cheap houses in columbus, oh

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

Here's an article I stumbled upon a little while ago... (It took me a little while to find it again to post it!)

Foreclosure fallout: Houses go for a $1
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...8130360/&imw=Y

Here's another more recent article on this phenomenon...

As Phil has pointed out, there could be an opportunity here, for those who have or who can get the cash to fix these places up...

American Dream Fades
http://blogs.abc.net.au/dispatches/2...can-dream.html

26/09/2008 (Translation: This is the British way of writing dates - they put the day first. So it's 26 Sept., 2008.)

American Dream Fades
By Kim Landers

In "Motor City" Detroit, houses are cheaper than cars.

In fact there are some homes that are cheaper than most things in America; cheaper than a fast food hamburger, cheaper than milk, cheaper than a loaf of bread.

That's because there are some homes in this city selling for just one dollar.

They're among the thousands of homes that have been foreclosed.

Ninety per cent of the approximately 10,000 homes on the market in Detroit have been foreclosed.

There almost 1,700 of these houses on the market in Detroit for less than $10,000. And among them are the homes going for just $1.

Real estate agent Kim Williams tells me that investors are buying these homes at rock bottom prices, doing them up and renting them out. But it'd be a brave investor who'd take on some of these properties.

We step through the front door of one and the smell of urine hits me. This house has been vacant and on the market for almost a year. People have broken in and stripped almost everything out of it. The kitchen cupboards are gone, so too are all the sinks, the plumbing, the hot water system, the furnace and some of the windows. The toilet remains. Not that it's working.

This home is in a tree-lined street in a good neighbourhood. It's what real estate agents call a three-bedroom bungalow. Kim Williams says once it would've sold for about $70,000. Now it's on the market for just under $7,000. She estimates an investor would have to spend about $10,000 fixing it up and then could probably rent it out for about $700 a month.

A short drive away we stop at the house selling for $1. It's in appalling condition. It too has been broken into. Someone has stolen the water metre. Kim Williams tells me it would've been sold for scrap metal. The problem is that when the vandals ripped out the water metre, they broke the pipes and water is now flooding the house. Rubbish floats through the rooms.

Up until yesterday an investor had been going to buy this place for $1. But when he saw the flooding he decided not to go ahead. He was prepared to fix up the house, but the flooding could be affecting the foundations and that's just too much trouble to deal with. He can find another cheap property in Detroit.

Detroit is a city that's been hit hard by the housing foreclosure crisis. But neither it nor the state of Michigan top the list of the worst places for foreclosures anymore. The contagion has now spread to other states like Nevada and California.

In his address to the nation this week, President George W Bush acknowledged that the housing turmoil is the root cause behind America's current economic instability. He's warned that America's "entire economy is in danger" unless the US Congress approves an unprecedented rescue package to allow the Government to buy up the bad assets of shaky financial firms in a bid to keep them from going under.

There's no doubt America's economy is facing an enormous challenge. And for some people here in Detroit who've lost their homes, the door to the American Dream has been closed for now.