CHEAP CHRISTMAS PRESENTS: 15 Detroit Houses You Can Buy For Less Than $500

[Liberal_in_LA]

CHEAP CHRISTMAS PRESENTS: 15 Detroit Houses You Can Buy For Less Than $500








http://www.businessinsider.com/houses-for-1-dollar-2010-12#

[TwilightGardener]

1. The little bungalows don't look too bad. I wonder why even landlords

looking to rent aren't interested, though.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. It might be missing the electrical wiring and plumbing on the inside

Some of these homes are just shells

[TwilightGardener]

4. Ah, that's true. If they're gutted and need way more in repairs than

what they're worth (which seems to be nothing), then they're just waiting to be bulldozed.:-(

[JVS]

8. Lack of customers

The city has more housing than people

[TwilightGardener]

13. I suppose--just hard to believe how worthless the real estate there has become.

Those houses honestly look like my first house...total fixer upper.

[Vinca]

3. That's really sad.

Some of them look like they could be brought back from the dead, but if there are no jobs there are no people.

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. When I was in Detroit in the mid-80s, punk rockers would hold shows at houses that still had

electricity :rofl:

"See baby pulled from burning building!" shouted one show flyer.

[EC]

6. More than half of them look like they are ready for

demolition...but the land would be worth more than the cost of the house in the future...taxes should be low if you buy at below $500.

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. If I lived next to one, I'd buy it cheap and bulldoze to make yard larger or

use sweat equity to fix it up.

[RockaFowler]

7. So sad

It's even sadder looking at the neighborhoods. These houses used to be wonderful. I know I haven't been bak in over 7 years, but it wasn't that bad when I last saw this area. I almost want to buy one and give it to my cousins who live there now. :(

[Horse with no Name]

9. The Liberal part of me wonders why

we have all of these houses standing for next to nothing...and all of the homeless people.
WHY can't there be some sort of block grant done to match homeless and homes, creating neighborhoods, creating jobs, creating commerce.
I guess they haven't figured out how to do it AND still allow someone to get rich off of it...until then...

[TwilightGardener]

11. Even if the houses are liveable, someone's got to pay the electric bill, the gas bill,

water, sewage, trash. Otherwise it's more of a public health and safety problem than if the houses just stood boarded up, IMO.

[Horse with no Name]

12. Why not use tax dollars to build communities?

Jobs. HELP people with ownership instead of paying high rates of rent to slumlords.

[TwilightGardener]

16. I think there's just no tax base left in parts of Detroit. They couldn't

take on any more upkeep and maintenance even if they wanted to.

[SheilaT]

19. Use tax dollars to build communities???

What kind of socialist communist pinko moron are you? Taxes aren't to help the poor. Taxes are to bail rich people out when they do dumb things. :sarcasm:

The truly sad thing is that the people who are currently running this country have no sense of community, no concept of mutual helping.

I have no idea how many homeless there are in Detroit, but probably more than anyone realizes, and buying up some of the abandoned homes, putting the erstwhile homeless and/or jobless to work fixing them up might not be a bad idea. Hey, I wonder if Jimmy Carter and Habitat for Humanity would be interested in doing this?

[FrancisTreptoe]

14. Great crack houses.

But really, these houses are really not that bad. 500 dollars seems ridiculously low, a good fix up would make them very livable.

[me b zola]

15. Perfect for Mr Z & I

We are older and don't have dependent children. I've been thinking about Detroit, although for my health I really need a tropical climate. Hmmmm. Perhaps there is enough room to have both.

[PoliticAverse]

17. They leave out a very important part...

What are the property taxes?

[progressoid]

18. And another $25,000 or more in repairs to make them livable.