(snip)"Lawrence, MA: Foreclosure Crisis, Will Cause Social Chaos
October 7, 2007 (LPAC)--The foreclosure crisis in the northern section of the city of Lawrence, MA, is creating just the kind of social chaos of which Lyndon LaRouche has warned.
North Lawrence is the poorest section of the city where the median income is just under $30,000, and most residents are poor or minorities. Yet between 2003 and 2006, more than $1 billion in subprime mortgages flooded this area, and during the peak of the housing market in 2005, the amount of subprime loans quadrupled, shooting up to $300 million from less than $80 million in 2002. Most of the mortgages took the form of high-cost adjustable rate loans.
Foreclosures have increased dramatically. According to The Warren Group, there have been 600 in less than two years, which translates into one for every 10 owner-occupied homes. For Sale signs are everywhere, and many properties are being sold for less than what the delinquent homeowner owes on the mortgage. Boarded-up, vacant buildings have attracted drug addicts, prostitutes, gangs and thieves while hundreds of poor residents have been left homeless.
At the Lawrence Housing Authority, requests for housing are up by at least 10% due to foreclosures. Deputy Director Efrain Rolon reports that at least once a day, someone comes in saying "the bank is taking my house. I can't refinance. I can't sell. I need housing." But, the Boston Globe reports, the waiting lists for housing are so long that they are now closed to new applicants. And emergency assistance can only be granted once people actually become homeless"(snip)
from admittedly non-objective - but the facts check out !
So yes it is now possible to pick up some real 'bargains' in terms of low real estate prices. However the 'bargain' buyers had better bring cash - because nobody is going to write insurance on a house in such 'diseased' neighborhoods, meaning nobody is going to write a mortgage either.
~



Reply With Quote
Bookmarks