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Detroit house auction flops for urban wasteland
Reuters ^ | 1-26-2009 | Editing by Peter Bohan and John O'Callaghan

Posted on 10/26/2009 3:08:48 AM PDT by Westlander

DETROIT (Reuters) - In a crowded ballroom next to a bankrupt casino, what remains of the Detroit property market was being picked over by speculators and mostly discarded.

Taken together, the properties seized by tax collectors for arrears and put up for sale last week represented an area the size of New York's Central Park. Total vacant land in Detroit now occupies an area almost the size of Boston, according to a Detroit Free Press estimate.

(Excerpt) Read more at thefreelibrary.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: auction; detroit; housing; wasteland
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1 posted on 10/26/2009 3:08:49 AM PDT by Westlander
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To: Westlander

Detroit sounds like a great place for a new “Museum of Liberalism” - plenty of exhibits


2 posted on 10/26/2009 3:11:38 AM PDT by silverleaf ("For America today, decline is not a condition. Decline is a choice"- Krauthammer)
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To: silverleaf
It is a monumental failure of liberalism.
3 posted on 10/26/2009 3:15:45 AM PDT by bmwcyle (We need more Joe Wilson's. OBAMA is ACORN ACORN is OBAMA)
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To: bmwcyle

No Problem , just increase taxes, that`ll bring em back in droves .


4 posted on 10/26/2009 3:18:43 AM PDT by Einherjar (PEACE THROUGH SUPERIOR FIREPOWER)
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To: bmwcyle
Detroit:

Brought to you by taxes, regulations, unions, liberal and democrats. Made possible by an ignorant populace too willing to believe the left-wing propaganda served up by a corrupt media.

Coming soon to a city near you.

Enjoy your hope and change Michigan!

5 posted on 10/26/2009 3:21:11 AM PDT by wny
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To: wny

Their governor wants to turn the state green. Soon they can bulldoze the city, except the Tigers ballpark, and plant grass. That will fix Detroit.


6 posted on 10/26/2009 3:38:22 AM PDT by doosee
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To: Westlander

Main problem is that the homes are not worth anywhere near the amount of the annual property taxes.

With high property taxes you don’t actually own the home, you RENT it. Who wants to pay 500 bucks for the privilege of paying endless rent on a dilapidated home in a Mad Maxian blighted urban area!?


7 posted on 10/26/2009 3:47:09 AM PDT by Bobalu (I AM JIM THOMPSON)
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To: silverleaf

Detroit’s west coast branch Los Angeles soon to follow.


8 posted on 10/26/2009 3:51:33 AM PDT by Vaduz
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To: Westlander

You buy one of these properties and you become immediately responsible for whatever taxes the City of Detroit decides to make you pay from that day forward. Unless there is an immediate potential for a money-making rehab, you would have to be crazy to pick up one of these properties.

You buy something for $500, and wind up paying ten times that much in taxes (or more!) in the first year alone. Detroit is not going to turn around on a dime. These properties are going to be worthless for a long, long time.


9 posted on 10/26/2009 3:54:07 AM PDT by Haiku Guy (If You have a Right / To the Service I provide / I must be a Slave)
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To: Bobalu

Bobalu has it right. You aren’t buying one of these houses. You are paying $500 for the priviledge of renting it from the City of Detroit for whatever they decide to charge you in taxes. And you “rent” can be jacked up any time they want.


10 posted on 10/26/2009 3:56:26 AM PDT by Haiku Guy (If You have a Right / To the Service I provide / I must be a Slave)
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To: Haiku Guy

actually, with the headlee amendment, property taxes cannot be raised more that the level of inflation. Than being said, detoilet has the highest property taxes around...


11 posted on 10/26/2009 4:02:02 AM PDT by joe fonebone (I am racist, hear me roar....I don't give a crap anymore....)
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To: Westlander
Critics say the poor showing at the auction underscores the limits of using a market-based system to clean up property tax problems.

Someone is missing the point.

12 posted on 10/26/2009 4:25:00 AM PDT by Loyal Buckeye
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To: Springman; sergeantdave; cyclotic; netmilsmom; RatsDawg; PGalt; FreedomHammer; queenkathy; ...
A picture

If you would like to be added or dropped from the Michigan ping list, please freepmail me.

13 posted on 10/26/2009 4:32:42 AM PDT by grellis (I am Jill's overwhelming sense of disgust.)
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To: bmwcyle

The vast worthless tracts of property are a Monument to Liberalism.


14 posted on 10/26/2009 5:01:58 AM PDT by WaterBoard (Eventually, Socialists run out of other peoples' money to spend.)
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To: doosee

“Their governor wants to turn the state green. Soon they can bulldoze the city, except the Tigers ballpark, and plant grass. That will fix Detroit.”

I was thinking the same thing; bull doze those vacant areas of the city and turn it back into farm land. Left as is, these vacant houses and buildings will become (if not already) crack houses and such. Bull doze them down and use the rubble for highway land fill or some such.


15 posted on 10/26/2009 5:06:00 AM PDT by snoringbear (Government is the Pimp,)
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To: Haiku Guy

Amen.

Anyone not judgment-proof would be an idiot for bidding on anything taxed by liberals/socialists like those in control of Detroit.


16 posted on 10/26/2009 5:06:06 AM PDT by mike-zed
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To: Westlander

If you all have never seen “The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit” click on the link and take the tour. Sad and frightening all at once.
http://detroityes.com/home.htm


17 posted on 10/26/2009 5:08:34 AM PDT by doodad
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To: doodad

looks so much like rochester


18 posted on 10/26/2009 5:27:38 AM PDT by Revelation 911 (How many 100's of 1000's of our servicemen died so we would never bow to a king?" -freeper pnh102)
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To: Haiku Guy
You buy one of these properties and you become immediately responsible for whatever taxes the City of Detroit decides to make you pay from that day forward. Unless there is an immediate potential for a money-making rehab, you would have to be crazy to pick up one of these properties.

You buy something for $500, and wind up paying ten times that much in taxes (or more!) in the first year alone. Detroit is not going to turn around on a dime. These properties are going to be worthless for a long, long time.

This is really an incredible situation, homes with a negative appraised value that still carry a positive property tax value. Where is the city getting their
assessment values from? Aren't they forced by law to
reappraise the whole city's properties every 4-8 years or so based on real market conditions?

19 posted on 10/26/2009 5:48:21 AM PDT by charles1252
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To: doosee
Archaeologists have long speculated why many ancient civilizations have failed and the people abandoned the
areas. Perhaps they should revise their theories to
take in to account the problems our “modern” cities are experiencing; lose of jobs, urban crime, poor schools, political corruption and graft, high taxes, and illegal immigration.
20 posted on 10/26/2009 5:48:21 AM PDT by charles1252
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