In January, Jeffrey Meitrodt, Investigations Editor at the Star Tribune, reported on problematic contract-for-deed sales of homes in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. The sales are frequently used to sell homes to low-income buyers who have been unable to secure financing from a bank.  Since 2007, Minneapolis and St. Paul have seen a more than 50 percent increase in the number of contract-for-deed sales of property.  These homes may have existing ...

This project started with a call from a single mother of two teenagers who asked me to take a look at the rat-hole apartment where they lived in an old house that had been carved up into several apartments.

It was horrible. There was a foot of snow on the ground; the furnace had never worked; the water pipes had broken; the living room ceiling had collapsed as a result. The apartment was uninhabitable.  

The management company had washed its hands and told her to talk to the owner. But that person turned out not to be the real owner ...