PUYALLUP, Wash. -- Last year when Bob Tilford opened the drapes in his family room, he enjoyed seeing happy children playing in the yard across the street.
"They have a little newborn girl and a little boy about six years old," said Patterson from the home he's owned for 36 years, "Fine little kids."
But these days, the view isn't so pleasant. The children's toys are strewn among a mix of old tools, household items and other casualties of another American Dream gone bad.
The owners of the home lost jobs and hope and eventually lost their home. Their had no place to take all the belongings they enjoyed in the house in a well manicured neighborhood. Vandals and weeds took it over before the bank would, and now neighbors are stuck with a decaying mess that repels future buyers and attracts vermin.
"Rodents, you know we have a big issue. We've seen a lot of rodent burrowing and habitat, mosquitoes, you can end up with West Nile Virus," said Rachel Knight of the Pierce County Health Department.
Knight said this is a common side-effect of the rapidly growing home foreclosure rate. It can take months for the banks and owners to work out the details and, until they are done, the neighbors are stuck with the loss of a neighbor and the addition of health and environmental threat.
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