A Former Minneapolis Home Owner Visits His Foreclosed Property
This is quite the buzzkill. A former North Minneapolis homeowner drives by his foreclosed home to see what’s happened to it since he was evicted, only to find . . . an empty lot:
That looks like approximately like the Jordan Neighborhood on Irving or James Ave N to me.
Based on the look of the other properties on the block, chances are pretty good that the missing home has stood for 70-80 years through ups and downs in the economy and the neighborhood, but wasn’t able to make it through the current dip. That’s a shame, since I imagine there was still plenty of life left in the place.
The housing stock in North is pretty solid. The home in that part of North were built with real wood from old growth trees back when 2x4s where closer to 2″ by 4″ than they are today. It would be nice to see banks show more of a sense of ownership in the properties they own. Mid-term, it seems like they’d have more to gain off mortgages of existing homes than vacant lots.
February 24th, 2011 at 9:03 am
Can’t find it. Did it get removed?
February 24th, 2011 at 9:29 am
@MeganG, it looks like his former home was demolished. If the video isn’t working on the site, here’s a link to the original on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klzd8jDEAkM
February 24th, 2011 at 10:32 am
Yup, this is excellent public policy.
1. Use local courts to evict disenfranchised families from their homes due to job lose, illness, unethical mortgage practices, etc…
2. Homes are given back to mortgage institutions who aren’t held responsible for maintenance, security, taxes, or local assessments (while the local taxpayers subsidize boarding, cutting grass, snow removal, cleaning litter, etc…)
3. Feds Bail out Banks for loss of potential income on those homes.
4. Former homeowners now eligible for public Section 8 housing funds.
5. Banks hold properties vacant and unmaintained inviting theft and vandalism forcing property values fall around the community. Fines and assessments added on to the purchase price of the home making it too expensive for homesteaders to acquire.
6. City places ridiculous timetables and punitive code requirements on buyers making homesteading vacant properties unattainable for the target market who will most benefit the communities.
7. Bank auctions homes to greedy poverty pimps who will get rental licenses from the City under assumed LLCs.
8. Poverty Pimps provide minimal repairs to these homes with short term “fixes” that damage the aesthetics of the structure but minimally meet the city code requirements. The “Home” is rented to a transient class of subsidized tenants who take no pride in the community and do not maintain the property.
9. Neighborhood gets fed up with Nuisance and Dangerous activities in these homes and forces the City to pull the rental license from that location.
10. House sits vacant and greedy poverty pimp buys the home next door under another assumed entity because those home values have also fallen to profitable terms due to diminishing home values and quality of life issues in that neighborhood. Rinse and repeat.
11. Greedy poverty pimp walks and buys a palace in the suburbs with profits from the subsidized rental income.
12. City does not pursue Nuisance Property laws holding investors responsible for their part in urban decay.
13. City mandates that the structure is to blame. Uses the Federal Recovery Funds (meant to put distressed homeowners back to work) to destroy the home and send remains to the landfill.
14. City Land-Banks the property for future development which reduces the tax revenue and forces diminished city services like inspections, police, fire, and social services further damaging the quality of life in those communities.
15. City waits for another bailout of federal tax dollars to contract with rich developers to rebuild urban residential lots for the benefit of the “poor” urban homesteaders.