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Housing May 05, 2008 City repair fund provides scant relief to tenants In a fourth installment of The Washington Post's Forced Out series, about abusive landlords who drive tenants from rent-controlled apartments, Debbie Cenziper and Sarah Cohen report that D.C. government has widely misused a multi-million dollar fund to repair buildings when landlords refuse to do the work. "In the past three years, the (city) spent $617,000 on repairs at neglected apartment buildings — just four percent of the $16.5 million in the fund — even while its inspectors chronicled rampant code violations at complexes across the city." The city spent three times more repairing privately owned, single-family houses, some valued at $500,000 or more, including one that received a new front porch, 25 windows, fresh paint, roof repairs and a new garage door. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post Network of flipping founders in Southwest Florida An investigation by Michael Braga, Aaron Kessler and Charlie Szymanski of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune used social network analysis and hundreds of land and corporation documents to uncover a web of questionable real estate deals involving a Southwest Florida investor and developer. The subject, Mark Brivik, moved properties back and forth between himself, companies he controlled, and his friends — in the process driving up sales prices and harvesting millions of dollars in questionable mortgages that allegedly funded his lavish lifestyle on the Florida coast. The project includes an interactive network graphic that ties together the major players and their transactions. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post March 06, 2008 Foreclosure increase threatens neighborhoods Brad Branan of The Fresno Bee found that the number of foreclosures in Fresno County increased 405 percent in 2007, with the brunt of the mortgage crisis impacting already vulnerable neighborhoods. According to the article, "Already there are signs that a torrent of foreclosures could trigger more crime and decay in the city's struggling core." Branan analyzed bank repossession data from RealtyTrac and merged the information with city code violation records. He discovered many of the vacant structures attract graffiti, squatters and other problems that can lead to more serious issues, such as lower property values and crime. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post November 26, 2007 No-proof loans fuel foreclosure problems Dale Kasler, Phillip Reese and Jim Wasserman of The Sacramento Bee examined the impact of stated-income loans in the wave of subprime loans devastating the area's housing market. Analysis of "61,000 Sacramento-area mortgages over two years reveals striking discrepancies — gaps as high as 25 percent — between what homebuyers earned and what was listed on their loan applications." They also found higher gaps in lower income neighborhoods and aggressive use of stated-income loans, which do not require documentation of the borrower's income, in the late phase of the housing boom. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post October 31, 2007 Neglect plagues property holdings of ex-NBA star An investigation by The Sacramento Bee's Terri Handy and Phillip Reese shows that former NBA star Kevin Johnson is responsible for a slew of neglected properties in the downtrodden area of Oak Park where his investments have been widely publicized and praised. "Within a two-mile radius, a Bee investigation found, half of the 37 parcels owned by Johnson or companies and organizations he founded have been cited by the city in the past decade, some multiple times. The 73 violations at those Oak Park properties resulted in 42 fines or fees totaling at least $32,080." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 13, 2007 Santa Ana block hit hard by subprime lending John Gittelsohn and Ronald Campbell of The Orange County Register looked at one street in Santa Ana, Calif. to see the impact of subprime lending in the community. Seventeen homeowners on this quiet block took out 83 mortgages, most of them subprime, during a six-year frenzy of deal-making. Easy credit helped triple home prices from 2000 to 2006. But with the money spigot shut off homeowners now are in a bind. Two homes have been foreclosed in the past year, two more are in default and several are for sale. One home recently sold at a loss, and two more are for sale at prices that would guarantee a loss. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post July 27, 2007 Foreclosure hot spots in Phoenix area The I-Team of KNXV-Phoenix investigated the growing trend of foreclosures in Phoenix area and found "hot zones" where foreclosure rates are highest. Joe Ducey and investigative producer Dan Siegel showed that in one area of West Phoenix, 1,050 homes have gone into foreclosure since January 2006. Affordable housing purchased with adjustable rate mortgages are at the center of the foreclosure trend. When property values surged, homeowners refinanced "cashing out equity, often more than their homes were really worth." IRE and NICAR performed the data analysis for this story. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post July 19, 2007 Subprime crisis looming in Pennsylvania The latest report on subprime lending woes comes from The Morning Call in Allentown, Pa. Reporters Tim Darragh and Matt Birkbeck predict that the worst is yet to come in the region. With their home prices pumped up to record levels, Lehigh and Northampton counties ranked first and second among Pennsylvania's 67 counties for growth in high-rate, subprime mortgages from 2004-2005, according to federal data." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post July 03, 2007 Equity stripping preys on desperate homeowners With the housing market on the decline and foreclosures on the rise, a scheme known as equity stripping is taking advantage of vulnerable homeowners, The New York Times' Gretchen Morgenson and Vikas Bijaj report. Companies offer relief to those behind in their mortgage by offering "cash upfront, free monthly rent and a chance to retain their houses in the long run. But in the process, someone else takes over the deed, borrows as much as possible against the value of the house and pockets the cash. And, almost always, the homeowners still end up losing their homes." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post June 21, 2007 Secret Shelters Fred Kelly reports on a two-week investigation by The Charlotte Observer which uncovered an "underground network" of shelters and safe houses, many run by religious ministries, which have sprung up as official shelters face issues of overcrowding. Exact numbers on how many of these make-shift shelters exist are unknown, but The Observer located 17 in the course of their investigation. Officials in the area worry about lack of oversight and regulation which could put residents at risk. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post June 13, 2007 Miami's city housing program riddled with problems After a year of exposing corruption and breakdowns in the Miami-Dade County housing agency, The Miami Herald's Debbie Cenziper, Larry Lebowitz and Oscar Corral reveal similar problems in the city of Miami's housing programs, including millions of dollars loaned to developers who never produced the projects they promised -- and never returned the money. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post May 30, 2007 Foreclosure rescue firm preys on those it claims to help An investigation by Mc Nelly Torres and Jon Burstein of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel revealed that Florida Housing Council, a foreclosure rescue firm, was defrauding the very people it claimed to aid. Interviews with 11 homeowners, in addition to the review of seven lawsuits and hundreds of property records, uncovered a pattern of deception and fraud on the part of FHC and its owner. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post May 17, 2007 Mortgage Meltdown A broadcast and web package from Tisha Thompson of WMAR-Baltimore uncovers the dirt on home mortgage lending in Maryland. The issue of race and credit is explored as a foreclosure boom is forecast due to an increase the number of subprime loans issued. Included are maps of foreclosure "hotspots" and a glossary of lending terms. IRE and NICAR assisted with the mapping for this story. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post May 11, 2007 Former meth labs declared "safe" still unfit for residence A report by Debbie Dujanovic of KSL 5 (Salt Lake City) details how seized homes in Salt Lake County that had once functioned as meth labs are being reopened and declared safe without proper clean up. Unsuspecting buyers are moving into contaminated homes because lax disclosure laws negate the need to report homes ever served as meth labs. Upon learning that their house had been a meth lab, one family discovered a child's bedroom had "levels 14 times above what the state considers 'safe.'" listing properities that were considered contaminated at one time. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post April 20, 2007 Arizona developer's checkered past Mark Flatten of the East Valley Tribune in Phoenix completed a series on Jim Rhodes who has become in the most influential developer in Arizona's East Valley. In December of 2006, he purchased over 1,000 acres of state trust land. The $58.6 million purchase gave him the right to "master-plan 7,700 acres in the area and set the tone for development of 275 square miles of state land extending from the eastern edge of Maricopa County to Florence." State officials claim they did not know of Rhodes' checkered past, which includes charges of fraud and theft, prior to the land purchase. The entire series can be viewed here. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post February 21, 2007 Despite fire safety issues, apartment complex remained open Sarah Okeson and John McCarthy of Florida Today (Brevard County, Fla.) report on Manor House, an apartment complex in Florida that did not have an adequate fire alarm system for two years. The county slapped it with the largest fine ever for a code enforcement violation. However, the complex was able to stay open because the fire marshall said conditions were not hazardous enough to merit shutting it down. The complex also had been cited by the state because the sprinkler system wasn't working, and there were problems with the fire extinguishers and the exits. The complex's new owners claim to be "doing everything we can to make it a safe and affordable place to live." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post January 02, 2007 Foreclosing the American Dream An ongoing series by Jeff Roberts, David Olinger, Greg Griffin and Aldo Svaldi of The Denver Post "examines why the state's foreclosure rate leads the nation and how it is affecting Coloradans, their communities and the economy." A computer-assisted analysis revealed a problems in neighborhoods where builders acted as lenders. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post December 18, 2006 Millions squandered by Miami-Dade Housing Agency In another installment to The Miami Herald's "House of Lies" investigative series, reporter Debbie Cenziper exposes the actions of the former director of the Miami-Dade Housing Agency, which squandered millions of dollars over the past five years in insider deals, mismanagement and corruption. In a follow-up story, Cenziper and reporter Scott Hiaasen report on a scathing county audit of the same housing agency and key developers who received millions of taxpayer dollars. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post December 06, 2006 Subprime loans cripple minority homeowners Vikas Bajaj and Ron Nixon of The New York Times looked at the impact of subprime loans on minority homeownership over the past six years. The very loans that allowed for the purchase of a home are now crippling buyers' finances as interest rates inflate, leading to an increase in delinquencies and foreclosures. "Industry officials say the number of subprime borrowers losing their home and encountering distress is growing and sure to increase because there have been so many more mortgages issued in recent years. But they argue that on balance, subprime lending has been beneficial because it has given people who previously did not have access to credit the ability to buy homes." The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act database can be obtained from the IRE and NICAR Database Library. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post November 20, 2006 "House of Lies" continued In another installment of The Miami Herald's House of Lies series, reporter Debbie Cenziper found documents, emails and correspondence that showed Miami-Dade government leaders were warned about serious breakdowns in public housing but failed to take action, costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post October 16, 2006 Lein sales a quick fix with dire consequences Over several months, Tom Meagher of the Herald News examined the records of a bulk sale of property tax liens that the city of Paterson, N.J., conducted to raise the revenue needed to balance its budget. While this resulted in a quick influx of cash for the city, the short-sighted plan cost the city millions in potential revenue and handed over control of hundreds of pieces valuable land to an independent developer. The developer has, in turn, begun to sell the lots for as much as 60 times what they used to pay - including non-profits intending to build affordable housing in the area Included with the story is an interactive map showing the properties described in the story. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post "Caltrans: Road to Nowhere" A watchdog report by Kimberly Kindy and Natalya Shulyakovskaya of The Orange County Register looks at how the California Department of Transportation "has repeatedly displaced property owners for highway projects that went nowhere -- from the abandoned widening of Pacific Coast Highway through Orange County to Hayward’s failed freeway loop near the San Francisco Bay. Along the way, Caltrans used eminent domain to buy thousands of homes and businesses it didn’t need, holding onto them for decades." This has resulted in neglected and abandoned proprerties all over the state of California. In addition to unnecessarily displaced families, these failed projects have resulted in millions in lost tax revenue for the state. Shulyakovskaya includes a detailed description of the data analysis done for this story. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post October 11, 2006 Homeowners stay put in New Orleans Jean Guccione and Doug Smith of the Los Angeles Times analyzed data from the Small Business Administration, the federal agency primarily responsible for disaster reconstruction loans, and found that of more than 150,000 homeowners and business owners approved for the loans, 2% were transferring the money to a new property in New Orleans. "Most New Orleans-area property owners seeking government aid for hurricane damage are showing a strong preference for restoring their old neighborhoods rather than take the money to seek new horizons." Records show that although federal and state recovery programs offer aid to those who choose to relocate, few applicants have requested it. NOTE: Several SBA databases, including business loan data, are available from the IRE and NICAR Database Library. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post September 21, 2006 Long Island migration trends Katie Thomas, Tom McGinty and Andrew Strickler of Newsday used IRS migration data to show that "Long Islanders ... are leaving the region in growing numbers, and while traditional destinations such as Palm Beach, Fla., and Fort Lauderdale are still popular, many are bypassing those locations for fast-growing areas such as North Carolina and Tampa, Fla." The paper examined the data, based on tax returns, covering 1995-2004. IRS county-to-county migration data is available from the IRE and NICAR database library. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post September 13, 2006 Charlotte Observer investigation: Housing the Poor Fred Kelly of the Charlotte Observer used local data to show that roughly four of every five Section 8 residents are clustered in 10 ZIP codes already burdened with crime and blight. At the same time, affluent communities, including vast stretches of south Charlotte and areas near Lake Norman, have virtually no Section 8 tenants.” Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 28, 2006 Miami housing agency fraud continues In a recent installment of the on-going series "House of Lies," the Miami Herald's Debbie Cenziper and Larry Lebowitz uncovered more corruption in the Miami-Dade Housing Agency. Oscar Rivero had become a favored developer for the local housing authority - collecting millions, yet building nothing. "Today, the land where Rivero promised dozens of homes for the poor is still vacant, cordoned off by fences -- eyesores in already distressed neighborhoods. Rivero hasn't delivered a single house even though he's held on to millions of dollars in public money -- while buying personal properties and an office for more than $4.9 million." Following the story, Rivero was arrested and charged with "two first-degree felonies: grand theft and committing an organized scheme to defraud." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post July 26, 2006 House of Lies An extensive four-part series by Debbie Cenziper, Susannah Nesmith and Tim Henderson of The Miami Herald has uncovered extensive corruption in the Miami-Dade Housing Agency. Their investigation uncovered a system which has operated like "an unchecked cash machine for developers and consultants and its own leaders and failed the families it was meant to serve." Such failings include millions being allocated for housing that was never built while developers kept the money. The agency also "diverted another $5 million money earmarked by state law to build homes for the poor to pay for a new office building complete with a $287,000 bronze sculpture of stacked teacups called Space Station that was shipped from Italy." Reaction to the series has been swift, as County Manager George Burgess has already fired a number of people at the Miami-Dade Housing Agency. Burgess commended the Miami Herald for their investigation saying, "'Our hat's off to you for laying it out there.'" Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post June 21, 2006 Minorities denied for loans more often Mc Nelly Torres and Jeremy Milarsky of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel analyzed the federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data for 2000-04 and found that "blacks and Hispanics who have applied for conventional mortgage loans in South Florida were denied more often than white applicants, even when income levels were about the same." The analysis also showed that when people of color were approved for loans they tended to pay higher interest rates than whites. Homeownership among minorities is at an all-time high nationwide, but minorities continue to struggle. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post May 12, 2006 Fighting eminent domain mostly a losing battle Steve Kemme and Gregory Korte of The Cincinnati Enquirer analyzed real-estate sales records and found that those who sold their homes for an urban renewal project in suburban Norwood made more than twice what their homes were worth — while those who had their properties taken by eminent domain made three times their appraised value. The reporters analyzed every eminent domain case in Hamilton County in the past eight years to show that when government moves to take private property, owners can rarely — if ever — stop it." The investigation found that owners do get 85 percent more in court than the government was willing to pay when it filed the condemnation action. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post May 08, 2006 Homes remain out of reach for many Gina Edwards, Deirdre Conner and Kori Rumore of the Naples Daily News analyzed real estate transactions culled from property appraiser records to show how the real estate market has shifted. In 2003, in Collier County, Fla., almost 60 percent of single-family homes on the market — more than 4,500 — sold for less than $300,000. By 2005, the under-$300,000 market had shrunk to 22 percent of single-family home sales. "This when two-thirds of all Collier households make less than $75,000 a year and can't afford more than a $300,000 home." Affordable housing became a pressing crisis when Collier lost traditionally affordable neighborhoods to skyrocketing prices. Similarly, in 2003, 43 percent of single-family homes in south Lee County, or more than 1,250, sold for less than $200,000. By 2005, only 11 percent of single-family homes, or fewer than 370, sold for under $200,000 in south Lee. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post April 14, 2006 Tax breaks prove costly for Detroit David Josar of The Detroit News used State Tax Commission data, property assessments and tax records to show that Detroit is losing more than $63 million in annual revenue because of property tax breaks given to people moving into new houses, condos and lofts. The tax breaks have cost the city and school district more than $400 million since 2000. "The loss in revenue has become so dire that Detroit Public Schools has begun sending its chief financial officer, Dori Freelain, to weekly City Council meetings urging pragmatism with abatements." The investigation found the tax breaks don't always go to the disadvantaged. In one case, the owner of one of America's most successful Chevrolet dealerships, who bought a $1.3 million house, saves $41,999 a year because of several exemptions. When the breaks expire in 2011, the businesswoman will have saved $371,345 in property taxes. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post March 29, 2006 Mortgage industry employs felons Geoff Dutton of The Columbus Dispatch continues to follow the predatory lending business and practices in Ohio. He finds that "leaders of the brokers association have urged lawmakers to reject new proposals designed to crack down on predatory lending and increase state oversight. The mortgage industry, they argue, can police itself without new state regulations." But Dutton finds those leaders have employed felons and some of their businesses are scrutinized by regulators. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post March 07, 2006 Retrofits offer limited earthquake protection Thomas Peele and Jessica Guynn of Contra Costa Times found that despite houses being retrofitted to keep them safe during an earthquake, less than a third of the houses inspected would survive a major earthquake. In an investigation of 35 retrofitted houses, the newspaper found that in 24 of the 35 homes , residents might have had a false sense of security about earthquake protection. "Scientists predict a magnitude 6.7 earthquake is likely to strike the Bay Area before 2032. Yet state and local building codes don't require specific standards for a safe voluntary seismic retrofit of a home." The investigation also found that in most cases, nails were either too small, which can leave connections weak, or too big, which can split critical wood blocks and that shear walls were made of misshapen pieces, or "quilt-works," of plywood rather than the full-size sheets needed to effectively transfer earthquake forces. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post March 02, 2006 Booming housing industry slows in South Fla. Matthew Haggman, Lisa Arthur and Tim Henderson of The Miami Herald analyzed home sales over the past five years and found South Florida has gone through the most explosive housing boom in its history. "The land rush has transformed just about every corner and corridor of the region, sending prices skyward since 2000 — more than 150 percent in Pompano Beach, more than 200 percent in Hallandale Beach and Sunny Isles Beach, and 250 percent in North Bay Village. " But it is predicted that South Florida's 5-year run of annual price jumps of anywhere from 12 percent to more than 20 percent is ending. Prices have wobbled in recent months, with sellers lowering their expectations. Houses are sitting longer on the market — the average time needed to sell a single-family home in Broward County has jumped from 34 days six months ago to 53 days. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post February 23, 2006 Inequities found in property taxes Andrew Nelson, Bill Dedman and Matt Hersh of The Telegraph used city records to show that thousands of homeowners in Nashua, N.H. are paying too much in property taxes because of wide disparities between sale prices and the city's valuation of properties. Thousands more are paying too little, requiring other taxpayers to pick up the slack. Comparing the sale prices of those homes with the assessor's value, the investigation found 22.7 percent were overtaxed by at least 5 percent, 33.3 percent were undertaxed by at least 5 percent and 44.0 percent were close, pegged within 5 percent of their sale price. "If those homes that sold are representative of all 24,530 homes in the city — and the entire property tax system is based on the assumption that they are representative — then the owners of roughly 6,000 homes in the city are paying too much in property tax, about 8,000 are paying too little, and about 11,000 are paying about the right amount." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post High interest mortgages prevalent in rural areas Geoff Dutton, Jill Riepenhoff and Doug Haddix of The Columbus Dispatch analyzed federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data and explored the spread of high-interest mortgages from inner cities to Ohio's suburban and rural areas. They found that risky high-interest mortgages have cost record numbers of people their homes, but not just in the big cities. The investigation found people in rural areas were much more likely to sign mortgages with high interest rates, generally above 8 percent, compared with the average of 5 percent for a conventional loan at the time. (Note: For reporters interested in pursuing similar stories, IRE and NICAR offer a beat book, "Home Mortgage Lending: How to detect disparities," as well as Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data.) Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post January 20, 2006 Foreclosures growing burden on low-income communities Lisa Hammersly Munn, Binyamin Appelbaum and Ted Mellnik of The Charlotte Observer used county records in a three-part series that looks into the rapidly rising numbers of home foreclosres, and the effects on neighborhoods where failed home loans have concentrated since the advent of easy credit by government and lenders. "Home loan failures have more than quadrupled in Mecklenburg County, NC since 1999. More foreclosures are filed here, per person, than any other county in the state."The neighborhoods are often new subdivisions priced for first-time buyers. But instead of building wealth through ownership, the buyers often lost their homes and badly damage their credit. Neighbors who pay their mortgages on time get hurt, too, because concentrated foreclosures can depress home values. Also see how this story was investigated. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post December 21, 2005 Gulf Coast homeowner loans lagging Leslie Eaton and Ron Nixon of The New York Times used federal data to show the pace of homeowner loans in the Gulf Coast is lagging. “The Small Business Administration, which runs the federal government’s main disaster recovery program for both businesses and homeowners, has processed only a third of the 276,000 home loan applications it has received. And it has rejected 82 percent of those it has reviewed, a higher percentage than in most previous disasters.” The loans that have been approved have been going to higher-income neighborhoods. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post Multifamily housing hit hardest by Wilma Brittany Wallman and Jeremy Milarsky of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel analyzed hurricane damage reports to show that in Broward County, “condos and apartments were hit the hardest, accounting for 55 percent of the buildings declared uninhabitable. Mobile homes made up 28 percent of seriously damaged structures. Houses fared the best. Only 42 were deemed uninhabitable, barely 1 percent of all severely damaged buildings.” Low-income areas had the most buildings declared unlivable. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post December 19, 2005 Manhattan homeowners pay lower taxes Josh Barbanel of The New York Times used local tax and real estate data to show that "average taxes on Manhattan co-ops and condos are lower than they would be if they were taxed the way some of the most heavily taxed houses are. But it is prewar co-ops that have the greatest tax advantage." The paper examined the sale of 68,000 Manhattan properties, comparing them to city tax files, according to the explainer. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post December 07, 2005 City gives federal money to unqualified homebuyers John Estus of The Daily O'Collegian at Oklahoma State University found that "Nearly $110,000 in federal funds intended to help poor Stillwater residents buy homes of their own was given to middle-class buyers who did not qualify" in an eight-week investigation that has prompted a state audit of the program. Estus also revealed the program gave nearly $39,000 in city funds not regulated by federal guidelines to homebuyers who would not have qualified as low-income if the federal rules had been applied. Among those buyers was the city official administering the Homebuyer Assistance program at the time. Stillwater Community Development officials frequently balked at Estus' requests for loan recipient applications and other records until an assistant city attorney told the officials to release the records. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post November 28, 2005 Students misuse low-income housing Lee Rood of The Des Moines Register found scores of students are paying little or nothing to live in low-income projects in college towns in every region. Loopholes enable students — including scholarship athletes who already receive housing money — easily qualify for apartments in the Section 8 program. "Last year, during a probe into students' use of Section 8 at Pheasant Ridge Apartments in Iowa City, the newspaper also located students who used the housing assistance in Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. " Under the housing department's current rules, student financial aid does not count as income which gives virtually any full-time student, not claimed as a dependent on a parent's tax return, a good shot at qualifying. If the student does not work, taxpayers pay all of the rent. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post November 17, 2005 Mortgage fraud surges in Chicago David Jackson, with contributions from Ray Gibson, Todd Lighty and John McCormick of the Chicago Tribune, reviewed thousands of pages of land and court records and interviewed more than 100 people to show that a white-collar crime wave is raking Chicago's poorest communities, robbing vulnerable families of their homes and draining billions of dollars from the U.S. economy. During the past five years, mortgage fraud has surged as home loans become easier than ever to get and identity theft has blossomed. The five-part investigation found that blending face-to-face scams with computer forgery, fraud crews typically include home loan executives, appraisers and scouts who troll for victims. "Mortgage swindling has helped drug-dealing gangs, including Chicago's Black Disciples, solidify their control over street corners, launder money and gain safe houses to launch operations. " The story has prompted Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to call for an investigation into mortgage fraud. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post November 16, 2005 Flawed homes go unrepaired in hurricane-prone area Mc Nelly Torres of South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that, despite an engineer's independent study showing workmanship and materials that did not meet standards in a hurricane-prone area, homeowners have been waiting 10 years for their homes to be fixed. Torres reviewed hundreds of records, including a grand jury report, two independent studies, and other construction-related documentation to show that Arvida/JMB Partners and Disney World Co. failed to design and construct homes using the materials and workmanship required by the 1979 South Florida Building Code. Independent study by an engineer found evidence of shoddy construction with firewalls missing, no wall reinforcements and with roofs attached with staples instead of nails. The home owner's association filed a class-action lawsuit in 1995 against Arvida/JMB Partners and Disney. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post October 10, 2005 City approved slipshod repairs on homes Mike McGraw and Michael Mansur of The Kansas City Star report that an investigation by The Kansas City Star revealed that the taxpayer-supported home maintenance program overseen by the city's former housing agency approved of shoddy repair work on homes leading to leaky roofs, sagging ceilings, buckling and poorly repaired foundations and dangerous furnaces and flues. Contractors working with the Housing and Economic Development Financial Corp., also known as HEDFC, even charged one elderly couple $700 for smoke detectors. "They didn't do the work that should have been done to ensure a safe and habitable house, such as proper wiring and flues. And the work that did get done was substandard, " said Paul Romer of AAA Certified Home Inspections. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post September 22, 2005 Lax oversight contributes to high foreclosure rate Geoff Dutton and Jill Riepenhoff of The Columbus Dispatch investigated Ohio's high foreclosure rate, "a problem fueled by a weak economy, aggressive mortgage brokers, financial overreaching and tepid state oversight.". The newspaper analyzed Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, obtained U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development audit reports of homebuilders through the federal Freedom of Information Act, and analyzed state and county foreclosure records and sheriff's sales data. On the second day of the series, state lawmakers from both political parties vowed to tighten Ohio's loose regulation of the mortgage industry. (Note: For reporters interested in pursuing similar stories, IRE and NICAR offer a beat book, "Home Mortgage Lending: How to detect disparities," as well as Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data.) Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post September 20, 2005 Tax break backfires for some Fla. residents Maurice Tamman of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune examines the effects of Florida's "10-year-old Save Our Homes constitutional amendment, which limits the annual increase of a homesteader's taxable property value." He finds that "over the years, the program that was supposed to save little old ladies from being forced from their homes has turned into a cash cow largely for the rich." Today, millionaires are paying the same as middle-class families, people who want to move can't afford to lose their tax breaks and counties are experiencing uneven income based on recent construction. The weeklong series includes an interactive map using Google Maps API that allows readers to see how neighbors' taxes compare. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 31, 2005 Blacks pay higher interest on home loans Binyamin Appelbaum and Ted Mellnik of The Charlotte Observer used mortgage loan data from 25 top lenders to show that “blacks who bought homes in communities across America last year were four times as likely as whites to get high interest rates for mortgage loans.” The interest rate disparities occurred even when blacks had substantially higher incomes. The paper looked at 2.2 million mortgage applications from 2004 for its study and posted a breakdown of patterns on the Web. (Editor's Note: Others interested in doing similar stories should see Jo Craven McGinty's IRE Beat Book, Home Mortgage Lending: How to detect disparities. In addition, IRE and NICAR offer the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act database to journalists and journalism educators.) Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 30, 2005 Developers take advantage of agricultural breaks Samuel P. Nitze and Beth Reinhard of The Miami Herald used local property data to show that “under a 1959 state law intended to preserve agriculture, developers reap huge property tax breaks by herding cows or raising crops in the most unlikely settings. Some pay less in annual property taxes than the average homeowner on parcels slated for multimillion-dollar projects.” One developer saved a quarter-million dollars last year by placing cows on land containing industrial warehouses. Florida has lost about 8 million acres of farmland since the law intended to preserve such property went into effect. With a methodological description. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 29, 2005 Crime data shows drug arrests in blighted area Bryan Chambers of The (Huntington, W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch used local crime data for a story about the city’s effort to clean up a blighted area. “Between September 2003 and May 2004 nearly 21 percent of the city’s 290 drug violations either occurred on Artisan Avenue or within a two-block vicinity, according to a Herald-Dispatch computer analysis of statistics compiled last year by the Huntington Police Department. A little more than 6 percent of the citywide violations occurred in the 1600 block of Artisan Avenue.” Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 15, 2005 Home prices rose sharply Bob Fernandez and Alletta Emeno of The Philadelphia Inquirer analyzed real estate data from the region to find that a rising tide of prices is lifting many boats: "the gains are broad-based and remarkably even, with the median gain ranging from 13 percent in Bucks and Camden Counties to 17 percent in Philadelphia and Gloucester Counties. The region's median price rose to $177,500 in 2004 from $155,000 in 2003, a 14.5 percent increase." The paper also has a database of median home prices. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 08, 2005 Hurricane related building codes going unchecked Steve Myers, Bill Finch and Brendan Kirby of the Mobile Register surveyed local governments to find that "numerous jurisdictions in Mobile and Baldwin counties have not been enforcing significant portions of their building codes, those designed to protect residential homes from hurricane damage." Only two communities enforce the highest level of wind-resistance protection, and they adopted those standards last year. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 04, 2005 Loan deal raises questions Mike McGraw and Michael Mansur of The Kansas City Star uncovered documents showing that a city housing agency provided what experts called a "sweetheart" loan to a group redeveloping an apartment building. The recipient defended the financing, although "neither the original loan documents nor later changes in the agreement were ever made public by recording them at the Jackson County Courthouse - standard procedure for such real estate transactions." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 03, 2005 State employees benefit from huge housing perks Duane Pohlman of WEWS-Cleveland investigates why department of natural resource employees are receiving huge discounts on state-owned homes. "On Kelley's Island, where houses rent for thousands a month, a park ranger is renting an entire Cape Cod from the state of Ohio for just $201.50 a month." The department admits that the discounts are based off of outdated estimates on the properties. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post July 29, 2005 Housing bond falls short on promises John Hill of The Sacramento Bee found that a $2.1 billion bond California voters approved to provide affordable housing hasn't delivered. "With the pot more than half gone, a Bee investigation has found that what taxpayers are getting falls far short of those promises - a reality that takes on added importance as California officials face the prospect of finding a fresh source of revenue," Hill wrote. The bond program's claims of success rest on a series of claims that don't withstand scrutiny and officials are claiming more affordable housing has been created than was actually built. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post July 27, 2005 Nice neighborhood ruined by state program Dunstan McNichol at The (Newark) Star-Ledger writes about how a state program to build new schools and real-estate speculators have taken a once stable neighborhood and turned it into a haven for squatters and drug dealers. Frustrated residents said they were offered too little for their houses and now they can't get a similar house nearby. Real estate speculators swooped in, bought up some houses and sold them to the state at high profits. And now, the program that was supposed to build a high school on the block is running out of money and it's uncertain if or when the school will be built. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post July 25, 2005 New homebuyers slammed by high prices, high taxes Troy Anderson of the Los Angeles Daily News reports on soaring property tax revenues in Los Angeles city and county. "The revenues have been a boon for local governments, with homeowners paying $9.5 billion in property taxes in fiscal 2004-05, compared with $6.7 billion in 2000-01." Property owners have been paying differing rates since the passage of Proposition 13, which sets the tax rate, based on the assessed value of the home at the time of the purchase. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post July 18, 2005 Thousands of home permits issued for fire-prone areas Jim Miller and Ben Goad of The (Riverside, Calif.) Press-Enterprise use mapping software to plot thousands of new home permits issued since the 2003 Southern California fires and then compared the points to state maps showing fire threat. "In the 18 months after the firestorms of 2003, Inland cities and counties issued permits for more than 2,500 homes in areas the state identifies as facing 'very high' or 'extreme' fire danger." (Editor's note: IRE and NICAR offer resources for covering wildfires) Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post June 29, 2005 Developers have big plans for rural areas John McCarthy of the Florida Today analyzed and mapped data from the Brevard County Property Appraiser's database to report on growth and development in Brevard County, Fla. McCarthy found that land developers in the county "plan to turn agricultural land in the far reaches of the county into upscale housing developments ..." The project includes a sidebar by Jeff Schweers about how the public can have its say on rezoning and other issues and the online version of the project includes a flyover three-dimensional map, produced by online enhancement coordinator Lee Nessel Daszuta. Assistant Managing Editor Matt Reed oversaw the project and Graphic Artist Tim Standish produced a map for the print edition based on a map McCarthy created with Arcview 9. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post June 03, 2005 Florida wetlands vanishing In a two-part series, Craig Pittman and Matthew Waite of the St. Petersburg Times report on the destruction of Florida wetlands. The Times analyzed satellite imagery to determine the acres of wetlands lost to urban development. Their investigation uncovered that the federal agency primarily responsible for regulating wetland in Florida failed to keep records on how many acres they were allowing to be destroyed and doesn't track projects they were requiring to make up for the destruction. "... since the policy took effect in 1990, at least 84,000 acres of Florida wetlands have disappeared..." The Times found a system that creates the illusion of environmental protection while doing little to stem the destruction. "The corps approves more permits to destroy wetlands in Florida than any other state, and allows a higher percentage of destruction in Florida than nationally." The series includes interactive graphics and a complete methodology on how the series was done and tracks how pressure from Congress is used. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post Tax abatements benefit downtown owners Gregory S. Reeves of The Kansas City Star analyzed county data on tax breaks given to properties in downtown Kansas City, finding that "more than 1,700 properties in Jackson County enjoy some kind of property tax abatement," including several expensive condo buildings. Meanwhile, many residential property owners are facing double-digit increases in their assessments. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post May 26, 2005 Section 8 failing to provide adequate housing Antonio Olivo, John Bebow and Darnell Little of the Chicago Tribune used local data to show that "private landlords are fast taking over government's traditional role of housing Chicago's poor. But these subsidized 'Section 8' landlords have been failing four out of every 10 inspections" during the last five years. "More than 6,000 landlords failed the majority of their inspections. Yet those landlords collectively received a quarter-billion dollars in taxpayer-funded rent subsidies in the last five years." Bebow emails that the paper's reporting "was complicated by the fact that the housing authority refused to release the addresses of any of the thousands of apartments in the Section 8 system. They cited a privacy exemption that completely contradicted the federal government's policy on release of addresses of subsidized buildings." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post May 25, 2005 Medium home value soars William M. Hartnett of The Palm Beach Post analyzed ten years' of housing sales for Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties, finding that median home prices have jumped dramatically during that period. In a special section published Sunday, the paper mapped neighborhoods according to median sale value and reported that water access costs more than it ever did. A number of other maps and photos also illustrate the data, and the paper provided an explainer of its work. Hartnett credited similar work by the St. Petersburg Times last year for inspiring the project. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post May 12, 2005 Home assessment accuracy up Gregory S. Reeves of The Kansas City Star used Jackson County real estate data to show that "an old problem - over-valuing homes under $50,000 - may have gotten worse with the new property tax appraisals ... and homes that sold for $600,000 and up remain under-appraised by 25 percent." Most houses, the paper found, were appraised accurately. Overall, the county's houses were appraised at around 91 percent of market value, up from last year's average assessment of 75 percent or less of market value. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post May 09, 2005 Poor care at nursing homes leads to light punishments Jeffrey Meitrodt, Jan Moller and Steve Ritea of The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune used state data to show that "most of Louisiana's 300 or so nursing homes have been cited since 1999 for mistakes that harmed or endangered residents. But in the sometimes illogical world of nursing home regulation, facilities in Louisiana often pay little or no penalty for fatal errors. In fact, homes that make mistakes resulting in a resident's death or serious injury often pay less than those cited for repeating minor violations." The paper's five-part series has numerous stories about the system, how other states regulate nursing homes and lots of photos. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post April 29, 2005 Golf resort wants increased funding after significant losses Penny Brown Roberts of the Baton Rouge Advocate used public records to show that "developers of a swanky Texas golf resort have burned through nearly $30 million in a line of credit from Louisiana's police retirement system and now say they need more money to make good on promised sales." The pension system has contributed nearly $27 million to the project, called Boot Ranch, but so far it has not seen any evidence that any houses have been built or memberships sold. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post April 05, 2005 Washington D.C. drives Baltimore housing boom Jamie Smith Hopkins of The (Baltimore) Sun used data on home sales to find "clear signs that proximity to D.C. is driving the boom in Baltimore and its five surrounding counties, over and above what extraordinarily low mortgage interest rates have achieved nationwide. This region's fastest appreciation came in Howard, Anne Arundel and Carroll counties, which border the traditional edge of Washington's reach. Prices there jumped 75 percent combined during the past five years - compared with 41 percent nationally. Together, the average price in those counties rose to about $340,000 last year." The paper included a searchable database of area home sales from 1999 to 2004 and several charts detailing the growth in home prices. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post March 09, 2005 Millions misspent by housing authority Michael Biesecker and Pat Stith of the Raleigh News & Observer reviewed records from the Durham Housing Authority, finding that the agency "improperly spent millions for temporary labor, auto repair, landscaping and legal advice. Other financial records requested by The N&O are missing, officials say." The authority paid more than $2.3 million for temporary workers without soliciting bids for the work or signing contracts. In contrast, Raleigh's housing authority paid $183,960 on similar work between 2000 and 2004. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post March 04, 2005 Crime data compares parolee data by ZIP code Jeremy Finley of WSMV-Nashville compared prison parolee data to ZIP codes in the Nashville area, uncovering a trend that is populating felons together and trapping ZIP codes in a "cycle of violence." He found the highest number of felons living in the 37207 ZIP code. "There are more than 200 convicted criminals in this ZIP code including convicted murderers, rapists, and drug dealers." The report also provides data that lists the number of parolees by ZIP code in Davidson County. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post February 15, 2005 Sex offenders living in nursing homes An investigation by KCRA-Sacramento "found that there are currently 52 registered sex offenders living in California nursing homes and not all are elderly men confined to their bed. Fifty-six percent are under 70." An alarming number after reviewing a Nevada case in which a 86-year-old man was convicted of sexual assault against a 78-year-old women with Alzheimer's and dementia. Current law does not require the homes to perform background check on residents. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post February 14, 2005 Racist covenants still exist Judy L. Thomas and Gregory S. Reeves of The Kansas City Star studied homeowner association rules in the Kansas City area, finding that "more than 1,200 documents involving thousands of homes still contain racist language banning blacks, Jews and other ethnic groups. For the first half of the 20th century, racially restrictive covenants were routinely recorded in plats and deeds and placed in many homeowner's association documents not only here, but nationwide. Yet many of the covenants never were removed, even after being ruled unenforceable by the U.S. Supreme Court as long ago as 1948 and banned by the Fair Housing Act of 1968. And their vestiges of discrimination - a kind of 'curse of the covenant' - still linger locally." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post January 26, 2005 Nursing home deaths preventable Rick Linsk of the St. Paul Pioneer Press used Minnesota death certificate data to show that "hundreds of Minnesotans perish annually from possibly avoidable conditions" while staying in nursing homes. "Nearly 4,000 people died over a 15-year period from pressure sores, dehydration, falls and other injuries." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post January 19, 2005 Housing law falls short of promise Adrian Hampton of the the San Francisco Examiner found that affordable home building hasn't met expectations set up by the three-year old housing law. "The law requires all developers of 10 or more units to dedicate at least 10 percent to residents earning median income or less, and the first units are expected to hit the market this year." The Examiner found that only 7.3 percent of households could afford the median price. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post December 13, 2004 Tampa Bay has most mobile homes Baird Helgeson and Doug Stanley of The Tampa Tribune used state data to show that "the Tampa Bay area, where many of more than 3 million people are jammed along bays and beaches, has the heaviest concentration of mobile homes in the state." Most of the region's mobile homes were built before tougher standards were put in place in the wake of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and one-third were manufactured before any federal safety requirements were enacted. In addition, "thousands of owners have not registered their mobile homes with the state as required by law. Though state records show about 400,000 mobile homes in Florida, more than in any other state, the U.S. Census pegs the number at more than double that, at 850,000." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post November 24, 2004 Bad landlords, flawed system plague tenants Kurt Rogahn and Janet Rorholm of The (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) Gazette looked at rental housing in the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City area of Eastern Iowa and revealed landlords who abuse holes in the rental system and make life miserable for their tenants, and also other landlords. The reporters spent five months "reading more than 1,000 rental housing inspection reports in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, and leases and lawsuits. They also visited rental apartments and homes and interviewed more than 100 tenants, landlords, lawyers, administrators, firefighters and other housing experts." The series identified a firefighter who has a lot of fire code violations at his rental properties. And another story assessed problems with the local housing inspection program. (Extra! Extra! readers get special access to these stories for one month by entering username "ire" and password "sherlock8" — both without the quotes.) Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post September 28, 2004 Agency overcharged low-income people for homes Dan Stockman of The (Fort Wayne, Ind.) Journal Gazette looked at sales records and found that a defunct nonprofit agency intended to help low-income people buy homes actually "overcharged 25 home buyers by about $559,000, leaving them with mortgages for thousands of dollars more than the homes are worth." Projects Editor Ron Shawgo explains that Stockman "linked a database of home sales with one listing assessed values. The analysis was possible because Indiana only recently switched to assessments that must reflect market value." The paper published an explanation of its methodology. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post September 08, 2004 Fla. county's buildings at high risk in storms In a piece published the day Hurricane Frances arrived at Brevard County's coast, Matt Reed and John Kelly of Florida Today found that "more than 10 percent of Brevard's homes and businesses — including one in 10 mobile homes — face the highest risk of weather damage. Together, that property is worth more than $800 million, not counting cars, business supplies and personal belongings." Using property and weather data, the paper found many of the mobile homes facing a direct hit by the storm were built under older, weaker construction standards. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post June 23, 2004 Omaha area losing money on assessments Paul Goodsell of the Omaha World-Herald used local property data to find that "one-third of Douglas County homes are valued significantly below market value. From the century-old, two-story frame houses in the midtown Cathedral neighborhood to the 1980s split-levels in Brookhaven in southwest Omaha, it's easy to find homeowners with tax bills at least 20 percent below their fair share." County appraisal officials passed over a number of homes in 2004, and have set a goal of current valuations by 2006. The typical house in Douglas County was assessed at 85 percent of its sale price, while homes in neighboring Sarpy County were assessed at 91.5 percent. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post June 18, 2004 Former meth houses making children sick David Steves of The (Eugene) Register-Guard used Oregon's public records law to explore houses declared by the state as drug manufacturing facilities but still being rented to unsuspecting tenants. The paper found 358 sites that mostly were used to make methamphetamines but weren't fully cleaned before being rented out, despite a state law requiring decontamination. The story focuses on one property where several children fell ill after moving in: "Among the 358 properties on the state's list of contaminated methamphetamine properties, only three other sites have gone longer without being cleaned up." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post Steep increase in Philly-area home values Alan J. Heavens and Rose Ciotta of The Philadelphia Inquirer analyzed home sales in the area to find a dramatic increase in prices during the past five years: "of the 354 towns with reported residential sales, nearly all saw some increase in median prices, and 307 — or 87 percent — saw double-digit increases, after adjusting for inflation." The number of million-dollar home sales jumped from 177 to 738; more than half were at the Jersey shore. The paper also placed a searchable database of home sales on its Web site. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post June 17, 2004 Price of waterfront homes skyrocketing Matthew Waite of the St. Petersburg Times studied housing prices in Pinellas County, finding that "since 1998, the median price of waterfront homes and condos in Pinellas has increased more than twice as fast as real estate off the water." The typical price of a waterfront home in Pinellas is more than $500,000, an increase of 136 percent in six years. Condo sales also have boomed during the same period, even for non-waterfront properties. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post May 27, 2004 Staff shortages, poor training put elderly residents at risk Kevin McCoy, Julie Appleby and Barbara Hansen of USA Today analyzed assisted living facility inspection data from seven states to find that "staff shortages and insufficient training place elderly residents at risk with inadequate care, delayed diagnosis and treatment and even death." The paper examined records from inspections of 5,305 facilities in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, New York and Texas between 2000 and 2002. "Nearly one in five facilities inspected by regulators in those states was cited for at least one staffing violation, ranging from too few employees on a work shift to lack of a certified facility manager, the investigation found. In some cases, residents were left to fend for themselves temporarily because there were no caregivers on site." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post Town struggles with housing, growth issues A three-part series in the Asbury Park Press by Jason Method and Richard Quinn found that Orthodox Jewish real estate practices in Lakewood, N.J., apparently broke fair housing laws. The series also documented how both Orthodox and Hispanic residents were cramming into dwellings that had not been inspected nor, in many cases, approved by township officials. Plus, the series showed the leniency of the zoning and planning boards in granting high-density housing. The paper examined planning and zoning records from the past five years to show that developments catering to Orthodox Jews studying at Beth Medrash Govoha rabbinical college have caused complaints from other residents that "they feel locked out of the housing market." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post May 19, 2004 Outdated assessments cost towns, homeowners Robert Gebeloff and Maura McDermott of The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger surveyed New Jersey's local property tax assessment system in 66 towns, finding that "tens of thousands of New Jersey residents are paying too much or too little in property taxes because of outdated assessments." Tax bills are most off in Essex, Middlesex and Union counties. The paper found that in Essex, half of homeowners are taxed based on 20-year-old assessments. Other counties update their assessments every year. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post April 29, 2004 Wis. neighborhood driven into despair Andy Hall and Dean Mosiman of the Wisconsin State Journal investigated Allied Drive, the worst neighborhood in the Madison area, and found that a decade of neglect and half-steps by local officials and property owners drove the area deeper into danger and despair. The eight-day series showed that Allied Drive was left behind even as local officials achieved national acclaim for reviving other troubled neighborhoods. Residents' struggles with crime, poverty, housing and education were explored through interviews and data analysis. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post April 22, 2004 Fla. home buyers hit with increased taxes Brittany Wallman and John Maines of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel analyzed records of home sales in Broward County to show that new homeowners often find an unwelcome present: property tax bills that double or triple over the previous year. "Proportionately, the hardest hit are those who buy lower-priced homes, especially in cases where buyers pay in the low- to mid-$100,000s. Many of them are shelling out as much as four times more in property taxes than the previous owners." The jump is due to a 1995 law that keeps taxes artificially low for current homeowners. Once sold, the property is reassessed at current values. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post April 19, 2004 Centers fail to keep tabs on dementia patients Dawn MacKeen, Lauren Terrazzano, Amanda Harris and Eden Laikin of Newsday found that "since 1998, at least 126 elderly people have been reported missing from centers that offer assisted living on Long Island." At least seven of those died. "Some wanderers were found miles away, at train stations, on busy highways including the Long Island Expressway, and in New York City. But others didn't get far at all: Two elderly women with dementia were found dead in sub-freezing weather within feet of the centers where they lived." The paper attributed the cases in part to assisted living centers that are not prepared to handle residents with Alzheimer's disease and a lack of state oversight. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post April 05, 2004 Recent home appraisals cite values way above neighbors Gordon Russell of the New Orleans Times-Picayune surveyed nearly 1,700 city property sales to find that "New Orleanians who bought homes in 2003 on average paid 70 percent more than the value assigned by the assessor, exposing serious deficiencies in the appraisal process." In addition to generating smaller tax revenues for the city, undervalued homes can make for unequal bills for owners. "In general, homeowners who bought property recently are paying taxes based on a value close to their home's actual worth, while others -- usually those who have lived in the same place for years -- are getting a break, often a big one." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post April 01, 2004 IRE awards three medals An astonishing story of brutal war crimes by The (Toledo, Ohio) Blade and a book on the American tax system by David Cay Johnston took top honors in the 2003 IRE Awards. In addition, the Freedom of Information Award went to a team from the (Sioux Falls, S.D.) Argus Leader for exposing a massive secret pardons program rife with questions and conflicts for the governor. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post February 27, 2004 Skyrocketing Tampa home prices changing region Matt Waite and a host of St. Petersburg Times reporters analyzed home sales in five Florida counties from 1998 to mid-2003, finding that "the price of a home in the Tampa Bay area has soared in recent years, far outpacing inflation, the stock market and personal incomes, mushrooming into an economic force that is reshaping the region neighborhood by neighborhood." The paper ran 25 stories Sunday based on the analysis, which relied heavily on GIS software to make neighborhood comparisons. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post December 11, 2003 Memphis Habitat homeowners filing for bankruptcy Marc Perrusquia of The (Memphis, Tenn.) Commercial Appeal found that 40 percent of Greater Memphis recipients of Habitat for Humanity housing have filed for bankruptcy after getting their homes. An eight-month investigation found that the city's rate is highest among the 20 largest Habitat affiliates. "Nowhere is the comparison more stark than between Memphis and Jacksonville, Fla., the nation's largest Habitat affiliate. Volunteers in Jacksonville have built 1,200 homes — nearly five times the number here — yet more bankruptcies and foreclosures have resulted in Memphis." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post December 01, 2003 Denver's water supply dwindling Lou Kilzer, Jerd Smith and Burt Hubbard of the Rocky Mountain News report that much of the well water for Denver, "once thought abundant enough for a century, could be out of reach in 10 to 20 years." Deborah Frazier writes that more than 80 percent of home owners in the affected areas were not told when buying their homes about the shrinking water supply. Another story reveals that officials and developers have ignored warning signs for 15 years. The last part of the series looks at possible solutions and obstacles. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post November 04, 2003 Paper finds problems in most new homes Dan Tracy of the Orlando Sentinel and WESH-Orlando hired a home inspector to design a study of new home construction in the Orlando area, finding "leaks, cracks and bad weatherstripping around windows and doors in 64 percent of the houses; major wall, floor and deck cracking in 61 percent; significant cooling/heating system problems in 50 percent; mold in 20 percent; and poor drainage in 18 percent." Engineering students from the University of Central Florida, under the guidance of Ron Resch, performed what the paper bills as "the first statistically valid assessment of new-home construction ever done in Florida and likely the nation." Builders downplayed the flaws as cosmetic and mostly minor. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post October 15, 2003 |
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