canarsie-sign-1.jpgThat’s the word from the NY Times, which gave Canarsie the Living In treatment yesterday. The leafy, suburban-ish neighborhood has suffered a high rate of foreclosures, many of them belonging to the Caribbean, Chinese or Russian immigrants who’ve flocked there as of late, they write; prices are drooping. Single-family houses have been giving way to higher density development, worrying some residents. As one said, “If you buy a house on a quiet block, ‘you don’t want the dude next door to come, knock down his house and put up a four-story building.'”
Living In: Canarsie [NY Times]
Photo by singingpixel.


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  1. Al Sharpton is the cause.

    Back in the late 80s a real estate office sold a house to a black family. The real estate office was set on fire by residents who wanted to keep the area white. Al Sharpton decided to march through the area in protest. The mayor promised sharpton that he will make sure that black families will be able to buy homes in canarsie. Sharpton said it was not enough and said that most black families can’t afford the asking prices so a plan was set up where families can buy into canarsie with 5% down or even 2% down.

    Remember those old newspaper ads advertising a 2 family home for only 3% down?! ….well…that was canarsie.

    So lots of familes bought a 2 family house with very little down. Their logic was that the second apartment would supplement the mortgage. You know what happened next…tenants did not pay the rent and owners fell behind on the mortgage.

    before we had this recent crises, some 2000 homes in canarsie were in default.

    THANKS AL SHARPTON!