Ruins of the Second Gilded Age

07-07-2009 • NY Times Magazine

Interesting slide show of a professional photographer's take on the real estate bust across the US. 2 of the subjects are from the Phoenix area. GREENLEAF SUBDIVISION Mortgage fraud rose to new heights nationally during the real estate boom, aided by lenient lending rules and lax oversight. For this subdivision in Dawsonville, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta, an appraiser and a developer together created false documents that led a California bank to offer nearly $5 million in mortgages for 15 homes — houses that were neither finished nor ready for occupancy. Out-of-state investors, relying on the false appraisals, purchased the properties, usually sight-unseen. The developer, Jeffery Alan Teague, was arrested after an F.B.I. investigation and is now serving more than 15 years in prison. The home buyers — many of whom most likely intended to flip the properties without ever seeing them — are now stuck with a nearly worthless asset. The neighborhood has become a d