Considering Warrendale

[Enduro]

I grew up in Warrendale and my parents still live in my childhood home there. It pains me to drive the streets I used to play on. Rutland where my grandma used to live is a mess. The streets near the park where I grew up are still trying to hold on as are some of the better streets like Asbury Park south of Warren [[used to love riding my bike under the canopy of majestic trees). The charred ruins of the apartment complex near Spinoza still stands years after the Holiday fire. My dad is constantly calling the city about the empty houses being left open and they do the best they can but it takes forever and in a couple days they're open again. I don't even see the streetwalkers on Warren anymore [[I guess no one has disposable income now). I would try and get as close to Dearborn heights nearest Outer Drive or Ford road as possible and not even look north of Tireman.

[softailrider]

Gosh, the feeling keeps growing that Detroit is doomed. Who or what could manage or even rein in so much destruction? Why pay taxes at all if you would be able to just stay in yor house indefinitely? Does anyone pay taxes anymore? Certainly not the brokers with 100 houses. Not the landlords. And if you do have to give up the property - just fire-bomb it.

If you do you'll be making the banks and mortgage companies very happy. They have at the very least, blanket insurance coverage on what they're owed. Trust me, they would rather have a settelment the Detroit property back that they made a stupid loan on.

[Dexlin]

Check out think link, and type Detroit into the search:

http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/map?hp

I guess the best advice would be to look at all of the neighbrohoods that have lost more than 20% of their population since 2010 [[most of the city), and be very careful if you feel you just have to pick one of those areas. Generally, population loss was less in the northwest and along the river, but other than that everything else is generally in decline.

Despite the decline, Warrendale is holding up better than most, at least south of Warren. I'm not sure how the former Herman Gardens redevelopment will hold up in the long term, but the majority of the development will be owner-occupied housing, so it won't end up being a project. I guess the best thing about Warrendale, and the best thing even if it continues to decline is its location and freeway access, so it'll always have a chance if its every repopulated en masse.

[SWMAP]

I have owned my house free and clear for many years , so there are no other parties involved . Just me and the City. I will continue to pay my taxes because I have an ethical code, but I often spend time on the Wayne County Clerk's site and I note that many, many of my neighbors stopped paying taxes years ago. They can stay in their houses for three years and another year if they promise to pay. Then the County will offer to let them buy the house for $500 if it doesn't sell at auction. And now the vast majority of Detroi homes don't sell at auction [[look it up), so pay $500 and start the cycle again. And if you don't pay, pretty sure nothing happens as too many properties for the County to manage. Or you could just move on and leave the house open.
This is the scenario in SW Detroit now. What is going to happen if 2000 City employers lose their jobs? Who/what will require people to pay their taxes so that the City can ever get on it's feet again? It's like horses out of the barn now.

[corktownyuppie]

I have owned my house free and clear for many years , so there are no other parties involved . Just me and the City. I will continue to pay my taxes because I have an ethical code, but I often spend time on the Wayne County Clerk's site and I note that many, many of my neighbors stopped paying taxes years ago. They can stay in their houses for three years and another year if they promise to pay. Then the County will offer to let them buy the house for $500 if it doesn't sell at auction. And now the vast majority of Detroi homes don't sell at auction [[look it up), so pay $500 and start the cycle again. And if you don't pay, pretty sure nothing happens as too many properties for the County to manage. Or you could just move on and leave the house open.
This is the scenario in SW Detroit now. What is going to happen if 2000 City employers lose their jobs? Who/what will require people to pay their taxes so that the City can ever get on it's feet again? It's like horses out of the barn now.

The system is totally broken. Totally. It's like in Greece...one faction feels entitled to social security at age 55. The other faction thinks they shouldn't have to pay taxes. It's a recipe for disaster.

Detroit will implode and, frankly, the sooner it happens, the sooner we can finally re-draw the whole plan from scratch in a way that actually makes sense. But it sure won't be pretty.