Foreclosure Victims Get Revenge Against Banks With 'Sharpie Parties'

Before the bank took over the house they were renting, tenants evicted from a house in Merced decided to host the party to end all parties—or at least the party to end all hopes of the bank getting a decent price for the home.

The tenants invited their friends and passed out Sharpies to write on the walls, and the party only devolved from there, according to a report by a local CBS affiliate. (Eds. note: a previous version of this post misidentified the parties as the owners not the tenants.) By the time the realtor came by to check out the home, the home had been completely trashed: there were holes in the walls, X-rated drawings and the carpets were soaked in urine and vomit.

That party happened in March, but the District Attorney's Office in Merced said that these kind of parties have become a growing problem. So far there have been six of them in Merced County, according to Reuters.

News of these parties is often advertised on Facebook or Twitter. Andy Krotic, a realtor in California, makes it sound like a less sexy version of those rainbow parties that freaked out everyone in the early aughts: "It's a growing fad among young people, especially the Twitter crowd. They throw a big party, everyone gets a Sharpie, and they are invited to write on the walls and spray paint."

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The reports indicate that it's not just young people destroying random foreclosed homes: the tenants or the owners' kids were hosts of two parties mentioned. And while it might be an excuse to party and wreak havoc, it also seems that some of the partiers have revenge against the banks and American banking system in mind (see the top image from March's "sharpie party").

We haven't heard of any evidence of these parties outside of the Central Valley so far. But banks have been doing their best to keep publicity about these parties under the radar, going so far as to drop prosecution when the parties are caught (usually when they put evidence right up on Facebook).

"Usually they leave the damage and just drop the price," Krotic told Reuters.

Here's a report from a local CBS affiliate back in March: