LAT: Speculators Rushing In as New Orleans Water Recedes

[DeepModem Mom]

Speculators Rushing In as the Water Recedes
Would-be home buyers are betting New Orleans will be a boomtown. And many of the city's poorest residents could end up being forced out.

By David Streitfeld, Times Staff Writer


....In some ways, Hurricane Katrina seems to have taken a vibrant real estate market and made it hotter. Large sections of the city are underwater, but that's only increasing the demand for dry houses. And in flooded areas, speculators are trying to buy properties on the cheap, hoping that the redevelopment of New Orleans will start a boom.

This land rush has long-term implications in a city where many of the poorest residents were flooded out. It raises the question of what sort of housing — if any — will be available to those without a six-figure salary. If New Orleans ends up a high-priced enclave, without a mix of cultures, races and incomes, something vital may be lost.

"There's a public interest question here," said Ann Oliveri, a senior vice president with the Urban Land Institute, a Washington think tank. "You don't have to abdicate the city to whoever shows up."

For now, though, it's a seller's market, at least for habitable homes....

***

Of course, in southern Louisiana, everything is hypothetical for the moment. The storm destroyed many property records and displaced buyers, sellers, agents and title firms, so no deals are actually being done. Insurance companies haven't started to settle claims yet, much less determine how, or whether, they will insure New Orleans in the future. The city hasn't even been drained....


http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fi-nohouses15sep15,1,6460855,full.story

[NashVegas]

1. I Don't See It

Can anyone imagine how radically different the NOLA area high school bands would sound with an influx of WASPs?

[msongs]

2. yes lets keep white folks out of the bands nt

[CottonBear]

3. ALL residents should have first right of return (renters and homeowners).

o one who want to return should be prevented from doing so. In fact renter and homeowners should be given money to rebuild their homes or to buy homes/land/lots in NO.

[Coventina]

4. I predicted this.......not that it was hard.

:puke:

[whistle]

5. Yes, this situation is a greedy republican' or democrat's wet dream......

....two successive months of missed mortgage payments and payments on other installment debts and credit cards can force families and home-holds who have lost jobs, bank accounts, savings accounts, cash reserves, relatives, loved ones, possessions and have been displaced around the country without any federal disaster assistance will be automatically forced into default and then bankruptcy. The new laws will hold these people to pay those debts forever.

Any speculation on how many of the disaster relief fund agencies that are collecting tax free donations from large hearted Americans across the country, will actually use those funds to take advantage of Katrina victims to buy out their debts at say ten , fifteen or twenty cents on the dollar? Who can stop them? Who would know?

Bush's ownership society is the new network marketing scheme of the 21st century. Watch for a private REIT Seminar coming near you soon.

[...of J.Temperance]

6. These journalists are PISSING me off, every article about this they

Start off by saying, all the rich white folks are going to move in and all of the poor black folks will NEVER return, blah blah.

These journalist bastards are WISHING this, they're WISHING that the folks that are displaced NEVER return. Why? Oh could it be because IF they don't a former solid Democratic city will have been turned into a solid Republican city.

Every time I read one of these articles, my blood boils and I just KNOW that the mouthbreathers thats writing these articles are prematurely ejaculating WHILST writing them.

Memo to journalists: SHUT THE FUCK UP, IT'S NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU WHO MOVES BACK INTO NOLA AND WHO DOESN'T...so SHUT UP AND START REPORTING ON THAT ARUBA GAL AGAIN AND HEY BRITNEY'S JUST HAD A KID, SO GET REPORTING AND LEAVE THE NOLA BLACK FOLKS ALONE.

Dammit all to Hell. You know something, I'm WHITE, but Jaysus, this ENTIRE thing is making me WISH I was BLACK...I NEED to be black now and it's NOT fair :(

And of COURSE, I can see this one coming. When Governor Blanco announces the plan to get as many as the NOLA black folks back, the mediawhores on cue will start up their campaign for the GOP and the mediawhores will in UNISON start screaming:

"RECALL GOVERNOR BLANCO...RECALL HER LIKE GRAY DAVIS"

Let the drums start a-bangin' for the recall effort.

You know something...I HATE these people.

[Mika]

7. Of course our tax $$ will secure levees now that the rich need protecting!

USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA

[NorthernSpy]

8. we can STOP these predators, but only if...

... we truly understand and acknowledge that the right to return home is a matter of human rights.

What we have in New Orleans and other areas of the Gulf Coast is a situation of mass displacement, and a government that shows little willingness to protect the displaced from the descending cloud of vultures.

That is why we desperately need to raise awareness of this situation internationally. We need to put this crisis on the radar of NGOs that concentrate on questions of internal displacement and the human rights of the displaced. I've been trying to do that myself. But I'm just one person, and these issues are still quite new to me.

It is absolutely critical that we and international observers understand that it cannot be assumed that the United States government will handle this situation in the manner normally expected of an affluent, mature democracy. The displaced are largely from stigmatized ethnic minority groups, as well as the working class and the poor. The area from which they have been displaced has a history within the past century of severe human rights abuses. No level of government has demonstrated a serious inclination to protect the threatened peoples of the Gulf.

If we want justice in the Gulf, it's entirely up to us to start the ball rolling in that direction. We CAN do it. For a start, anyone can do a little reading on the issue of internal displacement and human rights, and anyone can write to elected representatives and NGOs, and raise awareness about this. We can start with that and go from there. If you haven't already, please check out the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

Let's do it! With us gumming up the works, the powerful and greedy really can go home the losers.