Housing

Detroit Is Still Selling $1,000 Homes

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Detroit has thousands of vacant homes to tear down and empty lots to clear. As part of the effort to either renew or level neighborhoods, Detroit continues to offer hundreds of homes at auction for $1,000.

The Detroit Land Bank Authority owns the homes. It claims it has 950 homes for sale. Also, it says it has sold 1,719 recently, although it does not say what “recently” means.

A look at the homes available via Rebuild Detroit shows that almost all are wrecks. Offers can be made before a clock below each home reaches zero. The countdown until the sale (or lack of one) is like eBay.

A typical home is about 1,000 square feet with two or three bedrooms and a bathroom. Many are completely boarded up. All are sold “AS IS, WHERE IS, WITH ALL FAULTS.” Some have potentially expensive repairs, like waterlines to the city’s main lines that have been cut.

The hardest terms of the sale, and most likely the most expensive, are that the home must be completely repaired, and quickly:

Within 150 days of this Agreement, Owner will provide a date by which the property will be completed and occupied, as well as any other proof of substantial proyess, as needed.

Within 180 days of this Agreement. Owner will provide one of the followings proofs of completion and occupancy:
Presale Inspection Certificate of Approval for homes with two or less units
Rental Registration Certificate of Compliance
Certificates of Acceptances for each permit pulled for homes obtaining three or more units or
Presale Report Temporary Occupancy Permit

The management of the program has not bragged about sales levels. Not many people want a home in a blighted area that can require thousands of dollars to repair.


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1 https://www.fdic.gov/national-rates-and-rate-caps

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