Wow you can't even give a house away in Detroit!

I bought an REO house in Dearborn, Michigan, a stable suburb of Detroit, in June for $29,000. (Dearborn has Greenfield Village/Henry Ford Museum, good schools, a noted community college). Put about $10,000 into it so far, appointment made for re-inspect for certificate of occupancy. Neighbor houses go for $90,000+. Rents in the area for houses like this are $650-$1000, because people are losing their houses, but they still make enough to stay in the area and so they look to rent. There are waiting lists for places to rent.

Detroit, the city proper, is in a death spiral. The brokers there have the listings but when you call they basically don't want to help you buy within the city limits, they have no confidence either.

There's at least one judge in Probate court who has made it her mission to make it tough for people to abandon properties even if they're taken over by squatters. Maintaining property tax revenues is the game there. Understandable, unless it's your money on the table.

One more thing, investors: Prices to buy services in Michigan are virtually the same as in New York City. Rip offs abound among laborers, it's a struggle to find professional services (lawyers etc) of quality. The brain drain has taken its toll (moi contributed by getting educated at Michigan's expense and then leaving).

If you want to play the REO game there are far better places to do it than Michigan, in my opinion.

{Manhattan real estate agent.}

Why would I buy a place in Detroit which has enough homes to house triple the amount of population that remain in Detroit. Sooner or later, the city would have to start bulldozing neighborhoods to bring down the number of homes in line with populations level.

Yes, they are already bulldozing in parts of California.

It's sad.

{Manhattan real estate agent.}

why in God's name did you buy a house in Michigan? I would not buy there if you gave me a house for free. If I was going to buy in a severely depressed market, I would go with Vegas. At least the city has good long term potential.

or Alpine, NJ maybe. if you hold on long enough you might be able to sell in the next decade.

I see someone has no life.

gotta stop looking in the mirror.

alpie, your lack of analytical reasoning never ceases to amaze me.

"why in God's name did you buy a house in Michigan? "

Because he's a Michugenah?

"why in God's name did you buy a house in Michigan? "

Fluter probably bought because he or she had already seen six properties.

"Maintaining property tax revenues is the game there. Understandable, unless it's your money on the table. "

yep. i'd only go for a REO in that are with a very long tax abatement (15-20 years).

As it turns out these houses that no one wants can be coverted to the Meth labs and indoor growing facilities of the future. With a minimal amount of gov. $$$ for educational retraining we can breath life into the failing Detroit economy while at the same time keep our carbon foot print at minimum. Detroit is a drug using town. You can't through a rock without hitting a junky in that town. Did you know a large % of the illegal drugs used in Mich. come from out of the country or at least out of state? With my new program these drugs will be produced and marketed ans sold locally. This creats jobs while saving energy. Not to mention the stimulus felt by rehab programs. You can employ persons to treat drug abuse without junkies...that simple.
Buy Local.......Think Global

http://www.freep.com/article/20130614/COL07/306140080/

se, why?

C0C0 do you want a Detroit house?