Sunday, February 22, 2009

Foreclosures spur neighborhood ghost towns -- chicagotribune.com

Foreclosures spur neighborhood ghost towns -- chicagotribune.com: "Two streets that have little in common—Wilcox on the West Side and Farwell on the North— illustrate the latest chapter of the housing crisis: a surge in vacant homes that is sinking property values and blighting swaths of the city.

As foreclosures soar to historic levels, the infection has spread beyond places of perennial concern, such as West Garfield Park and Englewood.

Condo ghost towns replete with granite and stainless steel have emerged on stretches of the North Side, leaving a pox of hollow buildings dotting the landscape."...In the past when banks auctioned off foreclosed homes, buyers lined up to snatch real estate at bargain prices. But given the states of the housing and credit markets, almost 99 percent of homes lost to foreclosure in 2008 went back to lenders

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Condo ghost towns. Now, there's a concept. The North Side of Chicago is the nice part.

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