Forclosure Hell: Houses Selling For $1.
Sure, it needs a little work…and it is in Detroit. But when it last sold for $65,000 a few years ago, it was the nicest house on the block. But now, it has just been sold for $1.00. Yes, you read that right - One Dollar.
So desperate was the bank owner of 8111 Traverse Street to unload the property that it agreed to pay $2,500 in sales commission and another $1,000 bonus for closing the $1 sale; the bank also will pay $500 of the buyer’s closing costs. Throw in back taxes and a water bill, and unloading the house will cost the bank about $10,000.
“It doesn’t make sense in some neighborhoods to keep paying costs and costs,” Colpaert said. “It can make more financial sense to give it away.”
You couldn’t pay me to live there, but even in the worst of neighborhoods, a house for $1.00 WAS unheard of…until now.
You might also like:
Dani | Aug 13, 2008 | Reply
$1 houses aren’t all that new (in this area, at least). About a decade or so ago, the City of Allentown (one of the larger cities in PA) was selling houses in the downtown area for $1 as part of their revitalization program. It came with strings attached — you had a certain amount of time to spruce them up, convert them into single-family dwellings from apartments, etc. — but it was an honest-to-goodness $1 sale.
It didn’t work, unfortunately. That area is worse now than it was then…but it was a cool idea.
david | Aug 13, 2008 | Reply
Interesting Dani, thanks for letting me know it happens elsewhere as well!
jim of Blueprint for Financial Prosperity | Aug 13, 2008 | Reply
That’s unreal…
Scott @ The Passive Dad | Aug 14, 2008 | Reply
One dollar homes are brutal and that’s got to have a huge impact on that neighborhood and local businesses. I wonder how the local government will be impacted by the loss of property tax revenue. Even if it gets paid, how will they assess the home value for 2009 property taxes? Couldn’t be just a buck, could it?
david | Aug 15, 2008 | Reply
Well, they could not be any worse off than when no one owned it, so maybe it will stay really low for a while?
Moolah | Aug 17, 2008 | Reply
One dollar homes, that’s almost as crazy as what I saw in DC. They were having buy one, get the next one free condos. Grant it these condos were located in bad neighborhoods but I can’t believe the housing would get this bad.
Uncommonadvice | Aug 18, 2008 | Reply
I can’t believe this - it just wouldn’t happen in the UK. I take it the bank are just writing off the debt secured against the house?
Secondly, why do the bank not just rent the property out?
Erik | Sep 13, 2008 | Reply
In comment to Scott. Most homes in urban Detroit are empty, and have been in some cases since the 1970’s. Detroit is in such poor shape most if not all of urban Detroit has no trash pickup, among other services offered. It is not like it is really worse off for the hose to be sold for $1 than it is in its present state no?