US News Fire sale in Gary, Indiana: Homes for $1

[The Helper]

The city of Gary, Ind., is running a real estate fire sale: A dozen homes for $1 each.

The catch: "They need work," said Gary's mayor, Karen Freeman-Wilson. "It's up to the homeowners to provide the sweat equity."

The city bought the homes at county tax sales after owners fell behind on property taxes, and the sale is part of a neighborhood stabilization effort underway in the University Park section.

The program was announced in June and quickly drew interest from more than 400 potential buyers.

Fire sale in Gary, Indiana: Homes for $1

The city of Gary, Ind., is running a real estate fire sale: A dozen homes for $1 each.

money.cnn.com

 

[iPeez]

No matter how shabby those houses are, 1$-homes is a great deal!

 

[The Helper]

I think this town is a lot like Detroit except in Indiana.

 

[Accname]

Times are looking grim for those people over there.
And I thought its really fucked up in greece right now.

 

[KMilz]

It's actually a pretty cool idea - the town bought the houses and are selling them for $1 only to local residents with the means to fix them up. The people that move in have to live there for at least 5 years, otherwise they lose the deed/title. This way, they're helping out their residents and, in turn, they're raising the value of the town substantially by having people fix the houses out of their own pockets. Seems like a win-win deal to me.

 

[camelCase]

I'm not falling for that again. I ain't buying that shit.

 

[FireCat]

Such a crap house! Just saying.

 

[mushroom911]

So I have this plan, right - I buy 4 adjacent plots, level the houses and build a mansion 4 plots in length.

 

[The Helper]

I wonder if they have been gutted for their copper?

 

[Bloodcount]

I remember the catches from the previous thread. Just wondering: Isn't there a way to "donate" the house to the government ? I mean, these people want to get rid of the property. A dollar won't get them anywhere, so why not just donate it or something?

 

[Accname]

I remember the catches from the previous thread. Just wondering: Isn't there a way to "donate" the house to the government ? I mean, these people want to get rid of the property. A dollar won't get them anywhere, so why not just donate it or something?

Whats the government supposed to do with these? The government is broke, the debt is going through the roof. Run down houses are hardly what they need right now.

 

[Bloodcount]

Yeah, but the government doesn't have to pay taxes right ? (I might be mistaken) The people who currently own them do. This means that if they can give it to the government they don't have to pay the taxes and therefore have some more money. That's what I was implying, not really sure if it will make things for the better/worse.

 

[Accname]

The government needs taxes right now. In a situation like this every tax payer lost is a blow to the country.

 

[camelCase]

Good thing Americans are so fat, makes it hard to evade tax collectors.