There’s the old joke about how the best way to rob a bank is to be its executive. That seems to be playing out in Wayne County, which has one of the country’s largest foreclosure auctions. Although rules ban family members from participating, it turns out that the family ofmore
Stop the Brooks Family Eviction
JOIN the campaign to STOP the eviction of the BROOKS family & to STOP racist displacement in our communities Charemon Brooks & her husband bought their home in Detroit from Ms. Brooks’ father in 1996. The property at 1161 Seward has been in Ms. Brooks’ family for generations. Mr. &more
KMG Prestige CEO Paul Spencer admits “Terrible Performance” in Brightmoor
Responding to Brightmoor Homes Concerned Residents and following a previously failed meeting with Regional Vice President Joe Tandy and Regional Property Manager Calvin Johnson, Mr. Spencer appeared in person to answer residents long standing grievances this past Monday February 4, 2018. Fire Katrina and Mr Jackson! This has gone onmore
Stealing the Brooks Family Home: A Story of the Wayne County Landbank and Vulture Developer FPJ
Since 1996, I have owned a property in the New Center area 1161 & 1163 Seward Detroit Mi 48202 (district 2). I have owned it for 22 years. It is a 4-family unit, initially purchased as a primary residence in 1996 from my father. It is no longer my primary residence, but has been occupiedmore
Foreclosures and Evictions in 2019
The aftermath of the 2009 financial crisis is still with us, as various researchers note. The result was a wave of foreclosures that didn’t have to happen. In Detroit thousands of families lost their homes through being forced to accept adjustable rate mortgages while others lost homes that their familiesmore
Victory–Two New Homeowner Families in Brightmoor!
On December 20, 2018 Soummer Moore-Crawford and her husband Ray Crawford along with Dawn Wilson-Clark and her husband Jonathon Clark won the warranty deeds to their homes. Although they had been told that they would become home owners after renting for fifteen years that did not happen. They embarked onmore
Report: Detroit ranks first in cities with largest rent increases from 2014-17
Photo by Michelle & Chris Gerard By Robin Runyan, Curbed Detroit, 12/6/18 As more new construction and renovations occur in Detroit, the price of apartments continues to rise. How much? A new report from SmartAsset compares rent prices from 2014 to 2017, along with household incomes, and finds that the amount Detroiters have tomore
Another Vulture Speculator in the cross hairs… Grosse Pointe’s Michael G. Kelly
Photo credit: David Coates/Detroit News Michael G. Kelly owner of Detroit Property Exchange, whose companies own over 500 properties in Detroit, is being taken to court in a class action suit that alleges he uses predatory contracts to ensnare and then evict buyers in a scheme to avoid federalmore
Breaking News: Brightmoor Homes Residents Post Eviction Notice of KMG Prestige Management
On December 1st Brightmoor Homes residents and supporters gathered at KMG Prestige offices to evict KMG for its incompetent management over a dozen years. They have failed to manage the more than 200 homes in a competent and timely manner. During this holiday season one resident explained that her stovemore
Video and photos of Brightmoor Homes Residents effort to evict KMG management
click on photo for short videoSoummer Crawford, Brightmoor Homes Residents and supporters bring the fight to KMG. Examples of failed maintenance and neglect are made plain and clear. Channel 4 does interview about the reasons for the protest. Detroit News interviews Steve Babson. Michigan Public Radio interviews Mr.more
More on the Brightmoor Homes Struggle
This article appeared as a Spotlight in Detour, which is described as “an email newsletter for the Detroit community.” It was written by Kate Abbey-Lambertz and distributed on November 6, 2018. Yet another hyped development that didn’t live up to promises, and left tenants dangling You know when people tiemore
Scammers Harm Family — Who Needed a Place to Live
A woman moved her family into a Detroit house, paying a month’s rent and a security deposit only to find that the landlord’s promises to finish the work on the house were just that—promises. There was no working furnace and no heat! When she demanded that the elusive Big Timemore
Brightmoor Homes Residents Make Demands of property manager and landlord…
Brightmoor Homes residents held a community meeting on October 24, 2018 to discuss problems they are facing. Representatives from KMG Prestige, which has managed the 200+ homes since 2005 and Northwest Detroit Neighborhood Development, the non-profit that constructed the homes, were there to answer questions. When it began, Brightmoor Homesmore
Detroit, A City of Renters
After all the foreclosures, evictions and Wayne County auctions, 52% of Detroiters are now renters. City-wide rents have risen about 25%, now averaging $800 a month while downtown rents for studio apartments start around $1400. With more than a third of Detroiters living at or below the official poverty line,more
Serial Evictor: Michael Kelly & Detroit Property Exchange
Michael Kelly filed 1,160 evictions between 2009 and 2016. That is the equivalent of one eviction filing every 2.5 days. Kelly operates over 40 LLCs and currently owns over 500 properties in the City of Detroit. Kelly’s most prominent company is Detroit Property Exchange which offers low income residents landmore
Eviction: A Story from Detroit
This is a nine-page graphic story of Kenny and Sandi’s attempt to save the home they had lived in for many years. Kenny’s aunt was one of the first African Americans to move into the neighborhood in the late 1950s. Eviction: A Story from Detroit was written by Jeffrey Wilsonmore
Speculators Named
“Housing roulette brings blight,” based on a Detroit Free Press investigation, details how tax foreclosure and the annual Wayne County auction leads to further instability throughout Detroit’s neighborhoods. Written by Allie Gross, the analysis of 23 Detroit homes, appearing in the August 19, 2018 issue, reveals how speculators buy upmore
ACLU Lawsuit Forces City to Change Foreclosure Policies
Even before the recession, Detroit homeowners began to lose their homes through subprime deals and illegally and overassessed property taxes. By 2015 there were almost 25,000 tax foreclosures; this year it’s estimated that there are 4,700. Since it is estimated that one out of three is an occupied home thismore
Rebecca gets the deed to the home she saved
Escaping from a domestic violence relationship in 2013 and living in her van with her children, now ages 4 to 19, Rebecca found a home on the west side. As she explained to a Detroit News reporter: “We were literally on the verge of freezing to death in my van,” shemore
Detroit city council, are you listening?
Proposed Los Angeles Law Would Give Tenants Access to Attorneys
Hagerman Jailed!
Finally!! Stephen Hagerman sent to Wayne County Jail for 60 days due to code violations https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/defenders/detroit-landlord-jailed-for-code-violations-including-apparent-black-mold-raw-sewage-at-home
Donald Rencher promises to Brightmoor Homes residents…
During a meeting at Crowell Recreation Center on Monday April 9, 2018, Donald Rencher, Deputy Director of Housing and Revitalization for the City of Detroit made 5 promises to Brightmoor Homes residents about being able to purchase their homes. Click on the following links to view clips of that meeting….
Brightmoor Homes – Lease to Own or Bait and Switch?
Rent a poorly maintained apartment, with nothing to show for it years later, or have the opportunity to own one’s own home. That was the draw to 200-300 families who moved into Brightmoor Homes. Over a five-year period, three- and four-bedroom homes were constructed in the Brightmoor Neighborhood. The taxmore
A Stacked Deck: A visual look at discriminatory lending in the U.S.
The Center for Investigative Reporting’s website, Reveal, has created a visual look at lending discrimination in U.S. housing. It has published a series of articles based on a year-long study of mortgage applications for Black applicants and compared them to white applicants across the country. In studying 31 million records, itsmore
The Hagermans: Featured Vultures
Steve and Stephen Hagerman: Featured Vultures Stephen, the father, is CEO of Brick Home Management; Steve, the son, is manager. They were featured in the recent Vice News video that showed them in their West Bloomfield home bidding on line in the 2017 Detroit tax foreclosuremore
How Is Puerto Rico Like Detroit?
Here is an article from The Intercept by David Deyen, “Puerto Rico Braces for Another Disaster: Foreclosure,” that has many similarities to Detroit foreclosures. It was published on December 22, 2017.
People are making money kicking Detroit residents out of their homes
This nearly 11-minute video demonstrates how Steve and Stevie Hagerman of Brick Homes Management bought up 300 homes in Detroit, adding to the 500 they have already purchased. This video was produces by Vice News Tonght and aired on HBO December 7, 2017. The story is investigating Detroit homes thatmore
Support Daniel Murray in Suing the Land Bank
DANIEL MURRAY’S HOME WAS DESTROYED BY THE DETROIT LAND BANK WHILE HE LIVED THERE. Daniel Murray lived at 15745 Quincy in Detroit for decades. He grew up in the home. The Detroit Land Bank gained control of the property in 2014 after tax foreclosure but never notified Daniel, who continuedmore
Owe Taxes? Wayne County Will Sell Your House!
Bridge Magazine – Wayne County doesn’t always enforce a law that forbids tax delinquents from buying properties at its tax foreclosure auctions, contributing to a cycle of speculation that perpetuates blight, a Bridge Magazine investigation has found. The county’s failure to do simple due diligence on the 3,000-plus buyers atmore
Persistent evictions threaten Detroit neighborhoods
“Families in one out of five Detroit rentals face eviction every year, a persistent churn that uproots thousands, destabilizes neighborhoods and schools and even threatens the health and safety of residents, a Detroit News investigation has found. The News analyzed nearly 285,000 eviction cases since 2009 — the first timemore
Flagstar Bank Settles with Barbara Campbell!
As Barbara Campell fought to survive one medical disaster after another — cancer, heart surgery, loss of kidney function and 3 strokes — Flagstar Bank tried to evict her from her Detroit home. Despite many promises that it wouldn’t do so, the bank moved to evict Ms. Campbell, who’s a formermore
Tonya Won Her Home!
Another Black Woman in Detroit fought to keep her home – and won! HUD oversees Freddie Mac, who bought Tonya’s house for $300. Freddie Mac was trying to evict Tonya, but Detroit Eviction Defense joined with her to say she is here to stay. We organized a rally in frontmore
DED Newsletter #2
click here for newsletter #2! DED NEWSLETTER 7.6.17 PDF In This Issue! -No New Wayne Co Jail -Urealdene’s Story -Detroit Property Exchange: Slumlord Watch! -RIP Kenny -O’Hair Park -Land Contract Scams
REVERSE MORTGAGE PITFALLS
If It Sounds Too Good to be True……It Is! You’ve seen the TV commercials starring Tom Selleck, Fred Thompson or Henry Winkler (the Fonz), targeting seniors with a message painting a rosy of reverse mortgages. Download printable flyer here: page-1 & page-2 What Tom Selleck and the others don’t tell youmore
So You’re Thinking of Buying a Home on Land Contract
Questions to ask, tips to follow, and pitfalls to avoid If you’d like to become a homeowner but are unable to obtain a mortgage or pay cash for a home, you’re probably going to have to decide whether or not a land contract is right for you. Land contract buyersmore
End Unconstitutional Tax Foreclosures!
Detroit Eviction Defense endorses the demands of the Coalition to End Unconstitutional Tax Foreclosure, which are: Stop unconstitutional property tax assessments. Compensate Detroit residents who have already lost their homes through illegal tax foreclosures. Suspend pending property tax foreclosures until we have confirmation that delinquent taxpayers have not been unconstitutionallymore