The auto industry's implosion and the national recession have sparked a migration out of Detroit, leaving thousands of buildings and homes vacant. According to a recent survey, 33,000 homes are vacant across the city and another 50,000 are currently in foreclosure. The city's population could dip below 800,000 after the latest Census numbers are tabulated.

Because of this, Mayor Dave Bing has decided to rid the city of abandoned buildings as a way to keep property taxes up and residents in their homes.

"Blight is like a disease and will spread if not addressed," Bing said by e-mail to The Associated Press. "If the city begins to lose our tax base, then there goes the entire city."

Bing plans to tear down 3,000 homes this year and another 3,000 next year. By the end of his four-year term, he hopes to have demolished 10,000 buildings.

The former Romney home was neither vandalized nor an eyesore. It was located in a neighborhood in which annual property taxes typically are more than $10,000 and the median home sales price is $257,000.

Neighbors in the area say they were hoping the right buyers would come along who could afford the needed renovations and invest in the home. The current owners reportedly ran out of the money needed to finish fixing it up.

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Prompted by requests from area residents and housing officials, the CCHRC designed two types of homes tailor-made for the weather found in different rural Alaskan communities. Many of the current homes in the area were built in Idaho in the 1970s and shipped to the area. The ranch-style homes were not made to stand up to Alaska's Arctic conditions.

The Quinhagak prototype is an octagon-shaped home modeled after the circular-shaped sod houses that were built by the Yup'ik natives of the region. The circular shape of the home rids it of hallways that make it harder to keep heat in the living areas. The prototype will also have an Arctic Entry, or laturaq, on the side of the home that faces the most wind. The laturaq will keep moisture from blowing into the home's walls and prevent heat from seeping out of the abode. The 950-square-foot, three-bedroom prototype home is expected to cost potential homebuyers $200,000, which is far less than the price tag of dwellings that were recently built in the area.

Nonetheless, there have been concerns that the homes might be too costly for the residents in the low-income community. The CCHRC's prototype homes are designed to be highly energy efficient, requiring approximately 150 gallons of oil per year. Current homes in the area use five times that amount, according to the CCHRC, which means the cost of the homes could be offset somewhat by immense savings in energy bills.

The second prototype home will be built in Point Lay, an Arctic coastal community off the Chukchi Sea. That design includes an 18-inch buffer on the home's foundation. The soy-foam insulation will not allow the home to melt the permafrost beneath it, thereby preventing moisture from leaching into the base of the residence. Two of the walls in the Point Lay prototype home will slope inward to stop snowdrifts from forming against the dwellings. Snowdrifts can cause moisture to seep into a home's walls and cause rotting and mold.

The prototype homes should only take four weeks to build and are expected to be done by July. The CCHRC plans on monitoring the homes during the winter to evaluate energy efficiency, moisture infiltration levels and air quality.

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Of the three floors Madoff formerly occupied, the U.S. government is reportedly paying for one floor, while Surge Trading, which bought Madoff's legit trading company, is renting another. Madoff's former trading floor, which measures out 16,000 square feet, is currently available for rent at a price of $49 per square foot. Due to low rent revenues, due in part to vacant space left by Madoff, RBC is now seeking a buyer for its $210 million mortgage. RBC reportedly has tapped New York commercial property broker Eastdil Secured to work on selling the debt.

Meanwhile, the reach of Madoff's scams continues to widen as Westport National Bank and PSCC Inc. of Westport were named in a suit filed by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and the state's Department of Banking. The suit alleges that the bank and PSCC owner Robert Silverman overcharged customers, did not properly vet Madoff or his investments and turned a blind eye to signs of fraud. Blumenthal hopes to recoup more that $16 million for Madoff's victims by way of the lawsuit.

As for those indirectly contributing to the coffers of Madoff's victims, yet another savvy buyer has made off with one of his former luxury homes--and at a bargain-basement price. This time, toy mogul Al Kahn, who helped kick off the Cabbage Patch Kids craze in the 1980s, was the buyer who scored one of Madoff's three properties confiscated by the government last year during the midst of the scandal. The money gained from selling Madoff's properties will go to the victims of his crimes.

Kahn and his wife Patsy purchased the palatial Upper East Side penthouse for a cool $8 million, $1.9 million less than the original listing price. Initially, Kahn was leery of purchasing the property because he was concerned about karma issues, according to Patsy. But she was sold as soon as she saw the terrace and panoramic rooftop view, telling the New York Post that the pickings were slim when it came to locating a penthouse on the market that had ample outdoor space.

The couple purchased the property in February, but the co-op's board had to sign off on the sale, which it recently did. The Kahns are now planning their future in the sprawling penthouse and are working with an architect to design a renovation for their new home. They also plan to fill the 4,000 square-foot, 3-bedroom duplex with antiques and their modern and folk art collections.

The New York City penthouse is not the only piece of Madoff property that will be sold to help pay back his victims. The largest of Madoff's former homes is yet to be sold. His 6,500-square-foot Palm Beach, Fla., mansion boasts of a backyard 80-foot dock that sits on the Intercoastal Waterway. In February, the price of the property was reduced for a second time. The Corcoran Group is now asking for $7.25 million for the 5-bedroom, 7-bathroom mansion, which is 15 percent less than the original price.

In September 2009, the first of Madoff's properties to sell went for $9.41 million, much more than the original $8.75 million asking price. The 3,000-square-foot beach home sits on 182 square feet of waterside land. The 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom Montauk beach home was built by Madoff in the 1980s after he purchased the property.

No matter what you think of Madoff, the guy certainly had an eye for prime real estate.

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