Cleveland savaged by tragedy of home foreclosures

[donsu]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070819/ts_alt_afp/stocksfinanceproperty_070819190715;_ylt=Aq.DNLbjlmAio8mvdKTM57Ws0NUE


The US dream of home ownership is going up in smoke in Cleveland, now littered with broken promises and lost hopes as it tops the nation's tragic roll call of foreclosures

In the first seven months of this year, there were 13,600 foreclosures in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County alone, compared to just 7,000 for the whole of 2006, and 3,400 in 1995, said county treasurer Jim Rokakis.

To date, at least 30 percent of the subprime mortgages in Cleveland have gone bad, Rokakis said, while nationally, some estimates place the current foreclosure rate at one out of every 130 homes.

-snip-

Congressman Dennis Kucinich, the fiery populist representing Greater Cleveland's West Side, has made the crisis an issue as well as he revs up another run for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"We've been complaining about this stuff in Cleveland since 2001," Rokakis said, noting that no one paid attention until it started to suck down major financial institutions.

"When there's blood on the streets of Cleveland, nobody gave a shit," Rokakis said. "But when there's blood on Wall Street, everybody cares."
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[formerrepuke]

1. I get junk mail and voice mails all. the. time. about re-financing deals...

..its overwhelming sometimes..

[Wcross]

2. A lot of people bought who shouldn't have.

I understand why they bought, the feeling of being priced out of the market forever. During they height of the housing bubble prices were appreciating in the double digits. A lot of people felt if they didn't buy a home then they would never be able to afford one.

[rucky]

3. This is the lowest housing market of any major metro area.

to have this high of foreclosures is really really sad.

I don't think it's fair for the treasurer to suggest Kucinich has been unresponsive. Especially in 2001-2006 where Dem legislation couldn't even get out of committee.

[donsu]

4. true

nt

[bleedingheart]

6. if Cleveland is suffering...then it won't take long for the more pricier places to fall

Cleveland like Pittsburgh has a very reasonable housing market...

and even where I live in da Burgh...we have people losing houses...homes bought for $100k are going up for foreclosure...and those are nice homes...in nice neighborhoods..

not to mention the exorbitantly priced homes..

[spinbaby]

7. Have you seen all the McMansions up for sale?

They can't unload those things for anything.

[bleedingheart]

8. just out of curiousity...I went to realtor.com to check out housing in our area

and there are a ton of properties that are listed and some have dropped by as much as $80k or more in price.

There is one property originally listed at $650K that is down to $499K.. (it is a historic farm with over 6 acres)...

There is one really ugly new Ryan home that dropped almost $90K...and it is brand new....

and with how many more are flooding the market...it is going to be an interesting ride...

Mr. B and I are living in our 1200sq ft ranch with a fixed 5% mortgage with about 10 years left to pay...and I think we will stay put for a while ...even though we have thought about moving for convenience...since we work so far from home...(each of us has about a 50 mile commute to work one way)..

[spinbaby]

9. We were thinking of moving last year

Because of a big, ugly housing development that was planned nearby--the traffic would have been impossible. But fortunately for us, the crappy housing market put a stop to the development so we can stay a while longer. Silver lining in every dark cloud, I suppose.

[libodem]

5. So eager to have an 'ownership society'

so eager to get American's out spending, to forget all their troubles, forget all their cares. Another twist of the knife, in the backs of people loosing their homes, are the taxes. In a related story the homeowner was presented with a huge tax bill as if he had sold the home at a profit. That is like being bankrupted and financially raped for taxes as a consequence. Osama is having his demands met to punish the American public for our standard of living. We are so going down! Shrub will be dancing on our graves. Maybe he and Prince Bandar will hold hands and smoke cigars on a White House balcony.