All stories about "Subprime Mortgages"

1) The book is now closed on the curious case of the penthouse at 111 Central Park North. The building that made Harlem safe for luxury development (and Esquire magazine) reportedly set a Harlem record when the penthouse closed for $8.5 million, but the listing soon popped back up with Halstead for $12 million. It turns out the buyers had agreed to pay the full asking price, under the condition they could flip the sucker before closing. It never sold, and the owners gave up their 10% deposit under heavy speculation they didn't have the cash to close the deal. Now, a new buyer has ponied up $8 million—still a Harlem record, but this thing feels more used up than a Spitzer dinner date. [Big Deal/Josh Barbanel]

2) A little-discussed subplot of the subprime mortgage crisis: what happens when landlords lose their properties? Renters get screwed. [Even Renters Aren't Safe/Elizabeth A. Harris]

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The Times pays a visit this morning to Williamsbridge, an epicenter of the subprime lending mess, and decides that the entire neighborhood may be screwed. How screwed? Well, pretty badly. There are foreclosure sales, people paying every penny they earn to cover their mortgages and the "effects of this free-for-all are increasingly felt even among those who did not take on risky loans." Longtime owners are worried their property values are going to tank because foreclosed properties flood the market. Business owners say sales are down. In other words, everybody's getting a little wet as the ship goes down. One local housing advocate thinks that someone should set up an emergency fund with investments from people getting Wall Street bonuses to help sub-prime victims refinance. He says it would be like "reparations."
· Holidays Find Loan Crisis Spreading to Businesses and Neighbors [NYT]

The 14,000 New Yorkers caught up in the sub-prime shit storm that are facing foreclosure can now get counseling. Yesterday, the city launched what's being called the biggest city program in the country to advise homeowners how to keep their homes. The Center for NYC Neighborhoods will have a budget of $5.3 million, but it won't be providing any bailouts. It will, instead, be offering up "legal assistance, loan remediation and education, research and advocacy around sub-prime lending and mortgage foreclosures." In plain English, we think it means that one still could end up living in box, but that it could be higher-quality one. The center is supposed to help 18,000 people a year. No website yet.
· Help on the Way for Property Owners [NYP]
· Group Will Help Owners Prevent Foreclosures [Sun]
· New Group Will Help Homeowners Avoid Foreclosure [CityRoom]

[Artifact Foreclosed graphic from NYM, click to expand]

Another morning, another report from the front lines of the sub-prime meltdown hell, which would be Brooklyn and Queens. Today's numbers come from a report in the Post. The latest figures are that foreclosures were up 120 percent last month in Queens over last year. They spiked 50 percent in Brooklyn. That translates into 1,514 forclosed houses in Queens last month compared to 688 last year, and 1,277 in Brooklyn compared to 815 last year. The figures are holding steady in Manhattan and the Bronx and foreclosures are actually down slightly in Staten Island. At least, those are today's stats.
· Bklyn, Qns Foreclosures Soar [NYP]

How many subprime mortgage/credit crisis reports will come out this week? So far, we have one. This one shows how nasty the subprime crisis is in parts part of the city outside of Manhattan. In the parts of Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx getting nailed by the subprime problem, a new study done by a state senator found that mortgages took a year to go from approval to notice of foreclosure, which is impressive indeed. It also found that a handful of lenders are the source of most of the loans. The average time from mortgage to foreclosure in Jamaica and South Jamaica, Queens, for instance, was 11 months. In two Bronx neighborhoods, it was 14 months. There were 14,561 foreclosures related to the subprime crisis during the 13 months covered by the study. Foreclosures are expected to increase 60 percent this year from 2006.
· Study Links Lenders to Swift Foreclosures [NYT]
· Subprime Lenders in Pols Hall of Shame [NYP]
· Bronx politician issues hit list of subprime lenders [NYDN]