This block of Detroit, Maiden Street, was not doing too badly in 2009, at least compared to now. Currently this street alone owes $48,000 in delinquent property taxes (that is for 9 properties) and has completely lost at least one house to something sinister. It was also the subject of controversy when a firefighter fell through the floor of one the houses on this block in March. So where did things all go wrong? Lots of places. But keep in mind that in 2008 it has 19 occupied houses and 3 vacant ones. Now it has 14 vacant houses and 7 occupied ones. American's mortgage crisis (led by the disaster in the subprime market (which Quicken Loans sold)) really hit Detroit hard in 2008-2009.
All this data is brought to our attention by the Goobing Detroit site, which has an unmatched passion for property data provided by google street view. Says site lead, Alex Alsup of this block, "we're really seeing the effects of the way the current system is structured. It amounts to a huge change in vacancy in a short time." He points out that there are "a hundred thousand more properties in Detroit that could legally be foreclosed on."Looking at this site, you really get a sense of the foreclosure process failing, slowly, over several years. More block chronicles are being added.
· Injured Detroit firefighter says no to treatment because 'city's not paying the bills' [Fox Detroit]
· Maiden Street [Goobing]
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