Wow. Houses selling for a dollar-- this is where the economy is at! - Page 2

[shelleyd]

This just brings me to tears. I don't live in Detroit but I live in the suburbs of Detroit. I go to school in Detroit and my husband worked in Detroit until he got laid off. This is where our economy is at. I want to show my mortgage lender this. This is why we can't pay our mortgage OR sell our house. We're stuck. When the economy is this bad, people don't build things. And my husband is a carpenter and so that means he doesn't work. And that means I can't pay my mortgage and so I'll foreclose and somebody will buy my house for a dollar and bring down my neighbors property value and on and on. :

Phantaja, I didn't read that article because I'm already down enough and I don't feel the need to bring myself down more. But I'll say this, I love Detroit and I hate Detroit bashing. I love Eastern Market and I go all the time. And I'm not scared of people in Detroit. I just started back at Wayne State and I just love going there and the atmosphere in the city.

[maciascl]

I am in Southern California. The house next door to us has been empty (was foreclosed on) for over 14 months. At the end of Jan it will be going to auction for the 2nd time with a starting bid of $1000. That is right, even with a starting bid of $1000 it didn't sell the 1st time.

[*~*SewHappyNow*~*]

You couldn't pay me to live in Detroit. Doubt you could sell those properties even if you paid people to take them.

COL is high in Michigan, also, due in part to large tax burdens on the individual tax payers along with high taxes on businesses. This has dramaticly decreased economic growth and many companies are fleeing Michigan.

http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=6450

[Knittin' in the Shade]

Originally Posted by slsurface

THIS is the situation I've been trying to get across to people for the last year! Business men won't be happy until this whole country is third-world, like Michigan.

I'm not trying to diminish the economic situation in Michigan at all, but please. The median income in Detroit in 2007 (the most recent statistics available) was $28,364 (from: http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate....?mod=oneclick) That is not third-world, and it diminishes the plight of truly third-world cities and countries to say that ANY city in the US is third-world.

[mnnice]

So if you bought a house for a $1 are you typically liable for the unpaid property taxes?

I first visited Detriot in 1991 and that time it was clearly a shadow of it's former self. I was with my boyfriend of the time that talked about how much better it was in the 1960's and 1970's. I'm sure that another decade and a 1/2 of neglect hasn't improved it.

[shelleyd]

Originally Posted by *~*SewHappyNow*~*

You couldn't pay me to live in Detroit. Doubt you could sell those properties even if you paid people to take them.

I mean this in the nicest way possible, but think about what you're saying here. You're talking about people's home. Mothers on this board, on this thread live there. This is where people are raising their families.

[Jenelle]

Originally Posted by shelleyd

I mean this in the nicest way possible, but think about what you're saying here. You're talking about people's home. Mothers on this board, on this thread live there. This is where people are raising their families.

Yeah... I thought it was insensitive also, especially after the post by Phantaja ( btw). I think maybe the whole thread was not read... At least that is what I would like to think.

[LionTigerBear]

Originally Posted by mnnice

So if you bought a house for a $1 are you typically liable for the unpaid property taxes?

My understanding is, yes. I think sometimes the city/state will auction off the tax payments or something, though, so in other words they may settle for less than what is technically owed them if they think they stand a better chance of getting something that way. My understanding of this is fuzzy, though, you'd probably do best to consult an expert in your area.

[slsurface]

Originally Posted by Knittin' in the Shade

I'm not trying to diminish the economic situation in Michigan at all, but please. The median income in Detroit in 2007 (the most recent statistics available) was $28,364 (from: http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate....?mod=oneclick) That is not third-world, and it diminishes the plight of truly third-world cities and countries to say that ANY city in the US is third-world.

While people are not making $1 a day in Michigan like in the third world, it is sad that any city in the greatest country on the planet should be in this state. I've lived in a third world country...so I was not slighting the third world, I was slighting our leaders and what they have done to this once great nation.

[slsurface]

Originally Posted by Phantaja

This made me want to cry. Gratiot Ave is home to me. I go to the farmers market on one end of it's 30 mile stretch. When people ride by, there walking past me. I am the woman walking down the street with the granny cart full of fruit and veggies, that's my family at the CVS on the corner, those are my kids that people cringe when they see them dribbling their basketballs at dusk. We're the ones that people are afraid of? This is what makes you worry for your life? We're just like everyone else. We're just trying to get by.

Originally Posted by shelleyd

This just brings me to tears. I don't live in Detroit but I live in the suburbs of Detroit. I go to school in Detroit and my husband worked in Detroit until he got laid off. This is where our economy is at. I want to show my mortgage lender this. This is why we can't pay our mortgage OR sell our house. We're stuck. When the economy is this bad, people don't build things. And my husband is a carpenter and so that means he doesn't work. And that means I can't pay my mortgage and so I'll foreclose and somebody will buy my house for a dollar and bring down my neighbors property value and on and on. :

Phantaja, I didn't read that article because I'm already down enough and I don't feel the need to bring myself down more. But I'll say this, I love Detroit and I hate Detroit bashing. I love Eastern Market and I go all the time. And I'm not scared of people in Detroit. I just started back at Wayne State and I just love going there and the atmosphere in the city.

Ladies, I think it's time for a .

I'm sorry for posting that gloomy article. It makes me so sad too. I love Detroit. I've never been afraid in Detroit...I can't say that about all the cities I've visited/lived in. We're struggling too right now, as are so many of our friends here in Michigan. It makes me sick that no one seems to care. I hope that things will turn around very soon. Hang in there!

[Phantaja]

Originally Posted by *~*SewHappyNow*~*

You couldn't pay me to live in Detroit. Doubt you could sell those properties even if you paid people to take them.

http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=6450

Originally Posted by shelleyd

I mean this in the nicest way possible, but think about what you're saying here. You're talking about people's home. Mothers on this board, on this thread live there. This is where people are raising their families.

Originally Posted by Jenelle

Yeah... I thought it was insensitive also, especially after the post by Phantaja ( btw). I think maybe the whole thread was not read... At least that is what I would like to think.

Eh. I'll live. I'm sure things are a little different from the outside looking in. Hope we didn't scare you.

[jeca]

Nothing in my area is under $90,000. "hug to the mamas n this board having a hard time in Detriot.

[CarsonBookworm]

Here in my area (Reno-Tahoe), there is house, after house on the market at ridiculously low prices (3bed, 2bath 1500sq ft for $160k), unemployment is at just over 8% and rising and most of our friends and family are terrified at what the future might bring.

My best friend purchased a fixer-uper forclosure 20 miles south of here to live in a year ago and after several catastophes and the loss of his jobs (he is now working three jobs to make ends meet.) is seriously looking at trying to sell it to avoid being foreclosed upon.

I tell my husband that the only reason why we're not truly destitute is because we don't have a car.....so gas, insurance and whatnot are not an issue. He agrees. Its getting to the point where we could seriously use a car, but we're holding off because we really cannot afford it.

Public Transportation is barely adequate, bus runs once an hour, between 6:30am and 6pm and to a limited amount of places. Luckily he can walk to work and does, and we live right in the middle of town so we walk to the supermarket and push the cart to our apartment and then return the cart, the library and park are across the street, so we have entertainment.....

I really have no room to complain.....many are worse off than we are...

[mnnice]

Originally Posted by LionTigerBear

My understanding is, yes. I think sometimes the city/state will auction off the tax payments or something, though, so in other words they may settle for less than what is technically owed them if they think they stand a better chance of getting something that way. My understanding of this is fuzzy, though, you'd probably do best to consult an expert in your area.

Oh I'm not interested in investing. I was just trying to point out that even with an essentially free property you might incur significant carrying cost (insurance, taxes, security, keeping it warm enough to not freeze the pipes.