Nobody covers dirt better than Testerman, the Times’ veteran investigative reporter who has focused his work in the past few years on crooked land deals, forged names, bogus mortgages and other real estate-related crimes. It’s not sexy stuff, and Testerman is not a prose stylist. But that’s not his job, and that’s not his value to readers. Given all the land speculation, condo flipping and other dubious stuff going on that’s driving up the cost of a home, we can thank Testerman for being willing to dig into the dirt.
This article appears in Sep 14-20, 2005.