By Justin on January 29th, 2009, 11:43 pm 6 Comments

This came up in the Border Culture class today and I had to post it.

$1 homes in Detroit.

Tagged: context crisis Detroit housing market

Related Posts: Floating Bikes: New Detroit River Crossing? Turning Crisis into Opportunity Detroit UnReal Estate Community Lab

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6 Responses to “Detroit Housing Crisis – $1 Homes”

1. jodi says:

   January 30, 2009 at 4:29 pm

   The news anchor’s facial expressions throughout this interview add a whole other distressing dimension to this story; her false incredulity is pretty smarmy and says a lot about the biases Fox News, and the people to whom they’re speaking, have against Detroit. Against inner-city living in general, I guess. Her little joke about making a twenty-five cent offer on the house, followed by her lame attempt to diminish the insensitivity of that joke (“it’s sad, really” while still grinning) is sickening.

   Reply
2. Tom Lucier says:

   February 1, 2009 at 4:26 am

   All that Fox News stuff aside…
   I have been trying to tell people (brother in law and other family members) that houses are selling for under $1500 and they look at me like I’m Little Richard.

   This idea of neighbourhoods never coming back is a real concern, or not. I think they’ll come back as other, more USEFUL things, like community gardens, etc. It makes too much sense not to buy this land cheap and use it for something useful.

   Reply
   • Justin says:

     February 1, 2009 at 9:50 am

     Tom, you make a really good point about new uses for these properties! I read an article by Andrew Herscher from Detroit Unreal Estate Agency in Volume that suggested a shift from thinking about the value of these properties from capitalistic to alternative. Herscher argues that, “What usually appears to be the ‘ruin’ of the city thus becomes projective or potential.” So, you’re completely right Tom, neighbourhoods never coming back isn’t really the thing we should be concerned about, instead, it’s learning to be comfortable with shifting how we place value on these properties.

     Reply
3. I’ll Buy That For A Dollar! « Here Be Dragons says:

   February 1, 2009 at 4:35 am

   [...] City Lab have the video proof on their site, and you NEED to watch it if you don’t believe. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO! [...]

   Reply
4. steve green says:

   February 17, 2009 at 1:56 pm

   Has anyone from Canada tried to buy any of these properties? What has the experience been like? Is it even possible? Love to hear from anyone.

   Reply
   • Justin says:

     February 17, 2009 at 9:06 pm

     This conversation has definitely come up. From what I’ve heard, the property tax is (surprisingly) kind of expensive in Detroit. As well, I’m not entirely sure what it means for a Canadian resident to own property in Michigan. I think it’s doable, but might be best to think about getting a group to go in on it together.

     Reply