A Broken Mortgage Market Strands Detroit's Black Residents

Lenders shun the city's low-priced homes, and they lose even more value, in a cycle that keeps the housing market depressed. The city of nearly 700,000 saw barely 1,700 mortgages made last year. The solution for some Detroiters is to buy a fixer-upper for a few thousand dollars cash and pour in sweat equity.