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Sometimes an article comes along which is unsuited to quick blockquoting and witty commenting. This weekend’ New York Times Magazine article, All Boarded Up centers around how predatory lending, flipping, absentee landlords and blight is affecting Cleveland, Ohio. This paragraph encapsulates the zeitgeist which has brought economic doom to our doorstep:
So much here defies reasonableness. It’s what Brancatelli keeps telling me. A few months ago, he met with Luis Jimenez, a train conductor from Long Beach, Calif. Jimenez had purchased a house in Brancatelli’s ward on eBay and had come to Cleveland to resolve some issues with the property. The two-story house has a long rap sheet of bad deals. Since 2001, it has been foreclosed twice and sold four times, for prices ranging from $87,000 to $1,500. Jimenez bought it for $4,000. When Jimenez arrived in Cleveland, he learned that the house had been vacant for two years; scavengers had torn apart the walls to get the copper piping, ripped the sinks from the walls and removed the boiler from the basement. He also learned that the city had condemned the house and would now charge him to demolish it. Brancatelli asked Jimenez, What were you thinking, buying a house unseen, from 2,000 miles away? “It was cheap,” Jimenez shrugged.
I can’t help but think that shows such as Flip this House or Extreme Makeover: Home Edition shouldn’t be absolved of intensifying American greed which, in conjunction with low interest rates and predatory lending, aimed directly for citizenry looking to make a quick dollar on risky bets.
Right now on eBay a search for Cleveland Real Estate brings up 11 results, 8 of which are properties which appear to be almost worthless with bids in the low 4 figures. The real prize is this beauty at 9509 St. Catherine Avenue:
This house has problems – and I can see that just from the photo. This house has serious structural issues, from the wood framing to the brick foundation, and this is before even going inside to verify that all copper, fixtures, and anything of remote value is gone. And this beauty has been bid on 17 times as of this writing. 17! I don’t know who is worse, the buyers or sellers.
I don’t know how you craft a policy around removing these predators from any governmental bailouts. But smarter people than I have to, and have to empower municipalities to take owners – often major banks – to court to find restitution. Because, at least in Cleveland, these banks are destroying the very fabric of the city.
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