The Huffington Post
| by
Kate Abbey-Lambertz
Posted:
Want to buy an incredibly cheap house in Detroit? You're in luck -- just make sure you read the fine print first.
A new program introduced by Mayor Mike Duggan Monday addresses one of Detroit's largest problems -- thousands of vacant and blighted houses -- by auctioning off some of the nicest ones to people who want to live in a Detroit neighborhood. (Scroll down to see a a slideshow of the properties.)
The Detroit Land Bank Authority's Building Detroit auction site initially lists several city-owned homes in East English Village, a residential neighborhood on Detroit's east side, with starting bids of $1,000 each. The auction for each property will last one day only, with staggered dates in May.
The catch? Unlike the thousands of properties in the county's foreclosure auction each summer, a winning bidder in the Building Detroit auction must agree to bring the home up to code within six months, and then actually live in it.
Almost every listing in the auction looks like a steal for a grand, at least from the outside. But Building Detroit is up-front about possible costs new owners might incur, and some houses need extensive repairs. The new auction will also have open houses for the properties on April 27, unlike the summer auction, in which houses must be bought without knowing what's inside (or what's been stripped by scrappers).
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A new program introduced by Mayor Mike Duggan Monday addresses one of Detroit's largest problems -- thousands of vacant and blighted houses -- by auctioning off some of the nicest ones to people who want to live in a Detroit neighborhood. (Scroll down to see a a slideshow of the properties.)
The Detroit Land Bank Authority's Building Detroit auction site initially lists several city-owned homes in East English Village, a residential neighborhood on Detroit's east side, with starting bids of $1,000 each. The auction for each property will last one day only, with staggered dates in May.
The catch? Unlike the thousands of properties in the county's foreclosure auction each summer, a winning bidder in the Building Detroit auction must agree to bring the home up to code within six months, and then actually live in it.
Almost every listing in the auction looks like a steal for a grand, at least from the outside. But Building Detroit is up-front about possible costs new owners might incur, and some houses need extensive repairs. The new auction will also have open houses for the properties on April 27, unlike the summer auction, in which houses must be bought without knowing what's inside (or what's been stripped by scrappers).
Read More
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