Financing and investment options of homeowners dealing with property maintenance: Foundation damage case in The Netherlands – A. Cristini
Homeownership has lot of benefits but due to the financial crisis since 2007 the focus is already moved towards the risks and responsibilities associated with homeownership. With foundation damage the security of a solid foundation falls apart which has a huge impact on the lives of the homeowners. About 400.000 households may have to deal with foundation damage, and if they want to stop the cracking and sinking of their home and protect the value, they have to accept the damage and repair the foundation. For many households the repair costs are already difficult to fund, and the current situation of general value decrease in the housing market and increasing requirements for funding make the problem worse. In the meantime, the foundation repair activities lack and cause impoverishment of the neighbourhoods. This research focuses on the financing of foundation repair and the main research question is formulated as: How could financial institutions steer the reconstruction of distressed properties in a declining housing market?
