John Pasalis in Real Estate Trends
Photo from the Zillow Blog
The Detroit News reports that a Detroit home recently went on the market for $1 and sold, 19 days later for full price. The home at 8111 Traverse St sold for $65,000 in November 2006 and according to neighbours was the nicest house on the block at the time.
So how does a house go from $65,000 to $1 in under two years? The subprime problems in the US had something to do with it but the neighbours appear to have played a major part as well. From the Detroit News article:
But the home was foreclosed last summer, and it wasn't long until "the vultures closed in," Upshaw said. "The siding was the first to go. Then they took the fence. Then they broke in and took everything else."
Scrappers tore out the copper plumbing, the furnace and the light fixtures, taking everything of value, including the kitchen sink.
The author of the Detroit News article Ron French had this to add on the Zillow Blog:
Ron said it’s fairly typical to see this type of thing in bad neighborhoods in Detroit, but it’s becoming more common to see it happening in nicer neighborhoods. “As soon as they know it’s empty, it’s like a gazelle limping in the Serengeti — they will take it down. You will see people pushing a wheelbarrow down the street, full of siding or copper. They take everything.”
Browse more photos of the home on the Zillow Blog and check out a street level view here.
John Pasalis is a sales associate at Prudential Properties Plus in Toronto and a founder of Realosophy. Email John
August 19, 2008
Market |