The Arizona Republic - February 2008
Maricopa County constables are evicting more renters of single-family homes as they struggle to pay rent in the faltering economy or as foreclosures strike their landlords.
The tenants cut across all demographics and properties, from luxury homes in north Scottsdale to affordable homes in the suburbs.
Some tenants are blindsided by the evictions, unaware the home fell into foreclosure even as they have continued to pay rent to homeowners. Other tenants have failed to pay rent and have already boxed their belongings, waiting for a constable to bang on the front door.
Things began to turn a year ago for Constable Joe Arredondo. Back then, he would serve about 10 evictions each month to tenants of houses. These days, it's more like 35 to 50.
"In the past, apartments have been our bread and butter, but it's changing," said Arredondo, who works in the University Lakes Precinct, which mostly includes Tempe. "I'm seeing more families who tend to rent homes rather than apartments. They're finding it difficult to meet the rent increases that have been put on them by some of the homeowners."
In many foreclosures, the residents of the home are not the owners. Among Arizona prime-loan defaults, 26 percent of the homes were not owner-occupied, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Among subprime-loan defaults, 18 percent were not owner-occupied. Arizona is second to Nevada for the rate of rental-home defaults.
Bad decisions
Even before the mortgage crisis, house evictions had been rising because more and more people who lived in rental homes could not pay their rent. Constable Dan Ryan works in the McDowell Mountain
Precinct, which includes Scottsdale and parts of north Phoenix. These days, he estimates he is issuing 15 to 18 house evictions each month, up from about five last year.
"You'll see people that have been there a year or two or three, and their luck changed," Ryan said. "On the other hand, you get someone that's made a bad decision with a renter, and they got suckered. All of a sudden, somebody's not paying."
That's what happened to homeowners Carmen Nuñez and her husband, Raymond Ordoñez. Almost four years ago, they bought a nice home in a nice neighborhood near 35th and Northern avenues in Phoenix. They kept the house as an investment property when they later moved to Laveen and in August rented it to a young, unmarried couple.
The tenants stopped paying the $1,200 rent in December, instead dodging Nuñez's phone calls and giving lots of excuses.
"I'm spending money I don't have to pay the mortgage on that house, my house, to the courts for the eviction," said Nuñez, a real-estate agent. "It's affected me really badly, and it's just plain ridiculous."
On Wednesday, a team of constables descended on the home to evict the tenants, who weren't home. The house was trashed: Half-eaten hamburgers and moldy bowls filled with cereal and milk sat on a table. Christmas decorations, dirty clothes and toys were scattered through the living room. The carpets were stained, the place smelled like rotten food and dirty diapers.
The tenants rolled up as the owners changed the locks, and the constables carried out the eviction paperwork. The tenant, Bobby Green, jumped out of a car, screamed, cursed and started to get physical with one constable. Within seconds, Green was Tasered, down on the driveway and in handcuffs.
"It's supposed to be nice and easy," Constable Philip Hazlett said. "But you can see how difficult and confrontational it can be, especially when we're working with houses."
Serving evictions
In Maricopa County, constables are elected to do all kinds of duties, including serving subpoenas and orders of protection. They typically perform evictions, known as writs of restitution, that come out of Maricopa County Justice Courts, an average of 1,785 monthly in 2006.
Maricopa County sheriff's deputies typically perform evictions on foreclosed homes that are ordered by the county Superior Court, a much smaller figure and one that was not immediately available, a sheriff's representative said.
Evictions performed by county constables climbed 42 percent from 2002 to 2006, the most recent figures available, an Arizona Republic analysis shows.
In 2006, county constables served 21,414 eviction papers, up from 15,080 four years earlier. County officials do not have 2007 figures available but expect eviction rates to hold steady or rise modestly.
There are no solid statistics on how many renters have been evicted from houses. County officials do not track evictions by the type of dwelling.
However, many of the county's 23 constables, and many others with the Arizona Constables Association, have reported steady increases, said Hazlett, vice president of the statewide organization with a membership of 78.
Houses vs. apartments
On average, house evictions take an hour or more, compared with 10 minutes on an apartment. Constables have more space to deal with, and they often have to work with families, children and pets. Locks have to be changed, and arrangements must be made with homeowners to retrieve possessions.
Some constables end up working Saturdays to keep up with time spent working the longer house evictions, Hazlett said.
"We didn't realize how much of an impact it was going to have on us when the market turned," said Hazlett, who works in the North Valley Precinct. "It's come up at our meetings. A lot of us are dealing with it. It used to be a standard tract home would be where you'd do your eviction. Nowadays, I do ones on houses that sell for $750,000 in Anthem."
Home evictions have risen about 15 percent since January 2006 in parts of the East Valley, including Scottsdale and Tempe, constables said.
They are substantially higher, up to 45 percent, in parts of Phoenix, Ahwatukee, Chandler, the north Valley and the West Valley, constables said.
