Does anyone have any information about 7477 La Salle Boulevard?

[Arabian Antonio]

I came across a lovely property for sale at 7477 La Salle Boulevard, which is a 5,400 square foot house currently on the market for $69,000. I was a bit baffled by the fact that there were only 6 pictures of the outside of the house and not a single one showing the inside. I contacted the listing agent to ask her why this was, and she said that the owners refused to let her photograph the rooms inside. The description mentions that this is a short sale, so I'm guessing that's why the current owners aren't being very cooperative about the pictures. I'm currently in the Middle East and have been looking at houses for sale in Detroit for the past five months. I really love the architectural diversity that exists in every neighborhood. It has been a dream of mine to live in an grand old house, but the historical houses in my native Virginia are few in number and are way out of my price range. In Detroit, I've seen street after street with delightful old houses that I would love to live in as I take a virtual tour on Google maps.

I haven't had much luck dealing with the realtors in Detroit so far. Most of them don't even bother to respond to me, When they find out that I'm not even in the area, those who do respond don't bother to continue dealing with me. I only come home to the US once a year, but I wanted to do as much research as possible before my next trip home. I don't know anything about the La Salle Gardens area, but if you guys could give me some insight, that would be great. The listing agent did tell me that there is some water damage inside this house, but she didn't elaborate. I believe that the tile roof is the original, but as beautiful as it is, it probably needs to be replaced. The property taxes on it are quite a bit lower than most of the houses I've looked at, something like $2,000. Do they go up when someone else buys the house? Thanks!

[Roq]

It's not a great area -- google over to Linwood and look around. Water damage...expensive to fix. You will have to, most likely, put a dump truck full of money into it and hire a someone to watch the place full time.

Detroit is not the place to be an absentee homeowner at all.

If you do come here, look around in person -- it's really the only way to get what you want, where you want.

[Neilr]

Welcome back, Antonio. The house is 2 doors north of former congressperson Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick's home. Here's a link to an earlier discussion of this house and street on DetroitYES.
http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthread.php?5572-Pilfering-Another-La-Salle-Gardens-Tragedy&

And some pictures and discussion on someone's [[not mine) Flicker page.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/southofbloor/6216440294/in/photostream/

I second what Roq wrote in her above post.

[Bigb23]

Thank you for being more eloquent than some posters on this forum, including me. It amazes me how some people, [[Whitehouse), who use English as a second language, do a better job at it than we do.

[[Sorry, if I'm somehow incorrect).

[Arabian Antonio]

Thanks for your comments, Roq! I was guessing that the La Salle Gardens area wasn't all that nice, and now you have confirmed that for me. It's disheartening because there are a few houses in that neighborhood that I really do love. As for being an absentee homeower, I figured that would be a very bad idea. I would still like to visit Detroit sometime next year and take a look around. I look at some of these houses the way that a child would look at a puppy with a hurt leg. I feel the urge to love them and make them better!

[Arabian Antonio]

Thanks for the links, Neil! I had already come across the first one, which I read with great sadness, but the second one is one that I hadn't seen and I found it quite interesting. I see that I'm not the only one who appreciates this grand old house.

I'm getting fairly close to giving up on my idea of buying a house in Detroit. There seems to be so much negativity about the place. I haven't seen houses like these anywhere else in the country in such abundance, so the temptation of living in one is great. But as a great lover of antiques with a large collection, I don't want to end up like Reverend Franklin, being shot as thieves make off with all of my treasures!

[Arabian Antonio]

Thanks for the nice compliment, Bigb23! I'm actually a fellow American, so English is my first language. However, I am an English teacher here in Saudi Arabia, so I guess that's why I'm always so concerned about writing well!

[mwilbert]

I agree with Roq [[and probably everybody else) that being an absentee owner of a house on LaSalle is probably a bad idea, but in my opinion, you probably don't have to worry too much about antiques unless they are made of something that can be melted down or has some other obvious value. My impression is that the people who do robberies in Detroit aren't particularly sophisticated, nor are their buyers.

[313hero]

This home is on the corner of Lasalle & Lamothe. I grew up on Lamothe and am shocked that its for sale. its a vey historical house. Bullet holes from the riots are still in it where the National guard fired upon it. I think it was the home of some hippies or something cant remember. The guy that owned it kept it up pretty good and was always nice. the neighborhood isnt the best. its in the whole Linwood Hood area. the gate is pretty secure and I dont know if he's been a victim of crime or not. its a really nice house however. No Real shopping around but is real close to ALL the freeways, midtown, not far from downtown. Hope I helped, would hate to see that home go under. if the taxes are 6k thats kinda pretty good for the house you get. Aretha Franklins childhood home is on the south corner of the same street. the Kilpatricks are 2 doors down. Its a cool area as long as you stay away from Linwood.