AltWeeklies Wire
Toxic Assets
The next time someone tells you that capitalism is efficient, remember the mold houses.
Banks: Too Pig To Fail?

It is time to stop foreclosures.
Not for a few weeks. Not temporarily.
Forever.
Tags: Housing, Foreclosures
Upside Down in Pontiac: How Investors Walk Away from Disasternew
Many Pontiac houses sit and continue to decline in value, blight the community, attract nuisances, cost lenders and the city money in maintenance, and pull down the values of nearby properties. Some have resold for a fraction of their taxable values, further driving down home prices around them. Others will sit vacant for years.
Metro Times |
Sandra Svoboda |
09-15-2009 |
Economy
Michigan Communities Use HUD Dollars for Demolition, Rehab and Ownershipnew

In Michigan, the HUD Neighborhood Stabilization Program is funding projects aimed at offsetting some of the harmful effects that foreclosed and vacant properties have on neighborhoods, as well as increasing home ownership and redevelopment.
Metro Times |
Sandra Svoboda |
06-09-2009 |
Economy
It's Easy for a Homeowner's Payments to Fall Through the Cracksnew

Nancy Perez discovered that the worst thing to happen to her home was not a fire, but mismanagement among the mortgage servicers -- the companies charged with collecting monthly payments -- on her $76,000 loan.
Houston Press |
Craig Malisow |
04-08-2009 |
Economy
On the Hunt for Empty Housesnew

Some real estate speculators see foreclosed houses as golden opportunities, even as many of their colleagues lose everything.
The Inlander |
Daniel Walters |
03-12-2009 |
Economy
Tags: real estate, foreclosures
Seattle's Foreclosure Vulturesnew
A crashing housing market is just another profit opportunity for some scavengers.
Seattle Weekly |
Nina Shapiro |
11-17-2008 |
Economy
The American Dream's $700 Billion Price Tagnew

The most important lesson of the country's recent financial turmoil has gone untaught: The United States might be better off financially, economically, and socially if it were more like San Francisco and were a nation of renters.
A Foreclosure Shell Game in Baltimorenew
Seven neighbors, 11 foreclosures, and more than a million dollars' profit in one neighborhood.
Baltimore City Paper |
Edward Ericson Jr. |
10-07-2008 |
Economy
Homeowners Are Being Unfairly Faulted for Wall Street's Greednew
Those nasty subprime borrowers, the financial class bellows, how could they have done this to us? While the catalyst for our present debacle may have been housing loans, they in no way were the cause.
East Bay Express |
Jay Youngdahl |
10-01-2008 |
Economy
Don't Let the Weasels in the Stock Market Doornew
I'm not really surprised when the managers of large corporations do something dishonest. But I'm surprised when they do dumb things against their own self-interest.
C-Ville Weekly |
Al Crabb |
10-01-2008 |
Economy
Obama's Mortgage Plan Has Already Been Tried and Defeated in Congressnew
Obama's proposed legislation would allow judges to adjust the mortgage terms of homeowners who are in bankruptcy, so they'd have a better chance of saving their homes from foreclosure. But such legislation was considered by the Senate in April, and defeated. Both Arkansas senators voted against it. Both say there's a good chance they'd do so again, even if the bill had Obama's backing, and even though they're both Democrats and supporting Obama for president.
Arkansas Times |
Doug Smith |
09-25-2008 |
Economy
Facing Foreclosure? Con Man Paul Noe II Has a Deal for Younew
A few months ago, Dustanto Lopez got a phone call from someone offering him a tempting, if screwy, deal with a company called United First, Inc. that would supposedly help postpone foreclosure proceedings. What Lopez didn't know was that the president, secretary, treasurer, and director of that recently registered Nevada shell company was a con man.
Save People, Not Bankers
Bailouts go to bankers. Why not help homeowners facing foreclosure instead?
Rampant Foreclosures Have Torn the Very Fabric of Northeast Ohionew

In this young century, we've focused our collective attention elsewhere while market forces battered the vulnerable like a hurricane. And the subprime mortgage explosion was the economic Katrina; Northeast Ohio the Gulf Coast.
Cleveland Free Times |
Dan Harkins |
07-09-2008 |
Economy