Houses cheaper than cars in Detroit

sweeps · #1 (**permalink**) 03-20-2007, 09:15 AM

Wow.
Houses cheaper than cars in Detroit

Ima saver · #2 (**permalink**) 03-20-2007, 09:54 AM

Wow, that is amazing. All of my husband's aunts and uncles live in Michigan. I know one of them pays about $15000 a year in property tax .

Elgin526 · #3 (**permalink**) 03-20-2007, 01:25 PM

Wow, I knew things in Detroit were bad, but not that bad! No wonder the state of MI has been running tv ads asking companies to move there! I've been seing them on tv lately, saying they'll give tax breaks and other incentives to companies looking to move to the state, saying they have a highly educated workforce, good universities, etc.

jIM_Ohio · #4 (**permalink**) 03-20-2007, 02:01 PM

Michigan is shaped like a hand (look at a map). This is probably the same hand which screws the people.

Detroit is dirty, and something like 90% of the people which "work" in detroit do not live in detroit (they live in the suburbs).

And if you think Detroit is bad, go to Flint. Flint is even worse, (but because city is smaller you may not realize it).

If you want to get a perspective on things, watch the move "Roger and Me". It was a cult classic while I was in college.

PRICEPLUS · #5 (**permalink**) 03-20-2007, 03:26 PM

I was reading that tumble weeds are a problem in areas of Detroit. I guess the crime and job flight are going to lower prices even more. The auto jobs are going and they ain't ever coming back! UAW membership is falling as we speak. I would not invest a nickel in Detroit!

th_tan · #6 (**permalink**) 03-20-2007, 04:30 PM

Thats terrible, these are the things people higherup should be working on. Hopefully some big companies will start moving there, maybe bring more factories, etc.

PRICEPLUS · #7 (**permalink**) 03-20-2007, 08:03 PM

I don't see many companies moving there any time soon. There is a reason it is referred to as the Rust Belt!

cheapdoggy · #8 (**permalink**) 03-20-2007, 09:37 PM

Check out this site and you'll realize why it's cheap. A lot of places look better than Long Island but this ain't one of them
The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit

MonkeyMama · #9 (**permalink**) 03-20-2007, 11:24 PM

ROger and Me pops into my head whenever I hear about Michigan (well, Detroit/Flint).

Yikes!

stoushr · #10 (**permalink**) 03-23-2007, 04:06 PM

let me tell ya, it is bad here. i live outside of detroit , about 10miles. if you want to buy a house, you have many to choose from. there is no possible way to move out of michigan because you cant sell your home! it can take years to sell. but it is a buyers market. my husband has been out of his job, for a year now. had his own business after 20years a got nothing out of it. only 6 months of unemployment. all they want to do is higher the taxes to help pay for the BUDGET!!! well they need to get those politicians to maybe take a payloss like everyone i know did.

DONT MOVE HERE!!!

JoyJoy · #11 (**permalink**) 03-23-2007, 09:06 PM

This is so sad because Detroit was once a wonderful, thriving city. We were raised in Detroit, my sister and I, and went to grammar school, high school and college there.

To read about that house that was listed in Bloomfield Hills for $525,000.00 and went for $130,000.00 is unbelieveable!! Bloomfield Hills hosted some well-known celebrities, politicians and sports figures. How on earth did the city just go to pot like this? Adding insult to injury, I understand there are 3 casino hotels there that are now accepting applications for employment!! Go figure!!

bigsaver · #12 (**permalink**) 03-24-2007, 06:02 AM

Kind of scary. One of the reasons that I still rent. Between the high cost of insurance, property tax that is through the roof, maintenance, and the risk of owning, I find it much easier to rent.

stoushr · #13 (**permalink**) 03-25-2007, 01:42 PM

Go figure! we have a bumm of a governor running this state. she feels that if she raises the taxes that it would help the roads or schools! put more money in the schools? the schools are worse now than ever! the kids don't learn a thing like i had to when i went here. my son is in his 2nd year in college and says he has learned more in college(writing papers, spelling, math) than he ever did in high school. lets have these politicians take a pay cut and see what it feels like, i'm sure the deficit will replensish itself!

cheapdoggy · #14 (**permalink**) 03-26-2007, 05:06 AM

I went to Yahoo real estate and the only thing I can find under $200k in Bloomfield Hills are townhomes, 2 bed, 2 bath. It seems that the writer might have taken an extreme example and used it for the norm. There must have been somekind of problem with that house otherwise why drop almost $400k on the price?

baking23 · #15 (**permalink**) 03-26-2007, 07:14 AM

Detroit has gotten better since I was a little kid, I feel safer going downtown to things, but it still makes me sad when I visit Chicago, Charlotte, or other large cities knowing Detroit used to be like that. The city will never rebound as long as the politicians are crooked. Too bad Archer couldn't have had a few more terms.

The job situation is really crappy. I've been trying for nearly three years to find a full-time job and I've finally resolved that I have to move out of state. I don't want to but I don't think I can stay, living with my parents, I'd love to be independent. All of my friends have had to move out of state too.

Even though my family's been in this area forever I only recently discovered what a gem of Art Deco buildings the city has, well if they don't blow them up first.
Architecture of metropolitan Detroit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
DAADS: Preservation

It's interesting that just across the river in Canada, Windsor is thriving and a college town. It feels so much safer every time I cross the bridge and Windsor isn't even the best town in CA.

b4freedom · #16 (**permalink**) 03-26-2007, 02:16 PM

If you're about to retire, and you can't afford the area you live in now because you're too poor, you should move there. Sure, it's the dumps, but you can afford it.

If you buy a $7,000 house (I found a really nice 3500 sq ft one with 4 bedrooms and two baths), and you borrowed $30,000 to buy it and fix it up at a rediculous 8% rate over 15 years, your mortgage would be about $287 per month.

Assuming you got $1400 in social security a month, you'd only be spending 20% of your ss on housing.

Seriously, it's the new cheap retirement village of the future.

Maybe I should buy one for my mom. I think if stopped paying $7 for lunch and $3 for starbucks I could easily afford that.

But then...

...she's be far away when she retired....

...tempting...

Ariadne · #17 (**permalink**) 04-03-2007, 09:13 PM

My fiance and I went to Dearborn Heights to visit his cousin. I'll admit, I've heard the bad rep that Detroit had, but it was nothing compared to what I saw.

There was a gas station in Dearborn Heights near their house that was closed down. As in, no gas in the pumps, the signs were removed; the place was pretty well shut down for quite some time.

The amount of poverty you see is unbelievable.

baking23, if you think Windsor is great, you should see Oakville, Ontario!

baking23 · #18 (**permalink**) 04-04-2007, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ariadne

baking23, if you think Windsor is great, you should see Oakville, Ontario!

Some of our friends have a cabin in Leamington which I like and it's very nice there. I also love Stratford, Toronto and Amhurstburg, now only if I was able to get a job in Canada. I'm going to look on a map to see where Oakville is.

MAT: Well I'm sure I've passed through Oakville on my way to Toronto, if I wasn't going by boat. Next time I'm headed that way I'll have to make sure I stop there.

disneysteve · #19 (**permalink**) 04-04-2007, 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b4freedom

If you're about to retire, and you can't afford the area you live in now because you're too poor, you should move there. Sure, it's the dumps, but you can afford it.

If you buy a $7,000 house (I found a really nice 3500 sq ft one with 4 bedrooms and two baths), and you borrowed $30,000 to buy it and fix it up at a rediculous 8% rate over 15 years, your mortgage would be about $287 per month.

Isn't that generally the point at which speculators and developers start moving in? I work in a town that has been named poorest city in America. It has also been named most dangerous city in America ("winning" the title from Detroit). A few years ago, there were dozens of vacant homes in the neighborhood near my office. They were selling for about 30K. Investors started grabbing them up. Then the state brought in a redevelopment company and they took over most of the vacant properties, including a couple of totally vacant apartment buildings. Now, less than 5 years later, the apartment buildings have been totally gutted and rebuilt and are fully occupied and the single family homes have been restored and are selling for 60K-70K.

Nothing fundamental changed in the local economy. I wonder if the same thing will be happening in Detroit.

PetMom · #20 (**permalink**) 04-05-2007, 09:34 AM

This is I guess what happens in economic theory when
a city is tied to one industry (car making). All the other
'feeder' businesses suffer when that one starts failing.

I read an article about how some of the upper
management teams of these car manufacturers
would have foreign cars that they would drive -
they were not buying their own cars.

It will be interesting to follow this situation, here in
Dallas there is a big city paid for redevelopment going
on, but that is more in one area.

Economic specializing (for people or cities or countries)
does not work all the time. Diversity helps in the ingo
and outgo (investments).

Moving seniors there looks interesting, but how would
the bus lines be, crime risks, and super cold climate.