This film was just shown to about 100 government & agency officials in Cleveland, as Housing Court Judge Nowak, Court laiason & film producer Michele Johnson, and Hosuing Inspector Tracy Krug traveled ther to explainn Bflo's flipping crisia & evolving remedies.

Tragically, the taxpayer-funded "Anti-flipping task Force" (AFTF) in Bflo has never publicly acknowledged the flim, nor sponsored a showing. In Bflo it has long been good politcal sport to scam real estate inpoor neighborhoods, with devastating consequences.

Below is the new article in Cleveland's major newspaper. Will AFTF now be shamed into showing it in Bflo?

Ironically, as "Flipped" was being shown in Cleveland, there were 15 Bflo "flips" listed for-sale on eBay, as there were none listed for Cleveland. Sadly, eBay has long served as the major tool of flippers, who prey on Buffalo's poverty to profit by selling virtually worthless Bflo houses to the world.

Dick Kern (in Mpls)

COPY: http://www.cleveland.com/search/inde...uyahoga&coll=2

Movie on 'flipping' so real, it's terrifying
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Thomas Ott
Plain Dealer Reporter
The title of a new film, "Flipped," has the ring of a comedy or romance, but the documentary on shady real estate practices tells a horror story.

The one-hour movie examines Buffalo's experience with house flipping, the sale of abandoned property at inflated prices to buyers who are either unwitting or part of a scheme. The houses drift in and out of foreclosure, dragging down neighborhoods.

The movie was screened Friday at the Justice Center for nearly 100 government and nonprofit agency officials. Producer Michele Johnson and Buffalo officials then discussed the problem and how the city combats it.


Johnson, who works for the Buffalo Housing Court, recruited an independent filmmaker for the project after Johnson's sister-in-law was scammed in a rent-to-own deal.

Johnson plans a sequel, "Stripped," about the theft of scrap metal from vacant houses, which happens in Cleveland frequently.

Johnson is on screen often in "Flipped," bemoaning the damage that flipping has done to her beloved city.

The bleak film shows blocks of vacant houses with doors left open, windows broken and siding missing. About 16,000 homes await demolition in Buffalo, where 70 percent of the houses were built before 1940.

Earlier Friday, Cleveland Housing Judge Raymond Pianka, who arranged the showing, took Buffalo Housing Judge Henry Nowak on a driving tour of Cleveland's Slavic Village neighborhood. Nowak was impressed by new development but saw familiar desolation.

"I told Judge Pianka you could pick up our vehicle and drop it in a neighborhood in Buffalo, and you wouldn't know the difference," Nowak said.

Buffalo's houses are often flipped sight unseen on the Internet, bought and sold again, sometimes within minutes, to investors around the globe. Promising descriptions of properties hardly fit the ravaged kitchens and bathrooms in many of the homes.

Slavic Village Councilman Tony Brancatelli said the difference in Cleveland is the flippers are local. He said the documentary highlights the need for stronger city code enforcement and tougher state laws.

Pianka said he set up the screening to raise awareness, but he also wants to adopt some of Buffalo's tactics.

Nowak said Buffalo reacts instantly when lenders begin foreclosures, often by appointing receivers to oversee maintenance. Vacant houses are marked with "no-trespassing" notices, eliminating the need to get warrants when squatters or drug dealers settle in.

For more information on "Flipped," go to www.flipped

movie.com.
[/I][/I]
[/I]