Detroit Michigan Foreclosure Crisis Inspires Art
By Kurt O'Keefe, Detroit Consumer Attorney on Oct 28, 2009 in Mortgage Issues
As a Detroit Michigan bankruptcy attorney, I have observed first hand the decline of the city and how the foreclosure crisis has accelerated the drop in real estate values and increased the number of abandoned homes.
Well, art is where you find it, and David Runk, AP writer tells the story of a couple of artists who want to freeze an abandoned house, take pictures of the process, and, of course, make a movie about the project.
I will try to soften my rant, but it ain’t easy being in the worst governed city in the worst governed state in this country at this time.
Dave Bing, basketball great, is the current mayor, having taken over for deposed felon Kwame Kilpatrick, whose mother is my Congresswoman.
She staved off a primary challenge form another black woman (the District is over 90% Democrat) last time around, by finding another black woman to run, so she could be re-nominated with less than 40% of the vote.
What did she say? Did she talk about what she could do for the city, about enacting Chapter 13 bankruptcy reform, that would address the crisis of abandoned homes? Nope, she said, I will have this seat until I retire. Our governor, fortunately term limited, has presided over a state economy that led the country into recession, putting all her eggs in the dying domestic auto industry, as the State has bled jobs going on six consecutive years.
It takes people with jobs to buy houses.
Many of these homes would not have been abandoned, as the owners would have paid something, probably more than they were worth.
But the mortgage companies made bad loans, for more than the homes were ever worth, betting that real estate values would always go up, and mortgage interest rates would always stay low. When the bubble burst, the adjustable rate mortgages blew up, the homeowners could not afford the increased payments, could not refinance when the homes were now worth less than the mortgage balance, and could not get mortgage modifications.
I hope the artist’s project calls attention to this issue, and to a remedy that would actually help, and cost the taxpayer nothing.
Related posts:
Sorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.