In recent years, private investment firms sold foreclosed homes on high-interest installment contracts to poor Cincinnati residents who could not get traditional bank mortgages, the New York Times reported today. Now, the city is cracking down, calling those who offer such deals “predatory” actors targeting the “unsuspecting and vulnerable.” In a sweeping lawsuit, Cincinnati took aim at one of the nation’s largest sellers of foreclosed homes, Harbour Portfolio Advisors, saying that the firm owes more than $360,000 in unpaid fines, fees and violation notices. The firm failed to properly maintain dozens of homes, the city claims, leading in one case to a child’s testing positive for lead poisoning.
