shall I buy a house in detroit for less than $10,000? (Warren: for sale, real estate market)

[wfmelamin]

I have been following this forum lately, and I've had a look at the realestate market in detroit, THE CHEAPEST SPOT ON EARTH. So I was wondering, if one has $10,000 what are the chances of making a loss/profit? I mean could a 4 bedroom house, 5 miles from downtown anywhere on earth cost less than this? Questions one wants answered, will detroit get worse or improve in 5-10yrs? Home prices have fallen from around 100,000+ to 10,000 a 90% drop. What are the rent prospects i.e. returns on investment? I'm looking at the issue only as an investment, any ideas??

[and the]

You might make some money on it as a rental. I wouldn't count on flipping it for a profit any time soon though.

[wfmelamin]

thanks And The;

with this significant drop in population, are there any tenants left? The cheapest homes are located north of Wayne University, is there a reason for that area to be so cheap?

[and the]

Like what streets by WSU? With all the foreclosures, there are renters in Detroit, but they have a lot of choices of where to go. By the time you fixed the house up to standards, it might not be worth it. And if you had a house sitting vacant around there, your copper plumbing will disappear, sinks, air conditioner, furnace and they'll finish by stripping the aluminum siding. There are lots of houses available in better areas. I know of one you could pick up for less than 16,000.00 but it needs to be really gone through. It's structurally sound, but it needs a new furnace, paint, flooring and probably a bathroom. An old guy was living there and never cleaned. I think it's on Abington, just south of Warren. If it's not on Abington, it's on another street right around there, just south of Warren Ave. in the Warrendale area.

[wfmelamin]

I was looking at Zip 48202 north of edsel ford fwy. South of Davison Fwy, west of chrysler fwy, and east of John lodge freeway. Prices there for brick homes are at average less than 10,000. (I don't know the name of the area). But wouldn't it be easy to get students to rent rooms in a house there?? I'm quite surprised that most houses for sale don't have any plumbing So I have to factor that in the total cost, in addition to refurbishing the house.

[and the]

That area goes block by block. I don't think any of the houses you can get for ten grand are going to be on a very livable block. But you can pick this one up for only $850,000.00!! I bet if you made them an offer, they'd take $840,000.00. There's no doubt you can get a lot of house for your money in that area. Houses that were built by craftsmen to last forever, but....Living in the city got old for me pretty quick.


If you end up there, let me know and I'll met you for a beer at the Ramp Room, if it's still there. We used to have a ball at that place. I think security is pretty important to students. I really don't know where they live around Wayne other than on or close to campus. It's largely a commuter school I think. I didn't mean to imply that most houses for sale don't have plumbing, but you can bet that if they're vacant for very long, they're vulnerable to losing their fixtures in certain neighborhoods. Especially those old Arts and Crafts houses with the nice glass, doors, windows...radiators.....

[Cato the Elder]

All the students I know who live in off-campus housing reside in the are bounded by I-94, I-75, Warren, and the Lodge. If you want to speculate beyond this area, I would look immediately south of Warren before looking north of I-94. For one, WSU is starting to push south towards downtown. Not only does this area have the best chance of improving since it's sandwiched between the two nicest areas of the city, but highways tend to be boundaries, even when below grade. If you want to look north of I-94, I would stay south of Grand Blvd if you want any hope of attracting students in the near future.

[Huckleberry3911948]

Originally Posted by wfmelamin

I have been following this forum lately, and I've had a look at the realestate market in detroit, THE CHEAPEST SPOT ON EARTH. So I was wondering, if one has $10,000 what are the chances of making a loss/profit? I mean could a 4 bedroom house, 5 miles from downtown anywhere on earth cost less than this? Questions one wants answered, will detroit get worse or improve in 5-10yrs? Home prices have fallen from around 100,000+ to 10,000 a 90% drop. What are the rent prospects i.e. returns on investment? I'm looking at the issue only as an investment, any ideas??

i can bid on a house in jackson ms for 4,600.
but that is not final bid. 10k is in fact l owe. detroit has a lot of crime.
jackson is not disneyland either.
stephen s
san diego

[HeleenieWeenie]

Originally Posted by and the

That area goes block by block. I don't think any of the houses you can get for ten grand are going to be on a very livable block. But you can pick this one up for only $850,000.00!! I bet if you made them an offer, they'd take $840,000.00. There's no doubt you can get a lot of house for your money in that area. Houses that were built by craftsmen to last forever, but....Living in the city got old for me pretty quick.


If you end up there, let me know and I'll met you for a beer at the Ramp Room, if it's still there. We used to have a ball at that place. I think security is pretty important to students. I really don't know where they live around Wayne other than on or close to campus. It's largely a commuter school I think. I didn't mean to imply that most houses for sale don't have plumbing, but you can bet that if they're vacant for very long, they're vulnerable to losing their fixtures in certain neighborhoods. Especially those old Arts and Crafts houses with the nice glass, doors, windows...radiators.....

Isn't that particular home in Indian Village, or on Boston Blvd. LaSalle, or Chicago Blvd....gotta be; because it is NOT indicative of the usual homes in Detroit, that one is special, thats for sure. Most likely surrounded (in back, front) by streets that are crummy, with aban homes surrounding it. Lovely place, pick it up and plop it somewhere it deserves to be! Not wasted on Dead Detroit.
I walked away from a 1912 brick colonial on East Grand Blvd...due to the zip code...NOBODY WOULD BUY it...real estate market was redlining, as usual, 3,200 sq. ft. duplex, I couldn't get $80,000 for it, shame, sad shame.

[HeleenieWeenie]

They dont have plumbing is the HINT, right there; the crackheads, scavengers have come in and stripped it, its probably in Highland Park area, N.W. Detroit is dead, slummy, and horrendously infested with dopehouses, aban, stripped homes of copper, alum siding etc. That tells you what the neighborhood is like. Go to class/work, come home; EVERYTHING HAS BEEN STOLEN. Fact, not fiction. You could't afford the security bars on windows alone. They will pop off the Armour-Gard steel doors, and then go in taking everything that IS NAILED DOWN, pry it up & off they go!