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 ...
“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 thought that’s what a title search is all about, so you weren’t assuming someone else’s debt.
It should have been. It also is public record. So I don’t see how she could claim ignorance. At least the article does not mention an HOA and dues for that as well.
You nailed it. Those Michigan cities should wipe the slate clean and declare a ten year Tax Holiday to entice people to move in and renovate those homes. And start rebuilding the local economies.
It said she was unemployed but didn't state when she lost her job. She may have been working at the time she bought it.....and to her credit, she paid cash for it.
It's quite likely that when she purchased the property from the city, they never informed her of the back taxes that were due on it and then she subsequently lost her job.
How in the world would she be better off paying rent as opposed to OWNING a home outright for just $6,000????
The crime here is a property tax rate of 141%!!!!
The sick kid be bring’en in dat govment money! That check every month and ebts be phat!
Folks on my dad’s side sold out before the riots.
Just in time.
“I dont see how she could claim ignorance.”
Forget it lastchance...........it’s Detroit. :)
Let’s see, she’s had a hard time finding consistent work since 2005, but she bought the house in 2010. And the sick daughter is 8, so born in 2006-7, also after the financial troubles began. No mention of ages of other two children, but I’m betting they’re younger than the 8YO. She is now pregnant with child #4. No mention of husband or kid’s dad. I think I’m seeing a pattern here...
Way down in the article, Gresham’s tax is $2000 per year for that house in that neighborhood.
And what is produced for it? More robbery, with the robbers calling everyone else trash from both sides of politics.
How could I have forgotten? Dear me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.