City of Detroit land sales

**marcwigle** · December-03-10, 07:45 PM

Like many of you out there in these forums, I have a special attachment to Detroit... my grandmother and her family moved there from Scotland in the early 1910's. I went by one of the places she lived in last summer and... well, what a wreck. The neighbourhood is probably not as bad as others but I doubt she would be too happy to see what has become of the area.

A couple of years, when I found out that you could buy a lot in Detroit for $300, I wanted to buy a pair for my two daughters and maybe make some money on them 20, 30 or 80 years in the future. When I called the dept that looks after those sales, I was told that you had to build on them within 12 months or you would forfeit the lots. I can somewhat understand their rationale on the idea of speculators moving in and buying up lots in the hopes of making some money but, what the hell, wouldn't it be better having someone owning these lots and receiving some tax revenue rather than just sitting there costing the city?? I realize I'm probably being naiive but I just think that selling land, even to speculators, is better than what's going on now. Hell, they could even hold a giant sale for all of us do-gooders who sincerely want to help and encourage anyone who wants to slap down $300 and own a piece of Detroit to do so. Maybe even make it a stipulation that the lot has to have grass and be kept cut and tidy, giving local kids [[if there are any) a summer job looking after these lots. Maybe the taxes on the land would include maintenance... $200-300 per year?? Just an idea.

OK, I'm waiting for the usual, "what are you nuts??" comments to rain down... be gentle... I'm Canadian.