I forgot to add. In the mid 80s , when I bought my first city home. I went through a non-profit (Neighborhood Housing). They as with several housing non profits, were trying to stabilize neighborhoods and entice people wanting a fixer-upper for a low price to move in. I secured a nice duplex on a dead end street. I could have gone through Neighbood for a loan and they would help organize a 2nd mortgage with a lending institution. But the state had a program (CDA?) where I was able to secure a mortgage as a first time home buyer and one for a city house, at a reasonable rate.

It was a great house in a very mixed neighborhood. But as the city started to demolish the high rise projects, the neighborhood was flooded with many poor people in a fragile neighborhood, who needed many social support services, but got thrown to the slumlords who were gobbling up the fixer upper houses.