Carl Stevens reports from Meeting House Hill:

The Herald shows how the subprime crisis has hit home in Dorchester, focused on Hendry Street on Meeting House Hill.

Also see the Dorchester Reporter's Hendry Street report from this past September and its follow-up (from October) on foreclosures and triple deckers.

Aaron Weber adds real estate to the list of things he can't expect the Globe to cover well, after reading a piece in the Sunday real-estate section about foreclosures in the two cities, which is accompanied by a large map that shows the problem is far, far worse in another city:

... In Lawrence, the foreclosure rate is nearly double that of even the most hard-hit areas in the Route 2 West corridor. You want to write about a housing crisis, and you ignore Lawrence? Is that more of a Herald town or something? ...

He also uses the Globe's own stats to ponder why the story didn't examine the possibility that the relatively high foreclosure rates in northern Worcester were due to fraud rather than a financial crisis.

Some renters lose their heat after apartment foreclosures:

New mortgage-company landlords in some foreclosed Boston apartments haven't made needed repairs or paid for heating oil.

This Globe story makes the point when it comes to certain mortgage companies - they're not trying to be evil, but they wind up being that way anyway.

Chris Lovett provides an interesting look at sub-prime mortgages and explains why the president's plan for dealing with the mess will do little to help places such as Dorchester, with a look at the condos of 43 Whitfield St., just outside Codman Square:

... After its conversion to condos, all three units were sold to a single buyer in February, 2006, each for $330,000, and each with a mortgage from a different lender. On paper, the buyer was committed to using two of the units as his principal residence. On a third unit, the lender waived the occupancy requirement. Within 19 months, there were petitions to foreclose on all three units.

By October the "contractor special," unit 3 at 43 Whitfield St, was on the market for $77,000. An ad says the unit has been gutted, with the start of a rehab and "some great extras," including "the start of a marble bathroom," not to mention a jacuzzi tub and "some new cabinets."

At least unit 3 might be better than unit 1, which is on the market for only $63,000, and which an ad says is only "partially gutted." Also mentioned in the ad: "There is no kitchen and no working bathroom." ...