This past week marked the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and its devastating effects on the western Gulf Coast states, especially – and most infamously – on the city of New Orleans. Almost 2000 people died as the hurricane crashed into the Mississippi Delta and then overloaded the dilapidated and antiquated levees of The Big […]
Recent Reports of Administration’s Efforts To End Foreclosure: “Extend And Pretend”
With midterm elections coming in November, and with the Democrats generally sailing against the political winds, reports about the difficulties and inadequacies of the Obama Administrations project “Making Home Affordable” (MHA) are likely to slacken further the party’s sails. The MHA program was set up in February 2009 as offering “opportunities to modify or refinance […]
Housing Market Remains Soft As Banks Shy Away From Loans
The bubble in the housing market (and the attendant mortgage-backed securities, etc. that pumped up the bubble) is largely blamed for the rise in debt among American consumers. The fear of, and calling in, of that debt led to the collapse in credit in the early fall of 2008 that sparked the recession. Though economists […]
Baltimore Finding Ways To Urban Renewal That Do Not Adversely Dislocate
In so many ways Baltimore spent much of the second half of the twentieth century as a city that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory: A vibrant industrial and trading city with a notable financial sector as well (in the decade after World War II), a city of some 2 million people who enjoyed […]
NeighborWorks Week Draws To Successful Close
The NeighborWorks Week (June 5-12) that just finished (and that we promoted a couple of weeks ago) focused on educating homeowners to the danger signs of mortgage-assistance scams and predatory loan practices. According to the NeighborWorks website, “NeighborWorks America and local NeighborWorks organizations held more than 320 community revitalization and 150 loan modification scam awareness […]
Harvard Study Argues for Jobs, Then Houses – Which Is The Cart?
The financial crisis that began in earnest in 2007 and came to a head in 2008 has driven up unemployment to the highest point it has been since the Great Depression. Even with this statistic, though, we might want to appreciate how much has changed and how different the scale is (admittedly, cold comfort for […]
Neighborworks America Starts Summer Holidays With Educating Struggling Homeowners
We have all seen them. Many of the advertisements are made in Microsoft word, printed on a $99 color printer, and tacked onto telephone poles throughout struggling neighborhoods. Many of us know them as the scams – at least ‘too-good-to-be-true’ – deals that they are. But our confidence is likely bolstered by our relatively stable […]
Kicking A (Housing) Market While It’s Down
We are not a glum group at MKCREATIVE by any means. We just believe ‘forewarned is forearmed.’ Yesterday we discussed the local (read: Baltimore-Washington region) housing market, which did not enjoy a notable bubble and (thus?) has not suffered a violent bust. Nevertheless, the region is seeing a striking deflation in home values as foreclosures […]