The Case-Shiller housing price index notched another solid gain last week, but Ramon Suero didn’t catch the news. While economists were trumpeting data showing housing prices shooting up across the country, Suero was in Boston Housing Court, fighting off a government-owned mortgage company’s efforts to throw his family into the street.
The housing market may be rebounding nicely in many corners of the country, but Uphams Corner in Dorchester is not one of them. Suero bought the condominium he’s fighting to hold on to in 2005, for $283,000. Today, the home is worth less than one-third that sum. Suero is far from unique in that respect. Across Massachusetts, wealthy towns are as wealthy as ever, while those cities hit hardest by the housing crash have found recovery to be illusory. If housing is bouncing back, it’s doing so in an unstable, highly unequal manner. Housing’s recovery is comforting the comfortable, and leaving the marginalized behind.
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Si usted hace cosas estúpidas, cosas malas le suceden a usted. Este imbécil pagado $283,000 por un apartamento en el Rincón Uphams. Que cabron!
Since the main complaint here is the lack of rebound in housing prices in certain areas, we could talk about the root causes of the phenomenon. Mr. McMorrow may say it's because of predatory lenders. That would be a huge cop-out. What you need to do is figure out why people don't want to live in Uphams Corner Dorchester. And because very few people want to live there, that's why you have low prices; the low prices attract the marginal buyers. I'll suggest that it comes down to three basic reasons and two of them are actually the same when you look at it. Violence and racism. The third being "the schools" but we all know that means the children in the schools, not the teachers, and not the buildings. Now I'm not going to suggest I've got the answer to racism, but the violence could be helped by not having so many hand-guns in the streets. So Paul, here's your solution to the problem of the inner-city housing crisis: get rid of the hand-guns. Yes make them as close to illegal as the Constitution will allow.
Do you really believe that the gangsters and drug dealers that create the violence will suddenly stop having guns the laws were different? most of the guns used in these crimes are already illegally owned.
Not for nothing, but if more decent folk where armed....I suspect the gang bangers would act differently....
Giermund.. I have to disagree.
Here is the real problem: a guy pushing a broom figured he could afford a $285K house.
Now, in the old days (before Barney Frank helped destroy the nation), the rule of them was that you could afford a house roughly 3 times your salary. Which means Ramon should have been pulling down $95K.
No doubt that there were liberal-backed predatory lendors out there....but unless they changed the amount, after he signed it from "$90K" to "$285K"... its really Ramon's fault.
Dont want to demean folks who push brooms... I'd like to live an fancy brownstone on Beacon Hill...but i *CANT AFFORD IT*. No one's fault but my own.
Ramon signed up for something he couldn't afford, and now he and the liberals want those of us who live within our means to pay more for those who don't
Disgusting.
stop bailing people out. period. greedy banks. stupid homeowners
word!