Shannon Bennet picks through the site in Victorville, Calif., where homes were demolished rather than completed and sold. © Nick Ut/Associated Press

Guaranty Bank recently foreclosed on 16 new and partially built homes in Victorville CA, a town 85 miles northeast of Los Angeles.  Four of the homes were substantially completed and the other twelve were 50% completed or less.

Guaranty Bank, whose parent company, Guarantee Financial Group was recently issued a “cease and desist” order by the Federal Office of Thrift Supervision decided it was cheaper to just destroy the homes rather than complete and re-sell them.  Home prices in San Bernadino County where the development was located have fallen 60% from their peak in 2006, according to the firm DataQuick.