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So I've been looking through various web real estate vendors and foreclosure sites and houses in Detroit (The Grosse point area) are going from $1 to $1000, with most around $500.

The issue isn't how bad the houses are, I'd knock them down, but the land has to worth more than that.... I mean $1 for 4,200 feet only a few miles from downtown detroid has to be good value.

Even with demolition costs (alternatively I could just have them burnt down) within a few years I'd be sitting on a property gold mine....

Now I just have to piece together an entire block so I can wall it off and build my faux volcano skull lair...

Is Detroit a nice place to live?

What is "a few miles" from downtown?

Don't forget property taxes. There is usually a tax on the land and a tax on the house.

Detroit is a killing ground. No sane person would move there.

Having said that Gross Pointe is the very high end area. its where all the higher level automobile executives hang out.

Mayhaps there's a reason houses are going for cheap?

It's not so bad. As long as you don't do drugs. Go downtown in the middle of the night and scream I GOTZ MAD LOOT, ROB MEH, you should be fine. Read up on the area you looking into, it's what the interwebs are for.

Frazzled wrote:Detroit is a killing ground. No sane person would move there.

Having said that Gross Pointe is the very high end area. its where all the higher level automobile executives hang out.

Mayhaps there's a reason houses are going for cheap?

Like parts of our fair city are any better? It's called Gunspoint for a reason. Northline (where i grew up) and 4th ward arent much better. Lets also not forget Southwest side.


As for Detroit... I have an Ex girlfriend who I still do care about a lot who lives there. When I heard she was moving there I tried everything I could to talk her out of it. Didn't work since her family lives there, but they do all live in the suburbs so she never really goes into the city proper. I still wish she would move somewhere else better though.

our crime rate is substantially lower, at least until the Mexican crime syndicates keep pushing in.

Seems that people all over the world are buying Detroit. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090309/ap_on_bi_ge/landlord_nation

I don't know anything about detroit. I think you should buy in Drexel Hill, PA. Preferably my house. It's nice, I promise.

Is it for under 10,000

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:Should I be buying property in the US?

No, because when you try to get into the country you'll be pepper sprayed.

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:

Now I just have to piece together an entire block so I can wall it off and build my faux volcano skull lair...

hmmm.... now then... if they've assigned that money for "volcano monitoring" in the budget, it might be worth seeing if you qualify for a grant or similar. Live the dream off the back of the downtrodden American people !

Given the massive unemployment it should be cheap to hire a veritable horde of jumpsuit clad minions to toil for you. You probably wouldn't even have to offer dental as part of the package.

Even if you choose arson to clear the houses, you still will need to hire a demolition contractor to remove the detritus, and to collapse the sewer line to the street and then you'll have to deal with shutting down the gas line, and if you don't get it all done before 30 days (And you won't, trust me.) you'll have to go to court every 30 days until you get it done, and pay a fine based upon nothing more than what mood the judge is in that day. Yes, I know this from experience.
And, if you get too ambitious, you might need to watch out for vigilante cyborgs.

Jump suit clad minions you say....

I was thinking more like...



or...



Then when the govt minions arrive with suppoenas I will, release the hounds!

warpcrafter wrote:Even if you choose arson to clear the houses, you still will need to hire a demolition contractor to remove the detritus, and to collapse the sewer line to the street and then you'll have to deal with shutting down the gas line, and if you don't get it all done before 30 days (And you won't, trust me.) you'll have to go to court every 30 days until you get it done, and pay a fine based upon nothing more than what mood the judge is in that day. Yes, I know this from experience.
And, if you get too ambitious, you might need to watch out for vigilante cyborgs.

Lets not forget all the people that will try and injure themselves on your land for an insurance / lawsuit payout. You will only be one new local law away from paying more taxes than the house/land is worth, and nobody is ever going to want to buy it. There are areas of Detroit that the police wont go to except in extreme circumstances, and so you can be sure you'll have a hard time finding demolition contractors for some areas.

Now if I was putting money somewhere right now (and did not live in the UK), then it would be the UK stock market. The GBP will rise after this recession, and the stock market is now less than 50% of what it was at its peak. On the other hand, I'd never take advice from me so who knows

sexiest_hero wrote:Seems that people all over the world are buying Detroit. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090309/ap_on_bi_ge/landlord_nation

Look at the morons go!

hey, they need areas that are both dangerous enough for training their deadly minions, but also is a short drive away from a variety of entertainment venues or somesuch

Hmm... better to buy just the land / lot instead of houses.

If you dont live there, people will :

They'll live there
They'll plant marijuana
They'll strip your house for metal / wood
They'll burn your house for fun

Oh yes i have encounter these before when my dad used to do buisness via purchasing and reselling realstates.

My family is from Detroit, and the Pointes are very nice cities. Old money types, not flashy but solid. It's very important to separate the city of Detroit from it's suburbs, and keep in mind that every city has different coverages for police, fire, ems, schools, water, etc.

Any house going for less than the land is worth has a lien or two or five on it. Property taxes, stretching back years, are the responsibility of the new owner. Many of the houses have had irrevocable damage, but demolition isn't cheap.

In short, there are no free lunches. If you are looking for a home to live in, and can do home repair work, you can grab some amazing bargains, but you'll have to put time and effort and money into them.