Mortgage defaults force Denver exodus
USA Today reports: “The foreclosure epidemic has swept so quickly through this part of Denver that in less than two years, lenders took action on 919 of the roughly 8,000 properties here, according to city records. Their owners defaulted on more than $171 million in mortgages they had used to buy their way out of apartments and into cul-de-sacs. Many were buying homes for the first time, in what seemed the most affordable of the city’s new subdivisions. They paid their way with easy credit — sometimes secured from aggressive lenders who appeared to look past the checkered credit histories and unstable jobs of some of their customers. Ultimately, many of the buyers couldn’t afford their mortgages.”
America’s Riskiest Real Estate Markets
10. Phoenix, AZ 9. Tampa, FL 8. Denver, CO 7. Sacramento, CA 6. Las Vegas, NV 5. Miami, FL 4. St. Louis, MO 3. Cleveland, OH 2. Orlando, FL 1. Detroit, MIForbes.com, 3/31/08
Protestors interrupt Los Angeles mayor at Skid Row announcement
Mercury News reports:“When he approached a portable lectern to make an announcement, about five protesters from a nearby soup kitchen started shouting slogans including, ‘Do something more for the homeless than lighten the streets’ and ‘Housing, not jails … The street lights are being installed as part of the Safer City Initiative, an open-ended police program to cut crime in Skid Row, long home to thousands of homeless.”
Nonprofit will mark five new homes in KC’s urban core
BizJournals.com reports: “Blue Hills Community Services is continuing its efforts to rebuild Kansas City’s urban core — one small section at a time. The nonprofit group will celebrate the completion of five new homes on Olive Street on Wednesday morning. The homes, at 4912 to 4942 Olive, cost almost $800,000 to build, including construction and soft costs such as architectural services and energy consulting, Joanne Bussinger, executive director of Blue Hills Community Services, said Tuesday … Three potential home buyers are working on securing financing to buy three of the new Olive Street homes, she said. Home buyers must be at or below 80 percent, or $38,300, of the median income for single-person household, which is $47,875.”
Silent killer stalks world of urban farming
The Sydney Morning Herald reports: “Lots of so-called gardening experts insist that chickens are a harmless addition to your garden. Some even suggest that they can be “good”. This could not be further from the truth. Chickens are devil birds, the agents of Satan sent to peck at your lettuce and crap on your carrots … Then one day I spent several hours turning, fertilising and sowing a six square metre bed with new seeds. I mulched the bed, then watered it all in. But no sooner had I turned my back than they were up there, ripping the bed apart and pecking out the seed. I shooed them off, but they ran around and hopped up on the other side, where I couldn’t reach them.”
Former HUD secretary Alphonso Jackson forgets to pack painted portrait on his way out.
The Washington Post reports: “Now that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson has resigned amid scandal, what will become of the multi-thousand dollar portrait of himself that he commissioned last fall to hang on the wall of HUD’s new state-of-the-art auditorium? Currently, Jackson’s portrait, and the others he had commissioned simultaneously of the four HUD secretaries before him — Jack Kemp, Henry Cisneros, Andrew Cuomo and Mel Martinez — are being stored in the basement at HUD, according to HUD spokesman Jerry Brown. Jackson wanted all five portraits to be painted in record time at a price tag of $100,000, according to a contract solicitation obtained by the Sleuth.”
Georgia developer’s mixed-use project pays homage to Savannah’s roots.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: “Gen. James Oglethorpe, Georgia’s founder, designed this Colonial-era town in 1733 around a series of town squares with churches, shops, homes and stables evoking old Europe … retail-commercial project, Savannah River Landing, just east of downtown and connected by the old town’s streets and the riverside’s red-brick walkway.”