> Typically banks try to sell foreclosures ASAP to the extent that most go the 'short sale' route where they just force a sale.
Short sale (which is generally not forced, but is usually win-win for the borrower and bank, so often ultimately approved after the bank convinces themselves that denying it won't let them extract more from the borrower) is typically favored for many reasons including the fact that (while there may technically be liability) borrowers who are foreclosed upon have very little incentive not to damage thr property to the extent that it enables them to extract even miniscule additional value, so things like stripping resellable (even at small fractions of the value they provide in the house) materials like pipes, wiring, and notionally-permanently-installed fixtures is extremely common.
Short sale (which is generally not forced, but is usually win-win for the borrower and bank, so often ultimately approved after the bank convinces themselves that denying it won't let them extract more from the borrower) is typically favored for many reasons including the fact that (while there may technically be liability) borrowers who are foreclosed upon have very little incentive not to damage thr property to the extent that it enables them to extract even miniscule additional value, so things like stripping resellable (even at small fractions of the value they provide in the house) materials like pipes, wiring, and notionally-permanently-installed fixtures is extremely common.