A foreclosure to fear, a zombie foreclosure. Hundreds of thousands of homes across the country are known being known as zombie foreclosures.

What a zombie foreclosure is: is when a home owner leaves their house knowing it is being foreclosed upon. Many years later the home owner will find out that they still owe years of property tax and other related fees. The banks will decide that these homes are already too far gone and not salvageable, thus they will never actually foreclose on the home.

Since the housing bubble burst seven years ago, almost two million properties have started but never completed the foreclosure process, according to RealtyTrac. While no one knows the exact number, but this is an issue that anyone that has been foreclosed upon or is in threat of foreclosure must be aware of. These are issues that will follow someone around the rest of their life. Make sure the banks do foreclose upon the home and the doors remained locked because looters have also been a problem within the zombie foreclosed homes.

Many of these homes are in low-income communities where foreclosures are so difficult to sell that lenders sometimes delay taking possession to save on taxes and other costs that then stay under the borrower’s name.

Those debts can then go unpaid for years because the borrower is unaware they owe them, further slamming their credit score and making life after foreclosure even harder.

These are just more issues that potential homebuyers must be aware of. The banks attempt to make it look like they came out on top after the real estate crunch, but they were effected as much as the rest of us. Being an informed buyer and seller is the best thing that can keep you protected from issues such as these. Work hand in hand with your professional real estate agent as well as the banks to ensure that you will not have further financial issues down the road when it comes to real estate transactions.