For years there was a buzz about the potential of a residential boom in the South Bronx, but with the credit crunch making it nearly impossible for small-scale investors to obtain financing in the area, any sort of explosion appears to be on hold. …

Much of SoBro’s residential housing is made up of row houses originally constructed as low-income housing. During the boom, investors bought up these properties, performed what Jaffe describes as "shoddy" renovations, and then resold them as investment opportunities.

Since the credit crisis hit, brokers say these types of investments have stopped dead in their tracks, and local families who had bought the properties are stuck with mortgages they can’t afford.