Liberal Talk Radio

It looks like the Pacific Northwest’s going to be spared the brunt of the recent mortgage crisis. Cleveland, on the other hand, not so much:

Here in Ohio, there are more than 200 vacant houses in Euclid, a suburb of Cleveland north of here. In the last two years more than 600 houses in Euclid have gone through foreclosure or started the process, many of them the homes of elderly people who refinanced with low two-year teaser rates, then saw their payments grow by 50 percent or more.

Euclid has installed alarm systems in some vacant houses to keep out people hoping to steal lights and other fixtures, drug users and squatters. The city has hired three new building inspectors, bringing the total to nine, to deal with troubled properties and is getting a $1 million loan from the county to cover the costs of rehabilitation, demolition and lawn care at the foreclosed houses. (When the properties are sold, such direct maintenance costs will be recovered through tax assessments.)

It’s pretty innovative on the part of the local government to try and spruce up the abandoned houses to prevent a snowball effect. But it looks like they’re trying to rake water up a hill. Good thing Alan Greenspan recommended sub-prime mortgages back in the day, otherwise we wouldn’t be in this wonderful situation. Better that we left it to the market, since obviously 80-year-old retirees who can’t read fine print are perfectly well-educated consumers.