Posted on 03/11/2015 10:36:56 AM PDT by rickmichaels
Cindy Gresham paid US$6,000 cash in 2010 for her Tudor-style house on Detroits west side for herself and three children. Now she probably will lose the home, which came with a surprise US$8,586 unpaid tax bill that has since tripled.
The brick home is among about 52,000 Detroit properties the city may seize for unpaid taxes on March 31, including as many as a fifth of all occupied homes. Gresham was one of 5,000 homeowners at the citys Cobo Convention Center last month trying to negotiate payment arrangements for tax balances that are eclipsing the areas depressed property values.
The bills keep piling up you can never get caught up, said Gresham, an unemployed auto worker whose 8-year-old daughter who needs surgery twice a month for a respiratory illness. An investor can buy it, but its worth way more to me because I need this home for my kids.
Detroit has emerged from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history with new leadership, a downtown restocked with young professionals and a public relations slogan: Americas Great Comeback City. While the city core, nestled alongside the Detroit River, is coming alive with corporate workers, foodie hangouts and hipster bars, the nascent renaissance is largely invisible where 95% of the population lives.
(Excerpt) Read more at business.financialpost.com ...
Detroit: Taxing themselves into prosperity since January 1, 1974!
News Flash! EVERYBODY LEFT FOR A DARNED GOOD REASON!
“8-year-old daughter who needs surgery twice a month for a respiratory illness.”
Surgery twice a month? Every month? Never heard of that before.
Actually smart money is doing fine in Detroit, great in fact. On the other hand the neighborhoods toward the outer edges of the city are a mess and will continue to be till the people stop waiting for someone to save them.
This Gresham woman is in a situation largely of her own creation. No one can blame her for her sick child but what kind of genius says “I’m unemployed, I should buy a house”?
She would have been a lot better off renting and letting the owner worry about his taxes.
The city is more interested in major property brokers buying up huge chunks of real estate, and negotiating settlements on back taxes, than they are in selling off property all piecemeal.
Detroit, like most of the bankrupt cities in Michigan, are looking for one silver bullet to cure all of their financial woes. That will never happen. Flint, Pontiac, Saginaw, Muskegon, Battle Creek, Jackson, and Detroit will continue to be industrial wastelands until they realize that they need people more than people need them.
“No one can blame her for her sick child but what kind of genius says Im unemployed, I should buy a house
Some of the article comments indicate she is basically living there for $100 a month which is probably better than any rent rate she could get. I wonder why she is being taxed at such a high value on the property, $160,000 iirc, no way a property should be taxed like that when market value is no where close.
If you can’t afford to pay $6,000 for a house plus $8,600 in back taxes maybe you shouldn’t be buying a house. Why on Earth would someone who is unemployed think they could afford to buy a house in the first place?
Real estate taxes are a wealth tax, usually below 5%/yr.
But Mayah Young said casinos would fix everything....
One likely explanation: recurrent respiratory papillomatosis
Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) is a disease caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). Warty growths in the upper airway may cause significant airway obstruction or voice change. RRP has a bimodal age distribution and manifests most commonly in children younger than 5 years
Laryngeal papillomatosis is the same virus, different part of the throat affected.
In short, mom had HPV, passed it on to kid, the kid needs to have warts removed every few weeks so it doesn’t block the airways.
The guy who had the Guiness world record for surgeries done on him had to have this done every month or so from age 2 until his late 80s.
Typical DemocRAT stupidity. Waive the unpaid tax reassess the property fairly and have it back in service
Taxes, taxes, taxes.
You make it, we take it. :)
Truthfully - she shouldn’t mind paying a little more so that the less fortunate can have something right? :)
so she fails to perform even rudimentary research on the property before shelling out cash for it...couldn’t even mosey down to city hall and look at the tax records???
so whine that you got schnookered?
Wow. Thanks for the info, I’ve never heard that. What a pain (no pun intended).
When she bought the house she also became responsible for any past due taxes and any unpaid liens on the property. This should have been disclosed to her at closing. I imagine she figured a payment due notice would never show up.
Dude, you need to warn a guy before posting a pic like that. ICK
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