Houses in The D (Detroit, Westland: middle-class, for sale, apartments)

[CTownNative]

What do the houses in Detroit look like well kept or sedy?

[RedWingsFan]

Do some research on realtor.com and you will see that most are not kept up at all. There are some that are, but not most. Drive through the city and you will see many half burned down. If you see a home for sale online it doesn't tell you half the story- a third of the homes on the block might be burned down or half burned down. It's a shame what has happened to that city over the decades.

[mike jones]

Many homes in the Woodmont/Grandmont area of Grand River and Southfield are imaculate.
The lawns are well manicured and the properties well maintained.
You would think you are in the burbs.
That is until you drive a 1/2 mile in any direction and see others that are so bad you wonder how folks could live in them.

[CTownNative]

Yeah Im from Cleveland and Im sure its not much different from The D.Theres alot of run down houses there too.

[DMAN]

Originally Posted by CTownNative

What do the houses in Detroit look like well kept or sedy?

OUR HOUSES DO NOT LOOK BAD AT ALL - IT DEPENDS ON CERTAIN AREAS; BUT FOR THE FOREMOST THEY ARE DECENT; MOST OF THE ABANDON HOUSES ARE BEING TORNED DOWN AND THERE ARE A LOT OF NEW HOUSES BEING BUILT.

[DMAN]

It depends on what you are looking for - jobs, well the job market is kind of tight at this morning in certain fields, i.e. Social Work - but the cost of living isn't too bad, keep in mind we have a high foreclosure rate; but we do have several new businesses that are coming to Michigan other that plants, because all of them are either closing/downsizing or merging

[khfar]

Originally Posted by RedWingsFan

Do some research on realtor.com and you will see that most are not kept up at all. There are some that are, but not most. Drive through the city and you will see many half burned down. If you see a home for sale online it doesn't tell you half the story- a third of the homes on the block might be burned down or half burned down. It's a shame what has happened to that city over the decades.

As someone who is about to (reluctantly) move to the Detroit area, I am wondering WHY all of these homes are burned down? Can you give me more information about this? That is SO disturbing. Do people just randomly set homes on fire? WTF?

Thanks for any feedback!

[RedWingsFan]

It has been going on for a long time. The night before Halloween every year in Detroit is called "Devil's Night" and although they have curbed it for the most part, on that night the people who lived there used to set fire to hundreds of houses that night. Then nobody would tear them down, so to this day they still sit half burned down. They finally got some control over devil's night by having hundreds of volunteers raom the streets to try to keep the people from burning down their own city.

But even not on a devil's night there are a lot of fires in Detroit each year and people torch houses. About five years ago my husband's father was living on this one street that we went to go see him at. I stood there and looked around at his neighborhood and about a third of all the homes were either half burned down or in such decay that they should have been tore down and removed. People randomly set fires of the homes. There are a couple of people that try to argue it's the white people from the suburbs doing it. Not a chance. With a city that's 80 percent black there are not white people getting away with running around burning down homes there. They have their own vigilantes...and lots of them.

Detroit is a city that has seen better days... much better...like when my grandmother was born and raised there. But after "white flight" happened (when minorities moved in and white people fled for the suburbs) it's just a mess, a real ghetto. Only some of the downtown area is nice.

If you are moving to the area I would suggest you don't live in the city of Detroit. Move out to one of the nicer suburbs. My family all still live in Troy, it's nice there and consistantly rated one of the safest cities in America. On the other hand, the city of Detroit is consistantly rated one of the top one or two most dangerous cities in America.

If you are not used to segregation you will be in for a shock in the Detroit area. It's THE most segregated major metropolitan area in the country. The city of Detroit is over 80 percent black while most of the suburbs are 80 and even up to 100 percent white. Most blacks live south of eight mile road. And to be honest, they are not welcomed into the nicer suburbs. On the other hand, white people (except for when shelling out money downtown) are not welcomed in the city of Detroit. Most white people don't go to Detroit because it's too dangerous. There has always been a race relations issue there and always will be.

If you read up about the white flight and history of Detroit you will learn why it's in the shape it's in today. I grew up hearing all the stories from my family. Detroit used to be a nice place at one time until they had to head for the hills (suburbs).

[msjbrent]

Like RedWingsFan said Troy as well as other towns in Oakland County are very very nice.

[P. Anthony Allen]

Originally Posted by CTownNative

What do the houses in Detroit look like well kept or sedy?

There are many well kept homes (and nieghborhoods) throughout Detroit. In my opinion there are several factors which have caused blight and overall nieghborhood and community "disfunction" and dispair.

1. Non-caring renters and landlords. (aka; "ghetto-dwellers" and "slumlords")
-There are too many non-caring, mis-educated, confused, ghetto fabulous type people who don't take pride and care in their own living conditions. (this type of behavior crosses all racial lines). The conditions of the nieghborhoods are a direct reflection of the people whom reside within them. (ergo; the schools, public parks, stores and shops, streets and roads, ect...)

2. Artifically inflated property values and property taxes.
-This is an extremely mis-understood concept within the City Of Detroit. The vast majority of home owners in Detroit purchased their home prior to Proposal A of 1994. Proposal A of 1994 superimposed upon the property assessment causing home price's (not value) to skyrocket. Those who sold their homes between the years 1996 and 2002 made huge profits and abruptly fled the city for the suburbs. (Mostly middle-class Blacks) Those who stayed found themselves "refinancing" and "equity borrowing" for home improvements and/or various other reasons. Those who did decide to purchase a home within the city were hit with property tax assessments that, [in many cases, such as mine] were double and in some areas triple the prior owners assessment. (some of these tax bill amounts as high as $10,000 per year on state non-equalized property value of $185,000)

My advise to any one at this time is NOT to buy a home in the City of Detroit unless you recieve a substantial property tax break. Do not buy in Rosedale Park, Sherwood Forest, Palmer Woods, Grandmont or Indian Village. It's very unfortunate that these are the nicest and most beautiful area's of the city, yet they are heavily property taxed burdened. My advice is to buy equally priced (and in many cases cheaper, safer, newer, cleaner, with better city services) homes in Westland, Canton, Belleville or Garden City.

My advice for those nicer area homeowners within the city who are finding it very difficult to sell your home, is to rent the property to single working (gainfully employed) men. The are numerous gainfully employed single individuals living by themselves in expensive suburban apartments. Many of these single/divorced people work within the city limits, don't like the long cummutes, and would enjoy more living space....and they can afford it!!!