Inner-City RE Rescue Program Unveiled

Peter Monroe, a former president of the RTC Oversight Board, and several colleagues have launched a venture capital company to spearhead a "real estate rescue program" in U.S. inner cities. The new company, Wilherst Oxford LLC, Tampa, Fla., will make vacant homes available to inner-city residents through the use of seller financing and low downpayments. "Amid the real estate crisis that led to the current economic difficulties, there are exciting opportunities for Americans to move into millions of already existing, vacant, and therefore affordable houses," Mr. Monroe said. ".... Our fund will invest nationwide and across product lines from residential to income properties." Mr. Monroe, who was president and chief executive of the Resolution Trust Corp. Oversight Board from 1990 to 1993 and chief operating officer of the Federal Housing Administration, said local governments "should encourage entrepreneurs to buy and resell these vacant homes as affordable housing by waiving existing tax/utility liens (which would never be paid anyway) and granting ample time for code compliance." Mr. Monroe can be found online at http://www.petermonroe.com.