One thing that happened in the past 20 years was that many investors who bought houses cheaply, or for no money down, gutted a house in order to get a $50,000 loan from the bank to rehabb it.Once the house was gutted, the bank would take a photo of it and give the investor thier loan.

But instead of using the loan to fix up that house.The investors would often use that money to buy more houses.Sometimes they even hid the money,declared bankruptcy, and walked away from the loan and the no money down house.

This is why there are so many houses in Pigtown that were gutted by contractors, and then left alone. It was in the investors interest to gut houses and keep on gutting more, without fixing any of them up. It distorted the market.

My concern is that this might happen again with the vacant to values houses. In my opinion, the City should cordinate with the banks to make sure that investors use the loans that they get to fix up a house, for that purpose.And for no other purpose.

I would have to say that last time that i looked at the website for vacant to values, the prices seemed high for the houses that they were trying to sell.Especially in this market.And it seemed as if they were selling in only the least desirable areas. I would like to see the City sell someof its houses in between Johns Hopkins hospital, and Patterson Park .Im sure that it has some there.

There are a lot of abandoned houses in that area.And they could be fixed up and sold to Hopkins employees and students.It almost seems like the City is avoiding selling in areas where people might actually want to buy. Hopefully the program will improve on this over time

In addition to the problem that Pete describes another is the pacification effect that stories about a few properties being done up here and there can have.

Such projects should be encouraged, perhaps even more, but they remain minor in number and at the periphery of the larger problem.

Again, the problem is the sheer scale of "former address" that need to be dealt with in a far more holistic manner: Swaths of entire blocks razed,debris removed, utilities rebuilt, ground graded, park area established and then have about half the former number of addresses assigned to larger lots than used to be on those blocks.

Raze 5000 and allow for perhaps 2-3000 new homes with yards for middle class families who will then pay income taxes to the City (as well as the lowered property taxes)

I love people who love to point out problems but who can and have done nothing to create solutions...ahem

In light of the stresses on taxpayers and the government, I think that it's laudable that the city has created the *possibility* of getting tax revenue for these properties that are currently drains on the public budget.

Whether or not the lots and shells continue to be eyesores is another issue altogether. The government isn't in the business of real-estate. Private owners can do just as bad (tongue in cheek) of a job as the City does in terms of "maintaining" the houses, but there's a big difference...the maintenance now comes from private money and not taxpayer (ie MY) dollars.

JuanitaBeasley, if you think your tax dollars won't continue to go towards maintaining these homes, you are sorely mistaken. If the same inveestors who have contributed to the city's current blight are allowed to purchase even more homes under this program -- watch your tax money go straight towards cleaning up the Real Estate Mess, Round Two.

The 203k loan can take care of these situations since the rehab funds are looked after by the lender and HUD. Although it's for owner occupied properties only right now, but by the end of the 2nd quarter 2011, it may be rolled back out to investors. HUD is set to make an announcement. This would take care of the riff raff.

JuanitaBeasley
Your comment about people doing nothing to create solutions was obviously aimed at me and MR Rational.
I dont know you and you dont know me.Since you comment on these issues, i have no problem assuming that you care about our City.Please do me the same courtesy and assume the same about me.

I have commented here many times and have made many suggestions about what should be done about the abandoned housing in Baltimore.You may disagree with my opinions.But i have hardly been vague about what i think should be done. I resent your implication that im just bad mouthing Baltimore.

I love Baltimore.But i think its pollyannish to believe that we have no problems. I myself cant solve these problems. Im just one person.I do keep my block clean of trash[which isnt easy].And i have volunteered for the past 3 years cleaning up Patterson Park, on the weekends with my neighbors. I also have volunteered once a week for the past 6 years at Habitat for Humanity , who is fixing up abandoned homes in Pigtown and the Patterson Park area. I also work on abandoned houses for a living. I have worked on around 200 houses in Baltimore.

I am not trying to portray myself as a saint or as an expert on housing. But i am saying that you should not accuse me or MR Rational of doing "nothing to create solutions" .Thats an unjust and unfounded charge.

This is one of the few forums in Baltimore to discus these issues.This blog and Baltimore Slumlord Watch , are the only two blogs that i know of that do.

There are many good blogs discussing the issue s of abandoned housing ,de-industrialisation, loss of blue collar jobs, ect in other cities. Rustwire. com and the Urbanophile Blog are two great examples. But in Baltimore many people seem to be in denial about the problems we face.When the census figures showed a loss of 30,000 residents. The atitude of many was "Who cares? Canton and Fed Hill is still nice" When the few times the issue of blue collar job loss is raised , i often hear people say"who cares, we have jobs at hopkins".As if those jobs could be filled with the people that have
been laid off from Sparrows Point or the factories that Baltimore used to have.

I dont like the comments i sometimes see in the Baltimore Sun where people bad mouth Baltimore and make vile racist remarks about it. But i have not seen many of those types of comments here at this particlular blog. .Most commenters here are genuinly concerned about the conditions in Baltimore.and they have good reasons to be concerned .Constructive criticism is what a great democracy is supposed to be about.

I plan to live in Baltimore until i die.So i have a vested interest in not accepting the status quo .Especially when that status quo is not good.

Wow I didn't expect such a spicy response. I was mostly responding to:
... He suggests forming a "citywide rowhouse recovery agency" ...

I think I have somewhat of a right to raise my concerns about "armchair urban planners" since I've personally planted/mulched/watered/planted city trees and shrubs, rehabilitated a building, gone to countless community meetings, confronted graffiti artists and litterers, picked up tons of trash, helped plan a charter school(Although I have no children...go figure), donated and/or helped raise thousands of dollars for community projects. Not only my measly efforts, but the really laudable and superhuman efforts of my neighbors made a big difference in my neighborhood. I take issue with those who think that the government is going to improve communities. It's not fair, but if you live in Baltimore and the neighborhood's not great, then you need concerted community action to change it. You're going to have to take sanitation, safety and grant-writing, fund raising and disposition of property into your own hands.

Also, Slumlord-watcher it's easy to point fingers but "Investors" are to be thanked for many of the livable homes and attractive shopping areas in Baltimore. I hope you don't treat them as subhuman creeps. They're people like you and me.

I may be wrong, but I suspect watching "slumlords" is not going to be immensely effective. If you really care, then help raise money to rehabilitate the properties, or roll up your sleeves and start working on them yourself, or even fill out grant proposals to get funding to improve the properties.

Based on my personal experience and that of my colleagues, I have never seen tenants who are afraid to report violations for fear of eviction. I have only seen tenants who will happy report "violations" in order to stay in a house rent free for several months.

There's a shortage of unsubsidized low-income housing for a reason. Do the math. Encouraging more legislation to "punish" property owners for not being able to get enough rent to cover their expenses will improve the problem?

I would also encourage the slumlord watcher to support lower property taxes, fines and fees in Baltimore. The city's attempt to squeeze money from the "evil, wealthy investors" has apparently made it less expensive to leave a property empty than to rent it to low income tenants.

I forgot to add THANKS to Pete! You are definitely a hero.

Do you have a community association?

If not, you may want to consider starting one. Having people who are good at fund raising, grant writing, architecture etc can really help. You have done a lot for the city, but it's really hard to make a big difference by yourself.

I purchased a city owned property, it wasn't the issue with the city, it was an issue with the Property Company SELLING the property on behalf of the city. They were AWFUL!
There was no due diligence on their part, they sold me a property w/ no permits on the property even though their house is FHA insurable, we've redone a lot of the work rehab work that was shoddy from the lack of permits. The copper was borrowed from my AC unit two weeks before I settled & I received a $500 credit, hello a new unit costs a few grand.

It was a great deal, and well work the wait (4 months), but be ready for some serious stress... oh yeah I received three apprasials w/in two months because of the selling company.

If you're willing to put up with the headache go for it.

I put in a bid today. Based on the application, only properties appraised at over 20,000 now require an appraisal.

I paid a $100 filing fee, and the application was fairly simple to complete.

Don't forget that you can use the FHA 203k on mixed-use properties. The borrower must occupy one of the residential units as their primary residence however they can use the retail space for their own business or lease it out to another business. I receive many calls from the Baltimore area for 203k mixed use and 2-4 unit properties. Keeping shopping your dream property is out there!