Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Foreclosures Create Dangerous Situations, Make Banks into Slumlord Millionaires

A fire that killed three people in the Bronx revealed the dangers of illegally subdivided apartments, but what is less widely known is the building's cloudy ownership status.


At dispute is a question over who was actually responsible for maintaining the property.

For at least three years, banks had been buying and selling the mortgage in a protracted foreclosure, while neighbors watched squatters move in.

“The banks’ story is it doesn’t concern them when there are squatters or illegal activity but they’re constantly aware, because I’ve called them and others have as well," said neighbor Chancy Marsh, who lives next door.

It is the latest plague of the housing crisis.

Banks that made foolish loans foreclose only to find themselves "slumlord millionaires," or lenders that took blighted and often dangerous properties away from distressed mortgage holders.

Read on.

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