Buying Vintage homes for cheap . . . what's the catch?

[Matt Crunk]

I've recently been looking at vintage homes (1900s through 1940s construction) for sale online, on eBay, craigslist, and other sites, particularly in the Detroit area or within an hours drive. I find many decent looking houses going so cheap that I could afford to pay cash for one. I know unemployment is terrible there and it's buyer's market, but what's the catch? I've taken V-pike tours of many of these addresses and the neighborhoods don't look bad. I mean, it doesn't look like slums of anything. It seems most of these places were bought out of foreclosure, en masse, for a quick flip.

Some of the bathrooms and kitchens in these places look completely original, like they have never been remodeled. Of course they are all fixer-uppers, but at the prices these places are selling for, I could buy two or three, and pay in cash. What's the deal? Can anyone shed some light?

 

[Stearmen]

I would imagine the problem is supply and demand. The houses in that area are just not in demand! I wish I had the same problem! In my city, the historic area is going through the roof, with some of the Victorian houses hitting $500,000 and up. A couple of the half million dollar houses I looked at, would need another $100,000 to bring them back to their full glory. I looked at one for $335,000, and it did not even look Victorian any more, just an ugly stucco box.

 

[jamespowers]

I would imagine the problem is supply and demand. The houses in that area are just not in demand! I wish I had the same problem! In my city, the historic area is going through the roof, with some of the Victorian houses hitting $500,000 and up. A couple of the half million dollar houses I looked at, would need another $100,000 to bring them back to their full glory. I looked at one for $335,000, and it did not even look Victorian any more, just an ugly stucco box.

It is that supply and demand. Whole areas of Detroit have been leveled because no one wants to buy in. I would say run and not walk away because the area may not look like a ghetto but it is.

 

[JonnyO]

I would say run and not walk away because the area may not look like a ghetto but it is.

I must echo this, very high crime rate and a very high arson rate. If you value your life and your home, I would not suggest living in Detroit or the surrounding areas. Luckily, the Downtown area has seen an economic boost, but the unemplyment rate still hovers just below 16%. Detroit has lost over 1 million of its residents over the last 60 years causing the high supply of homes. The crime and other issues have caused the low demand. Detroit was once a great city and its sad to see the state it is in these days.

 

[Stormy]

Does anyone here believe that Detroit will rise from the ashes in the future?

 

[sheeplady]

I've recently been looking at vintage homes (1900s through 1940s construction) for sale online, on eBay, craigslist, and other sites, particularly in the Detroit area or within an hours drive. I find many decent looking houses going so cheap that I could afford to pay cash for one. I know unemployment is terrible there and it's buyer's market, but what's the catch? I've taken V-pike tours of many of these addresses and the neighborhoods don't look bad. I mean, it doesn't look like slums of anything. It seems most of these places were bought out of foreclosure, en masse, for a quick flip.

Some of the bathrooms and kitchens in these places look completely original, like they have never been remodeled. Of course they are all fixer-uppers, but at the prices these places are selling for, I could buy two or three, and pay in cash. What's the deal? Can anyone shed some light?

We have houses here in my city that you can buy for under a thousand dollars. Many under 10,000.

They look decent, but often have been neglected. Neglect to things like the structure doesn't always show up in photographs. They aren't going to show you the rotted beams in the attic. These houses would need new roofs, new heating systems, new plumbing, etc. We're talking $100,000 to $200,000 in renovation, easy.

They are also in the slums. A good way to see if a place is in the slums is check the local police blotter and cross check streets. You want to stay away from any area with shootings, stabbings, home invasions, and arson.

I know a woman who bought a very nice 4 bedroom Victorian for $40,000 three streets away from one of the worst streets in my city. It had been well maintained by the older woman who lived there. Two months after they bought it, a baby/toddler was shot on their street in a gang retaliation. It seriously messed this woman I know up- she was home at the time of the incident and heard everything, including the child's mother's screams. She had to move.

 

[dhermann1]

There ARE many small cities that are in that cycle of economic decline where the property values have gone down the toilet where this is NOT the case, but you really have to pick and choose. I think it's all a question of finding the borderline between good and bad, and between areas that have a chance to rebound and those that don't. Quite a few years ago Allentown, PA became famous for reinventing itself as an outlet store Mecca. Most old towns will not succeed in such attempts, especially in this economic climate. But if you do a lot of homework you might get lucky.

 

[jamespowers]

Does anyone here believe that Detroit will rise from the ashes in the future?

And if you do then I have a bridge to sell you.

 

[jamespowers]

There ARE many small cities that are in that cycle of economic decline where the property values have gone down the toilet where this is NOT the case, but you really have to pick and choose. I think it's all a question of finding the borderline between good and bad, and between areas that have a chance to rebound and those that don't. Quite a few years ago Allentown, PA became famous for reinventing itself as an outlet store Mecca. Most old towns will not succeed in such attempts, especially in this economic climate. But if you do a lot of homework you might get lucky.

True but we are talking Detroit here: Hiroshima was the better investment.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Americans made a collective decision in the seventies or earlier to send all the manufacturing jobs overseas. They are gone and they are not coming back. The result in such powerhouse manufacturing cities as Detroit can be seen today.

Even if manufacturing makes a comeback modern methods mean it will employ about 1/10th or less the workers it did 50 years ago. So unless they come up with something totally new the obsolete cities of the Rust Belt have had it.

Small towns sometimes called Exurbia or Penturbia are a different story.

 

[jamespowers]

Americans made a collective decision in the seventies or earlier to send all the manufacturing jobs overseas. They are gone and they are not coming back. The result in such powerhouse manufacturing cities as Detroit can be seen today.

Even if manufacturing makes a comeback modern methods mean it will employ about 1/10th or less the workers it did 50 years ago. So unless they come up with something totally new the obsolete cities of the Rust Belt have had it.

Small towns sometimes called Exurbia or Penturbia are a different story.

it has less to do with manufacturing and more to do with how a city is run. Detroit spent like they thought the money was going to run out---it did---the people who paid left.... The satellite photo shows the devastation lousy local government wreck as opposed to the city literally across the street:

 

[1930artdeco]

Wow,....I did no tthink that a city could be so ineptly run. There is no way that economics played that much of a role in Detroit's decline. whole neighborhoods a completely gone. But then again I live in Oakland, and it has its share of problems-porobably more than most cities.


Mike

 

[jamespowers]

Wow,....I did no tthink that a city could be so ineptly run. There is no way that economics played that much of a role in Detroit's decline. whole neighborhoods a completely gone. But then again I live in Oakland, and it has its share of problems-porobably more than most cities.


Mike

True. I live right next to Oakland and I can see some ineptness there and, unfortunately, some here too. I hope the result isn't the same. We have changed over from a manufacturing base though they still want to spend like there is no tomorrow......

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Sad to say, California is well on its way to becoming Detroit with palm trees.

 

[jamespowers]

Sad to say, California is well on its way to becoming Detroit with palm trees.

For all of the same reasons.:eusa_doh:

 

[Stanley Doble]

Were you as astonished as I was, to find out that California which is bankrupt, chose to spend billions of dollars on some kind of light rail transit that they know will not work, even though they already have a perfectly good train system?

I understand it is some kind of political payoff? But how do they get away with this kind of thing without being lynched?

 

[jamespowers]

Were you as astonished as I was, to find out that California which is bankrupt, chose to spend billions of dollars on some kind of light rail transit that they know will not work, even though they already have a perfectly good train system?

I understand it is some kind of political payoff? But how do they get away with this kind of thing without being lynched?

I have been on it since the whole stupid train to nowhere was put forward. The High Speed Choo Choo Train is just something put up as payback to the people who are working on it. They get away with it because a majority of people are sheep out here.[video=youtube_share;uQZpb7GZEBs]http://youtu.be/uQZpb7GZEBs[/video]I won't even mention the bridge across the bay that will never open and cost over twice as much as they said it would.

 

[DamianM]

Well its Detroit. Its a dead city.

 

[jamespowers]

Well its Detroit. Its a dead city.

REALLY dead.

 

[sheeplady]

Well its Detroit. Its a dead city.

Well, the good thing is there is a lot of room for improvement if you're that low as a city. If things were random, Detroit would go up. But I think unfortunately, there is still space left between where Detroit is and the absolute bottom. And given past performance... yeah, probably no time soon.