Foreclosures Spike in Stamford as the Slumping Economy Worsens

October 30th, 2008 | Tags: Foreclosed Houses

Foreclosures spike in Stamford as the slumping economy worsens. The majority belongs to the working class who are struggling to keep the foreclosure wolf at bay. The middle class are too wrapt up in their work and bills to bother about their neighbours. But those who have time to pause see the writing on the all. There is a feeling of emptiness creeping up as foreclosures advance. Two teenagers in the locality, Darlin Ortiz and Cliver Rofrano suddenly noticed that there were hardly any parties and running around in packed cars. Cliver Rofrano pointed to a house where once lived a tenant who was a friend of his mother. She had to leave when her landlord told her about the impending foreclosure.

In the first half of the years there have been 71 foreclosures in Stamford. Of these 18 are dotting the southeastern part of the city. Some are there in the Cove where the residents are mostly upper middle class. The closeness to water indicates the exclusiveness of the locale. The foreclosed houses here indicate that no place is immune from the menace.

The figures from the east side are alarming as foreclosure numbers continue to rise. Here the population consists of a motley collection – Hispanic, Haitian and many from South Asia. A local organization, The East Side Partnership, has been working hard to locate the foreclosed houses and remedy the problems. The hydrants have corroded, the streetlights warped and garbage littering the grass.

James Grunberger of the partnership reacted sharply when he heard about the rows of foreclosure. He said “ a few overzealous property owners who have negotiated short-sighted deals with banks” are largely responsible for the foreclosure epidemic – it being dense in certain pockets.

A single foreclosed house is capable of incalculable harm. The building on 23 Warren Street showed all the symptoms of abandonment – tall grass, furniture pieces thrown about the front garden and mails spilling out on to the porch. As yet this particular house did not have a For Sale sign. Houses in similar condition can be seen in nearly all the blocks.

Clem Bellars is in his mid fifties. He has a local shop dealing with boats. Looking at the foreclosure map he is taken by surprise. All the streets are familiar to him. He grew up in the east side. The residents were mainly Hispanics. Most of them fell prey to the sub-prime lending that has led to all these foreclosures.