Mortgage mess: Temporarily good for newspapers

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, the expression goes. It seems that’s happening with newspapers in some parts of the U.S. that are hard-hit by the mortgage crisis, though they’re not having to “make” lemonade as much as it’s being made for them.

According to this report from Washington City Paper, many newspaper classifieds sections are benefiting from a glut of paid foreclosure notices.

“Area municipalities require that foreclosure sale notices be placed in local newspapers with broad distribution, and much of the resulting business lands with the Post and the Washington Times,” City Paper reports on the experience in the Washington, D.C. area. The phenomenon has swelled print classified pages at a time when the housing industry is a mess and otherwise would be cutting back on print classifieds purchases.

Of course, once the crisis abates, for newspapers it will be back to figuring out anew what to do with those rotting lemons.

Tags: housing