat some of the problem with these homes bringing down the value of your home.

To limit foreclosure damage in your community, ask local officials to pass laws forcing lenders to maintain the properties they now own and to pay the taxes and homeowners association dues on them.

If the town isn’t forcing lenders to maintain a foreclosure in your neighborhood, organize a volunteer effort to cut and trim the shrubs at vacant houses on a round-robin basis, and report vandals or squatters to the police. A well-kept foreclosed home will attract more buyers than one with a weed-filled yard. Take trespassing laws into account as you organize your effort.

If you’re selling or refinancing and the appraiser uses foreclosures as comparable sales to determine the value of your property, ask your real estate agent to make sure the appraiser accounts for the distressed nature of those sales and the condition of the properties as they compare to yours. Ask your agent to seek out other comparable sales the appraiser might have missed, which show your home in a much better light

Read more: at Houselogic.com

Visit Houselogic.com for more articles like this. Reprinted from HouseLogic.com with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.