$500 Homes in Detroit Not Selling: What’s next, free homes?
by Moe Bedard on October 26, 2009
When foreclosed homes do not sell at auction, the auctioneers lower the price to entice potential home bidders. When the price goes as low as it can go, do they then just give these unsalebale homes away?
My prediction in the next two years is that certain areas of the country such as Detroit, Michigan will actually give homes away to qualified residents who agree to upkeep and work in the communities.
Despite a minimum bid of $500, less than a fifth of the Detroit land was sold after four days.
The county had no estimate of how much was raised by the auction, a second attempt to sell property that had failed to find buyers for the full amount of back taxes in September.
The unsold parcels add to an expanding ghost town within the once-vibrant town known worldwide as the Motor City.
Critics say the poor showing at the auction underscores the limits of using a market-based system to clean up property tax problems. They say the system has enriched a few but failed to deliver a way for Detroit to staunch its dwindling population and could worsen the vacancy crisis.
Would anyone care to speculate on why Detroit is such a hellhole?