Foreclosures Strangling Cleveland
Posted on July 6, 2009
Filed Under Foreclosure Homes | Comments Off
Foreclosures have been strangling Cleveland even before the sub-prime meltdown. Here it started with the economic downturn and the shutting down of manufacturing units.
Most of the borrowers of home loans are underwater – the worth of the house being less than the loan balance. This has prompted many to simply walk away from their houses. The foreclosure plan launched by Obama does little to alleviate this problem. Outsiders in hordes are descending upon Cleveland and buying up houses in bulk quantities. The price they are paying for a unit is the same as a flat television. The aim is to make huge profits as soon as the weather clears.
In some instances logic does not work. A train conductor named Luis Jimenez had bought a house in Cleveland through eBay. He came down from California to the site to resolve some problems. The two storey house had been foreclosed upon two times and endured four sales. Jimenez purchased it for $4,000. Arriving on the spot he learnt that the unit had been lying vacant for two years. Scavengers had mowed through it causing the city to rule its demolition. Jimenez shrugged when asked why he bought a house sitting two thousand miles away just because it was cheap. He did not go away but he lacked the finances to repair the house. The house remains an eyesore and blight.
The Slavic Village in Cleveland has been “one of the most resilient communities in the country. People are rolling up their sleeves and working.” They are not waiting for help to come from outside. Frank Johnson, the Mayor of Cleveland said, “Cleveland’s a blue-collar community. They’re surviving-cultures. And we will fight back.”
It is an easy thing to say but difficult to get it done. Each house has a story of woe to tell. One abandoned house had been occupied by a young family who touched up the place with new windows, fixed a fireplace, put up cabinets in the kitchen and set up lighting and Jacuzzi. When foreclosures knocked they left behind nothing for scavenging vultures. They stripped everything themselves – toilets, screen doors, cabinets, pipes etc on to their van.
But most people lack the stamina to do so after being slapped by foreclosure. Moreover they are unsure about their next address. This makes many areas in Cleveland a haven for criminals. Many houses lack front steps – these have been removed by undercover miscreants. It seems to be natural phenomenon of a city that is being ripped apart by foreclosures.
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