Boston’s Strategy to Stave Off Cheap Houses for Sale
Cheap houses for sale and foreclosure auctions have become trends in several major metropolitan cities of California, Arizona, Florida and Texas were high foreclosure rates are reported.
These cities should take a lesson or two on how to stave off cheap houses for sale from Boston, Massachusetts.
Cheap houses for sale due to foreclosures reached a total of 1,215 in Boston in 2008. These figures were not remarkable compared with the number of cheap houses for sale in other cities.
Boston has successfully controlled the number of its cheap houses for sale due to foreclosures because of its aggressive approach to the foreclosure crisis.
This is how the strategy works in controlling the increase in the number of foreclosure homes in Boston. The city would buy a foreclosed home that has been abandoned and vacant for some time. After dealing with the mortgage servicer, the city would then packaged the repossessed home with other properties and sell them to the construction company, Built-Rite for the same cost that it paid per unit.
Built-Rite will then rehabilitate the said properties and sell them at a much higher price.
The city’s foreclosure prevention program is part of Boston Mayor Tom Menino’s Foreclosure Intervention Team which focused on streets, neighborhoods and communities with a high number of foreclosure properties, such as Dorchester, Hyde Park, Roxbury and Mattapan.
The mayor’s foreclosure intervention team would bring in police in target areas to prevent crime. The team also improves the street, public spaces and lighting and provides support to distressed homeowners who wanted to make some repairs.
This strategy ensures that communities with high foreclosure rates would not deteriorate and affect neighboring areas.
Menino has directed his intervention team to look and identify where it can eliminate the plague caused by foreclosures.
The reasons why Menino’s team was able to control the spread of foreclosure in the city were first, the economy has not bottomed out and second, they were able to anticipate the crisis. For several years now, the city has a program to encourage potential homebuyers to deal only with lenders who have good business reputation and to choose their loans wisely.
The city also provides funds to help homeowners save their properties from foreclosures. To date, it has saved over 450 properties, reducing by 20 percent its cheap houses for sale.
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- Cheap Foreclosed Houses for Sale to Pull Down Home Prices More
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