In Greenpoint very few house owners have declared bankruptcy. “One can say that the real estate crisis has not touched this neighborhood,” said Herbert Kliegerman, a real estate agent whose office is located in Norman Avenue, in Greenpoint.

During the past year, we have observed an increase in the number of foreclosures in New York, a problem that has been escalating in the entire country. In New York, most of the bankruptcies have been declared in Queens.

“There aren’t many in Ridgewood, Maspeth and Williamsburg,” Kliegerman tells Super Express. “Polish neighborhoods are not suffering from the impact of the crisis just like in other parts of the city. There are literally only a few foreclosures in Greenpoint. Many people got into trouble with paying off the mortgage due to their own ignorance and negligence. I know a person who makes $30,000 a year and has to pay $50,000 annually for his mortgage. The bank should not have extended him credit and he shouldn’t have taken it,” says Kliegerman.

Compared with the rest of the country, the situation in New York is not as bad. This year there have been 2,216 foreclosures in the entire city, while in Los Angeles, which is a smaller city, records show almost 6,000 foreclosures and in Miami 3,000. Real estate in New York is expensive and obtaining credit for the purchase of a house is not as easy as in the rest of the country.

“Poles are managing well in the tough times. They haven’t caved in to the deceitful credit offers like inhabitants in other boroughs,” Kliegerman says.