What do you do when the average home in a neighborhood is worth far less than the annual tax bill on it? It's so bizarre, it's rather hard to wrap your brain around. The truth is, Wayne County already took deed over these houses for delinquent taxes, and tried to auction them... No bidders put in any offers, at all... So now what? From the Detroit Free Press.
Ah... The suburbs are a whole different beast from Detroit. It's really a marked difference. My house (while it has depreciated greatly) is still worth a sound amount. If I had to fire-sale move, I'd expect to be able to get $65,000 or more. But I'm in a sound and sane neighborhood. I still have a well-funded fire station less than a mile away, and a well-funded police station less than 2 miles away. Several blocks away is a public elementary school that has full state accreditation and ranks slightly above average in standardized test scores. I have routine trash pickup. It's the houses 10-15 miles north of mine that are worthless. And it's because they have none of these things. And as for hockey (a personal passion of mine...) They're really the Metro Detroit Red Wings. Living in the ring around Detroit are about a million middle-class, working life, hockey-loving families. The Red Wings are responsible for giving Detroit 21,000 visitors 41 nights a year (well, more nights, counting playoffs). [and I suppose the owner selling $5 hot-and-ready pizzas helps fund things, as well.]
