EMPTY HOUSES -- WHAT TO DO

All over the US, people have abandoned their homes due to financial issues.

Some of these homes will be sold to investors who will wait for better prices before reselling them to homeowners.

Couldn't some non-profit buy these houses at the current bargain prices? The non-profit could sell the homes to nurses, teachers, police officers and firepersons. Then these people who provide priceless services to our communities, could actually afford to live in the communities where they work.

Actually, with a little bit of legal maneuvering, we could use redevelopment funds to get the houses to the service people. No one is going to want to invest in municipal redevelopment until the economy has improved. So we could use the funds that are just sitting there to implement the Home for Our Service Persons (HOSP).

The biggest risk in buying a bank owned or repossessed home is the damage that may have been done to the home while it was unoccupied. If the non-profit or municipal redevelopment inspect the homes and fix the defects, then sell the homes to teachers, nurses, firepersons and police officers, we will have a win-win-win situation.

Instead of empty homes, we will have homes full of the best sort of people.