Anyone want to go halves in building a real-estate empire?



Someone should buy a whole block or two and turn it into a paintball field. Another idea would be to unleash tigers, elephants and monkeys and turn it into a safari park.
 
What can go so terribly wrong in a community that houses are practically given away for free. Can someone from detroit give us some insight, like besides an economy meltdown standpoint or whatever, I bet there's more to it. This is america for god's sake

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWEkG9-2y-w]8 Mile. Eminem - Live at home in a trailer - YouTube[/ame]
 
Detroit has the highest relative property taxes of any major city, despite having virtually non-existent services like police, fire, lighting etc., so when you buy a house for $500 what you're really buying is a debt obligation that you'll never be able to earn enough rental income on to pay.
 
Unarmed Gunman said:
Detroit has the highest relative property taxes of any major city, despite having virtually non-existent services like police, fire, lighting etc., so when you buy a house for $500 what you're really buying is a debt obligation that you'll never be able to earn enough rental income on to pay.
Click to expand...

um, i doubt most people who buy these $1 houses pay any taxes. why would they if no-one receives the most basic of services for their tax monies
 
charlesmartel said:
Another idea would be to unleash tigers, elephants and monkeys and turn it into a safari park.
Click to expand...

they got the monkey part covered

IiOn4Vz.gif
 
  • Like
Reactions: jorarulit and ShadowCaster
kumansk said:
um, i doubt most people who buy these $1 houses pay any taxes. why would they if no-one receives the most basic of services for their tax monies
Click to expand...

Then the city takes the house to tax auction when the bill isn't paid...


The city should target foreigners who have never heard of detroit, just say they get to come to "America" and act as homesteaders or some shit like in the olden days.
 
kumansk said:
um, i doubt most people who buy these $1 houses pay any taxes. why would they if no-one receives the most basic of services for their tax monies
Click to expand...

You've got it backwards. These houses become available at these prices because people stop paying their property taxes due to lack of services and lack of enforcement. Then eventually they're stripped of copper and end up back in the hands of the city, which then tries to pawn them off on naive, out-of-state landlords who think they can't lose money on a $500 house. Once the landlords realize they can't get renters in their shit hole, and if they do, they can't get them to pay, then the houses are torched for what little insurance money they can get. Insurance companies of course know this game, so insurance is extremely expensive, and the payouts are shit. Rinse, repeat until the city looks like a war zone.

tl;dr - these houses are cheap for a reason.

shindig said:
The city should target foreigners who have never heard of detroit, just say they get to come to "America" and act as homesteaders or some shit like in the olden days.
Click to expand...

That idea has actually been considered. So has urban farming, where blocks of houses are bought up, torn down and turned into tree farms.
 
Hurr-Durr said:
Here ya go:

ELI5: Why aren't people buying the $1 houses in Detroit? : explainlikeimfive
Click to expand...

In case you guys didn't read this, here are some noteworthy responses.

Three reasons, all of which intermix.

The first reason is that the houses are awful. Old, full of asbestos, dilapidated, crumbling - it would cost a lot of money to make Detroit's abandoned buildings useful.

This ties in perfectly with the second reason: liability. These houses are so awful, that if a homeless junkie hurt himself in it, you would be liable. None of these houses are up to code - and ownership means you are now responsible for the condition of the building.

Lastly, high taxes. Detroit is a big city - and its services are paid for by property taxes. But, because more and more people are fleeing the city - there is a smaller tax base. This means that each homeowner has to pay more in taxes to make up for the vacancies. To be fair, it does balance out somewhat - the houses are so worthless that the property taxes end up being reasonable.
Click to expand...

In terms of personal safety-- I have felt no more threatened in Detroit than I have in other major cities. I lived in NYC for multiple years and felt far more threatened in Harlem and the Bronx than I ever have in Detroit. Simply put, there are no people in a lot of spots in Detroit, and the lack of public transit means you are always in your car rather than sitting in an empty subway station late at night.

Let me ask you this... When was the last time you heard of a suburbanite white guy/girl (or wealthy black people) getting shot or attacked in Detroit? Rarely happens because the majority of violence occurs on the sprawling East/West sides of the city between gangs or transvestite crack hoookers. These areas are isolated and far away from the local police stations.

If you spend time downtown or in the up and coming Midtown (Wayne St. area), it looks a bit like other cities. Go to the far East/West sides, and it looks like a post apocalyptic war zone.

With that being said there is an energy going on in Detroit right now that is unlike anything I have experienced in other cities. The opportunities are endless in Detroit, it is truly a blank slate. You have total freedom for the most part. Parking is available everywhere. Want to explore a huge old building? No one is going to stop you. Want to clear out Brush Park and build BMX jumps? Go for it. I love the freedom and opportunity that Detroit currently provides. The local business owners are so glad to see you when you walk in. The locals here are loyal, hardworking, and ready to make Detroit better.
Click to expand...

I've been to Detroit. I bought a house there before all of this recent bankruptcy news. They've been auctioning off buildings and houses for cheap for the last 2 or 3 years.
The taxes are insane since their based on the OLD property value of the house. And it's really hard to find out what the property taxes are. Took everything in me to get through all the crap of the Detroit system and find out.

Another wonderful thing I found out is that any back-taxes that weren't paid by the previous owner stay with the house. So when you buy that house/building you inherit those taxes. Unlike some states where back taxes might follow the person or they just won't transfer to you.

Same goes for unpaid bills. You wouldn't think. But the house I got was in pretty decent shape compared to the others around it. Trying to get utilities checked/turned on was a nightmare. There was an $8k water bill. Took all kinds of blowing up the phone to get those charges dismissed. I couldn't get them all dismissed though to be honest.

OH one huge thing I have not seen anyone mention. Squatters. The house I bought had multiple families living in it. The police wouldn't come get them out. They blew up all the utility bills. You cant tear down a house with people in it. (There were people living in some real shacks too, so you never know where a squatter will be.) Sad part is the only reason the house was still decent was because they were protecting it with knives and guns so they could live in it.

Tried everything I could to get them out. In the end as you can probably guess, It was too much of headache. Felt like it was a huge scam directed by the city. Took me about a year and a half to sell it. Thank GOD.
I would not recommend anyone getting anything from Detroit. Much less going there. Certain parts are nice, but the places with the cheap houses.. I wish I still had pictures. It's really bad.

This happened to me, save yourselves people.
Click to expand...
 
jstover77 said:
Why not come in and buy up a bunch of the houses. Bulldoze them down, plant some nice grass so it looks pretty. Then just sit on them until they are worth something?
Click to expand...

They should do that to the entire city, not just a block. Entire cities were torn down and ruined by earthquakes and still managed to rebuild after a few years of hard work.

Unarmed Gunman said:
You've got it backwards. These houses become available at these prices because people stop paying their property taxes due to lack of services and lack of enforcement. Then eventually they're stripped of copper and end up back in the hands of the city, which then tries to pawn them off on naive, out-of-state landlords who think they can't lose money on a $500 house. Once the landlords realize they can't get renters in their shit hole, and if they do, they can't get them to pay, then the houses are torched for what little insurance money they can get. Insurance companies of course know this game, so insurance is extremely expensive, and the payouts are shit. Rinse, repeat until the city looks like a war zone.
Click to expand...

/thread
 
charlesmartel said:
That's a great idea. It's unlikely the residents would steal the trees. I still think they should unleash some tigers and elephants until the trees take root, just in case!
Click to expand...

Terrible idea. Elephants would step on the trees.


:D
 
Those houses need $20k-$50k in work to be livable.

Then once they're livable, what do you do?


There are areas where you can buy $5,000 houses and put $20k into them and actually rent them out for good money. Those areas are not detroit.


Right now I'm paying $15,000-$35,000 for houses in good neighborhoods, putting $5k-$20k into them and making good money off them. I've talked about it here a few times. We'll be shooting videos very soon in a DIY landlord video/rebill site.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back