Nicole Curtis is back in Town

[jcole]

It was intimated. Someone said "Does she actually "construct" anything, or just prance around in Daisey Dukes and tight t-shirts?" and then that pic was posted. I was clarifying that it wasn't her

I don't believe anyone said the blonde in post 35 was her.

[CassTechGrad]

Highland Park is so beautiful, people need to start moving there and doing more of these renovations. The place is a true gem.

So way aren't you moving there?????????? [[You go first...No you go first....No you go first)

[Satiricalivory]

So way aren't you moving there?????????? [[You go first...No you go first....No you go first)

I would gladly live there but I'm not in the position to do so and don't have the opportunity.

[Meddle]

Interesting little tidbit:

Detroit Mayor: HGTV's Curtis Was 'Scammed' in House Deal

The mayor of Detroit says the star of HGTV’s “Rehab Addict Rescue” apparently was “scammed” when she bought a blighted Detroit home from someone who wasn’t the owner.

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/artic...-in-house-deal

[Danny]

Nicole Curtis paid the former owners about $17,000 illegally to buy the home in E. Grand Blvd. So she can't sue the Detroit Land Bank for their mess. She would have to go after the owners who stole her money.

Caveat Emptor!

[hybridy]

She was purchasing on the down low to avoid recognition/price gouging through the previous owner who had lost possession of the house back to the Land Bank. It is unfortunate she was conned, but that's not the fault of the Land Bank.

This is the purpose of title insurance.

[Satiricalivory]

She knows it's not the land bank's faults, shes using her position as a public figure to try and shame the land bank through media into paying the cost for her and that's bullshit.

Also she can stop acting like these houses are a charity case. Islandview is a hot neighborhood and any renovations there sell for a pretty penny. This home already has like 8 other people trying to buy it.

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

I hope they can come to an arrangement. I’m not sure the Land Bank should be profiting from Nicole’s work. The house would have been rotting for several years without her, and the Land Bank would have a property worth less as a result.

[Hypestyles]

hmm.. I never watched the show. house rehab shows are kind of hit and miss with me.
I'm curious about her vetting process. "Anybody" can get scammed of course, but with her high profile reputation, I'd have figured her attorneys investigated everything before any deals were struck. [[Maybe they did?)

[Gistok]

It sounds to me like they didn't go thru a Title Company. A title search would find red flags, such as delinquent taxes, property liens, etc., and if there were issues overlooked, the title company has insurance to cover such items for the prospective buyer.

[ABetterDetroit]

It is a shame that this situation happened to Ms. Curtis but I also agree that the city or land bank is not at fault in this case. Nicole knows what title insurance is and what the risks are in a quitclaim deed. She made the decision no doubt for economic reasons to keep her cost down on the property and now unfortunately has to pay the price for cutting the corner on the insurance. The land bank certainly can not make any special exceptions because of who she is.

[Dumpling]

For those who don't live within the City of Detroit, "Land Bank
House" is short for a house that up until recently, had overgrown
brush taller than the house itself and was used as a garbage
dump site. If the dump site was reported on the Improve
Detroit app, the garbage would still not be picked up by the city
workers if the garbage was somewhere other than on the front
berm. [[Credit where credit is due though, it would be cleaned
up mostly if it were on the front berm AND it was reported
on the Improve Detroit app but not if it wasn't.)

The Land Bank provided minimal care for most of its
properties. There were some things that were done
after neighbors complained, such as cutting down
trees that posed an immediate hazard, but in general, the
worst houses on the block, the ones that previously had
owners with subprime mortgages with eleven percent
interest who lost their jobs in the Great Recession, ended
up in the Land Bank once the owners were evicted, and
they got worse from there. Ms. Curtis should get some
credit for her ATTEMPT to keep the house out of the
Land Bank.

Things are now just a bit different for Land Bank houses;
thanks to Proposition N, $23,000 of Voter Approved Tax
Money over thirty years will be lavished on the average
Land Bank House which is of course not much over thirty
years but it's more than before.

Ms. Curtis presumably provided value for her neighbors
by keeping squatters out and taking care of the basic
landscaping of the property. A blighted property takes
the value of neighboring houses down by some $7,500
or so [[to be sure the entire housing stock of Detroit is
at "blighted" value currently which offsets the high tax
rate nicely). It should count for some kind of monetary
compensation in the manner of a lien. Further, any taxes
Ms. Curtis paid for the property should be refunded to her
if the house was never in her possession as according to
the law.

Recently the Michigan Supreme Court has not looked kindly on
excessive property tax collection, and this could be to Ms.
Curtis' advantage in claiming that a total tax refund is due.

https://www.michiganradio.org/post/m...%20Rafaeli%20v.

[Danny]

It's not the land bank's fault the Ms. Curtis was duped. It's those two hornswoggle former owners. Ms. Curtis should find them as sue them all.

[Hamtragedy]

Just my 2 cents

Wonder if she pulled any permits for this one. I mean she's been doing demo for a couple years now [[and technically that needs a permit). Not like she's been timely pulling permits on previous projects [[Campbell house didn't pull any until the city saw the show and probably made her tear out any new walls to expose wiring and or plumbing, which is standard procedure). And the city nearly shut-down the Ransom Gilles mansion because none were pulled there either in a timely manner.

Seems like in this case she could potentially validate her claim for materials and labor had she done so. But no one else pulls permits in the city either, but she's so high profile it seems like she would at least do that.

[sirrealone]

You don't want to see someone get special treatment for their celebrity, but at the same time, she'd be a good ambassador for the neighborhoods of Detroit that could use exactly the type of positive PR boost that she could bring.

A lot of people say they want to do good, and it turns out to be just lip service. Seems you have someone who genuinely wants to follow through on that.

[jcole]

On the news last night, she said she paid all liens on the property, back taxes, water bills, etc and the city never demurred and said, wait you don't own that property; they gladly took her money

[Seven&wyo]

On the news last night, she said she paid all liens on the property, back taxes, water bills, etc and the city never demurred and said, wait you don't own that property; they gladly took her money

Yes because, as we all know, all the branches of government talk to each other and operate as a well oiled machine.

[jcole]

"Curtis said she was able to get the house’s deed from the county when she bought it."The DLB failed to register the deed, so when I bought the house I was able to get the deed with Wayne County," she said. "Two choices -- pay me back money we paid or let’s find a way to have the house back."
The house is now up for sale by the Detroit Land Bank.


Curtis said the lawsuit was a last resort because she would rather spend time and money improving neighborhoods.
"We cleared the city of any debts they had on this property. We paid back taxes, we paid the nuisance abatement, so essentially everything that the Detroit Land Bank goes after a property owner to take care of, we did that for the city," she said. "The city has no skin in this game.""

[jcole]

^^^^So they were more than happy to take her money, and then put the property up for sale so THEY can make more on it.

[ndavies]

The land bank didn't take her money. The people who used to own the property scammed her. She needs to go after the people who sold her a home they didn't own. Those people knew they had lost the home. The landbank had originally sued them to get ownership.

Trial goes to court on Monday. It goes in front of the same judge that has already ruled twice against her.

[jcole]

She paid off all the liens and now the Landbank is trying to see the property; shouldn't they at least pay her back for what she covered for them?

[ndavies]

The land bank clears liens as part of it's job. They are the ones clearing all these lien filled properties. Why would they pay for that when they are the agency that normally does that. She's an idiot if she paid liens that were already cleared by the land bank.

The land bank doesn't pay liens. They take them to court and quiet title them.

[Danny]

The land bank didn't take her money. The people who used to own the property scammed her. She needs to go after the people who sold her a home they didn't own. Those people knew they had lost the home. The landbank had originally sued them to get ownership.

Trial goes to court on Monday. It goes in front of the same judge that has already ruled twice against her.

I agree with you. The Detroit Land Bank can even show the hardcore evidence if Mr. Curtis takes them to court.

[Seven&wyo]

^^^^So they were more than happy to take her money, and then put the property up for sale so THEY can make more on it.

Yeah man I’m sure the city gives a shit about 1 home out of the thousands they have sitting vacant for a couple of $10,000 it might make off a home. It’s all a conspiracy, huh?

[Danny]

^^^^So they were more than happy to take her money, and then put the property up for sale so THEY can make more on it.

The Detroit Land Bank did nothing of the sort. Ms. Curtis illegally brought the home for former duped Detroit homeowners. So the East Grand Bvld. home belongs to City of Detroit legally. She would have to buy the house legally from them. And go after the hornswaggle former owners for taken her money.

If was a lawyer for the Detroit Land Bank. Based on their hard core evidence that D.L.B. foreclosed the property from the irresponsible former homeowners. The home belongs to them. And Ms. Curtis already lost the home.


Ms. Curtis should have known better to check out who officially owns the home before she buy:

1. Check the homeowner and their deed documentation.

2. Check the real estate company and their deed documentation.

3. Check the City's land bank and their deed documentation.


You're in the real estate business Mr. Curtis not the 'Tool Time' show.