If you are referring to the Monica Street house, its on the website. At least in the living and dining rooms, it has refinished hardwood.
http://auctions.buildingdetroit.org/...etails/2007334
If you are referring to the Monica Street house, its on the website. At least in the living and dining rooms, it has refinished hardwood.
http://auctions.buildingdetroit.org/...etails/2007334
the rehabbed & ready home auctions begin today...http://auctions.buildingdetroit.org/RehabbedAndReady
good news. I think they should earmark some money to clear out anything and everything abandoned and falling over between connor and alter on the far east side. Then i think the city should look into establishing a fair price for privately owned lots and force the sales by something like immanent domain and find a developer who is willing build from east to west some 250-350K homes. Have private security and allow/pay GPP to expand their patrol area to contain the new development. Would be good for GPP, would be good for Detroit. Would be good for people with some money that work downtown and want to live in the city and near the river
occurs to me that some of that property is probably owned by speculators who look at the fact that its already almost cleared out and close to GP and would stand in the way of redevelopment by asking way too much for the land
It is hard to sell houses by auction on short notice.
I assume a potential buyer would need weeks to get pre-approved, make decisions, etc. etc.
That house, all nicely cleaned up and landscaped looks a 1,000% better. I bet the neighbors are very happy.
Even a few hundred dollars of sod did wonders for the curb appeal.
isnt there some federal grant money that could go into this program? Its a wonderful idea. They're tearing down lots of houses which is necessary but restoring em and filling em with tax contributors is better for everybody. Even if they take a 10K loss on a sale here and there it costs thousands to tear down and dispose of these abandoned places and then they need to be mowed. An empty lot beats an abandoned house but where theres a will and a little bit of money there should be a way. Just think about how many houses we've lost that probably wouldnt have required 60K to restore. Maybe 15 - 30 for updates and a few repairs before the scrappers came in and removed all the plumbing and ripped up the kitchen. Before they became squats and or were left open to the elements.
This is just [[sample size = 1) but you may start to see part of the problem--it cost $60,000 to renovate a home worth $45,000. That didn't include past due taxes or purchase price of the dwelling, which would be costs in a normal transaction.
This is admirable work. Godspeed to them. But this is a large, steep hill to climb.
Agreed, large and steep. But didn't the land bank end up with title because because the taxes were not paid in the first place? You can't stare at a ruin and say "how will we get the money owed to us?" forever, sooner or later you write off the loss and move on. If Gilbert and the Mayor both say people can not get mortgages because there are not enough comps, I believe them. This program is a way to start addressing the problem. Doing something is better than doing nothing, at the very least you learn what will not work. Besides its Gilberts dime and he should know more about the mortgage biz than any of us.
What that buyer will have to do to really get it added as a comp will be to sell it, sadly. Only then will the sale be considered an "arms-length" sale by appraisers.
I 100% agree that the city should be writing off losses and moving on. And yes, doing this is better than doing nothing, for sure.
I'm curious to see how long this thing lasts. Hopefully the owner pays taxes and doesn't lose their house.
The house auctioned today [[on Prairie) sold for $700 more than the starting bid. $56,600 was the winning bid. Two bidders, six total bids.
I think once more people know about it the auctions will be more successful. Regardless, it is a start.
http://auctions.buildingdetroit.org/...etails/2007468
These houses are great deals esp. first time home buyers who don't want to buy a house and have to replace the roof in three years, replace the furnace in two years, remodel the kitchen and bath in five, etc. etc.
The secret to homeownership is not to get killed on remodeling or other big expenses which cost five figures [[e.g., 10 - 20K) leaving the owner 'house poor.'
Hopefully these owners are set for say five years with no big "Harry Homeowner" expenses, and if none, then their housing costs are no more than rent...
Anyone know if its possible that I could donate my house to the program. Only need about $5k-10K to make livable again.
I understand your point but don't most of the other houses on Monica have fair valuations?
I assume these neighborhoods were chosen because the neighborhoods are stable, values are decent, the housing stock is good [['good bones'), etc.
I assume that Gilbert, et al looked at the value of homes in these neighborhoods and asked:
"What would this house sell for if it was in tip top shape?" "How much will it cost to get it in tip top shape?"
The houses are brick and look to be in pretty good shape.
The type of houses which could really benefit by new this and that.
They have two houses for auction right now, both in Crary-St. Mary's. They changed the format and allowed bidding to go on for about a week. Only 20 hours left and neither house has a bid. I was told that Gilbert even sent out an email to all of his employees [[or at least all of the Detroit employees) basically giving a giant sales pitch. And there still aren't any bids.
I do think lack of advertising is a problem.