For a while now at TWI, we’ve been keeping and eye on developments in the shrinking cities movement. It’s a new idea for urban development, aimed at saving cities by making them smaller: Cordoning off the sections that are abandoned and marred by blight, urging the few people left More…
CNN picks up on a mostly overlooked component of the mortgage crisis that TWI has been following: Growing numbers of trashed and abandoned bank-owned foreclosed homes. Some of the houses left behind by banks are so damaged they’re never going to sell, CNN reports, citing mortgage analyst Thomas More…
As we’ve noted previously, neglected and abandoned bank-owned foreclosed homes have caused problems with neighborhood blight and falling property values, in some areas. The Washington Post today reports on another difficulty with these Real Estate Owned (REO) properties. Sometimes banks are so overwhelmed by the number of REOs More…
This should have happened a long time ago: Banks that received government bailout money and continue to charge consumers excessive fees on credit cards and other services are getting a second look, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The committee overseeing federal banking-bailout programs is investigating the lending practices of
Speaking of businesses making money from the downturn, The New York Times reports today on how the real estate industry is trying to cash in on the glut in REOs, or Real Estate Owned properties. Those are foreclosed homes that don’t sell at foreclosure auctions or sheriff’s sales and More…
In every downturn, there’s always an entrepreneur who finds a way to create a business opportunity out of terrible financial circumstances. This recession is no exception. Jon Lansner at the OCRegister. com reports that “land consultants” are popping up to help banks do something with their foreclosed bank-owned homes More…
In another sign that the behavior of lenders who disregard their REO properties is gaining attention, The New York Times picks up on the common and scandalous practice of banks walking away from foreclosures.
Late last year, TWI wrote about a landmark lawsuit in Cleveland, in which housing lawyers were trying to stop banks from dumping their rundown and neglected bank-owned homes on the city. The lawyers, working on behalf of a local nonprofit, had momentum at first, securing a temporary restraining order More…
The tent cities in Sacramento, Calif., which we described recently, and the increasing number of shanty towns detailed in The New York Times today, are only part of the crisis in America’s cities. As we’ve written, vacant and abandoned foreclosed homes in some communities have become a More…
Now and then you’ve probably seen some heartwarming story about the charitable group Habitat for Humanity helping to build a home for someone down and out on their luck.
Just to show you how bad the crisis in vacant and foreclosed has become, Habitat for Humanity is still around, More…
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