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| Economy |
| At $188, is this America's cheapest house? |
| 2014-11-08 |
| [USATODAY] Flint, Mich., was one of the hardest hit cities before and during the recession. Once one of the state's largest cities, and a prosperous one when auto production plants were there, it came under the control of an emergency manager, appointed by the governor, during two periods, long before bankrupt, increasingly impoverished, reliably Democrat, Detroit ... ruled by Democrats since 1962. A city whose Golden Age included the Purple Gang... did. While Detroit may be the home of the $1,000 house, one home in Flint is on the market for $188. The house does not have much to recommend it. Located at 2518 Dakota Ave., it only covers 1,225 square feet, which accommodates three bedrooms and a single bath. It sits on a lot of just 5,663 square feet. The house was built in 1928, before the Great Depression. The listing of the house on Realtor.com says it is a: "Fixer Upper Home, Needs lots of work, has major fire damage, seller selling AS IS" If Flint's government could afford it, the house might be a candidate to be bulldozed into the ground to make way for a flat field that might be used for a garden, or for nothing at all. The house sits in a neighborhood with similar homes, just off Michigan's Route 59 and not far from I-475, as if anyone might drive there. Flint's population peaked at over 196,000 in 1960, according to the Census, and fell under 99,000 last year. The median household income in Flint is just above $27,000, compared to the national average of just over $51,000. The economy is so badly broken that the local Flint newspaper, the Flint Journal, is only published three times a week. Most cities battered by the recession and the collapse of the car industry have some chance of coming back. Not so for Flint. According to a Detroit Free Press evaluation of Flint: Thirty years ago, it was the home of 14,000 workers, a sprawling complex of factories that churned out millions of auto parts a day for General Motors Corp. By 2005, the city had almost been destroyed as more and more manufacturing moved away. The number of auto workers has fallen close to zero. Is a house for sale for $188 even imaginable to most Americans? It might be when one around the corner is on the market for $210. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #9 There's one on Pennsylvania Avenue that's worth less. |
| Posted by: gorb 2014-11-08 23:23 |
#8 $188 is still too expensive in some neighborhoods when this sort of thing can happen:Detroit – — A likely gas explosion Friday on the city's southwest side damaged at least eight homes and sparked a blaze that spread to seven others, destroying them, officials said. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2014-11-08 19:15 |
| #7 The Landlord's Game |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2014-11-08 16:55 |
| #6 Better to get Illinois go to jail, do your time and take a shot at Kentucky, and use the jail time as you alibi for the missing $20s from the bank. Nobody thinks to count the $20s anymore. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-11-08 12:27 |
| #5 Lets see, I'll buy Tennessee Avenue and St. James Place for a total of $360.... With prices like these we can play Monopoly for real. |
| Posted by: Neville Brown5379 2014-11-08 11:08 |
| #4 at least the doorbell works in the house for $210. Probably not. I'd bet neither house has a scrap of copper inside, plumbing or wire. I've been to Flint with a brother-in-law who was working to set up community gardens. A lot of abandoned, boarded-up homes, often with a scrawled sign saying No Copper to reduce further scavenger damage. There is already quite a bit of empty space, but as mentioned it needs major work since some of it has been vacant for years. Just cutting through years of grass and weeds to get at the dirt takes a tractor. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2014-11-08 11:08 |
| #3 Oh, a garden, huh. Yeah, gardens still spring up from the ground, no work at all. Sounds like a great neighborhood. I'd have one rifleman for every 3-4 gardeners, increasing as produce comes into fruition. When produce becomes harvestable, overnights in the pill boxes will be necessary, with noise traps and flares if available. This is just for the ferel dogs and hogs. It can take generations for good farmland, gotta get all those clumps of glass and concrete and trash out of the soil so a plow can work easily, and the security to not get jumped or hunted when bent over pulling stuff out of the ground. Gardens. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2014-11-08 09:41 |
| #2 With 5% down and 30 year mortgage the payment is about equal to the stamp on the envelope. But add in taxes and security measures then the cost skyrockets. |
| Posted by: Airandee 2014-11-08 09:14 |
| #1 Is a house for sale for $188 even imaginable to most Americans? It might be when one around the corner is on the market for $210. It is to me, well at least the doorbell works in the house for $210. |
| Posted by: Spanky Thuth2245 2014-11-08 08:28 |