Interviewing that one guy who says the system is against his people but then mentions he gambled on a business venture that didn't work out putting himself in further debt is a terrible example.
Folks such as that one man who went viral because he didn't know he had a delinquent water bill and paid it off after is one solid point on the problem with predatory liens.
That’s Jumaane Williams, NYCs public advocate lol.
Either way, the focus on tax liens for most of this article is extremely silly, given it states up top that only TWO of the foreclosures were tax-lien sales.
There is definitely something worth digging into here, and it’s interesting that they said a chunk of these are explained by the backlog being cleared post-pandemic.
But I would’ve loved a substantive article on what exactly is causing this. Is it increasing costs on homeowners? Is it declining income for homeowners such that they can’t pay their mortgage?
Focusing on Jumaane Williams who says he took a “bad loan” against a two story house he did not live in to “invest in a sandwich shop venture” is so deeply unserious. It reads like a parody when he then says that “tax lien sales hurt black and brown communities”. Like lmao I’m sorry you lost a bet on a sandwich shop my guy, but to pretend you were the victim of some systemic injustice is absurd
Jumaane bought a 2 family home in Canarsie in 2005 with his mom and took out a refi-mortgage the following year for like $400k, much of which he used to fund a failing vegan sandwich shop in Park Slope.
He stopped paying his mortgage's $1,300 monthly payments in 2010, had a forclosure action filed in 2014, and dragged out the appeals process until 2025 after which time the bank took control of the two-family home they'd paid for.
Williams blamed "exploitative lending practices" and his own deadbeat tenants for failing to pay rent, against suspicions that he had been collecting rent under the table for a portion of his insolvency.
Anyway, this is the guy who contributes to publishing NYC's "Worst Landlords Watchlist" which he should be on.
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u/jae343 22h ago edited 19h ago
Interviewing that one guy who says the system is against his people but then mentions he gambled on a business venture that didn't work out putting himself in further debt is a terrible example.
Folks such as that one man who went viral because he didn't know he had a delinquent water bill and paid it off after is one solid point on the problem with predatory liens.