A must read urban book (Baltimore, Columbia: real estate, foreclosures, evictions)

[barante]

If you read the New York Times on Thursday and will read the Book Review on Sunday, you will find nothing but praise for Beryl Satter's new book, Family Properties: Race, Real Estate, and the Exploitation of Black Urban America. Every bit is deserved.
Although the strong and beautifully written book is about Chicago, it applies to Baltimore as well. What was known in Chicago as contract buying was known in Baltimore in land installment contracts. Up to about 1970, an estimated 80 percent of Baltimore blacks bought houses under that exploitative rent-to-buy arrangement because no banks or mortgage companies lent their money. The Baltimore epitome of this phenomenon was Morris Goldseker, the city's biggest landlord who also had a name convenient for chanting at protest rallies. Goldseeker, Goldsucker.
Anyone pondering Baltimore's urban evolution can find wonderful books about other cities. One basic work is the Columbia University professor Kenneth Jackson's Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States Then there is Nick Lehmann's Promised Land about the Great Black Migration, again focused on Chicago. The UMBC professor Edward Orser's Blockbusting in Baltimore: The Edmondson Village Story describes racial change in that West Baltimore neighborhood.
There are plenty of others, of course. Now Beryl Satter's book has been added as an instant classic.

[rudy_d]

Barante,

What are your thoughts about the city government's recent actions on the foreclosure crisis, such as suing banks for predatory lending and the city council's proposal to extend the time for foreclosure evictions to a full year?

It seems to me that these proposals have good intentions but could have serious unintended consequences, primarily making it harder for city residents to get credit from reliable sources.

[barante]

I see nothing wrong with the city suing Washington Mutual. Where it goes from there, I don't know.
However, I do not support efforts to extend the foreclosure period. If approved, it could throw a moneky wrench to all foreclosures, regardless of circumstances.