Rotting empty houses, insanity or scam?

[Lynn Harrison]

I don't post much any more. My fiance passed away 3 years ago and I lost a lot of my money as we were not married. Now I'm just looking for one fixer house to live in rather than an investment. 

What I am seeing lately looks insane. I'm seeing empty houses that are not being rented or sold or repaired in California. I've found them by driving back streets, noting addresses and then checking some of the history. They have been empty for years or they have been recently bought but not renovated and sitting empty. Not all are bank owned- some are private parties.  I only look deeper into properties I could afford which is a small percentage.

I understand some large companies are putting derivatives from rent on these properties into the stock market and that pension plans buy heavily into them. I'm starting to suspect there is a huge scam going on- that the rents are not accounted for accurately... Not good for the pension plans or the economy. Anyone else wondering about this too?

The others- the private party ones... is this insanity? Are others running across this? What is the reason for this? Foreign investment? Vacation homes no one can possibly use? I mean, these houses are silently rotting. Meanwhile the prices go up and the homeless population is increasing here. At least they now have places to live...

As someone who enjoys renovating this is killing me.