Crisis In The Housing Market 12:01 am Thu February 23, 2012
With Banks As Landlords, Some Tenants Neglected   Pedro Jimenez
signed the lease for his second-floor apartment in 2006. Since
then, he says, "Here was leaking water. Part of the ceiling
[fell]. See all the windows crack." The panes are completely
shattered; vandals broke them, he says.  East Oakland, Calif.,
is a rough city. It's known for abandoned buildings and a high
crime rate. Still, it's home for Jimenez, a single dad with four
kids.  His 7-year-old son, David, plays handyman. While his
father patches the walls with plywood, David covers holes with
sticky notes. There are yellow squares in every room but one: a
bathroom that has been nailed shut.  "It's dirty and it's
nasty," David warns. That's code for "dangerous." It has broken
plumbing, splintered wood and exposed electrical wires. The
original landlord was renovating when he lost the place in
foreclosure, back in 2007.  Jimenez recalls a real estate agent
coming by one day to collect ren