Okay, I don’t watch much TV, the advertisements drive me batshit for one thing. Recently, before thumbing the big, fat, turn-it-all-the-hell-off button I did see one that got me thinking, and wondering. It was an old man on a porch, my age maybe, with a young kid and the old man is lamenting how the American Dream of home ownership is, if not dead, drawing its last breath. Well, that may be the case across much of this country but it damn well ain’t the case here in Detroit.
I’m retired. I’m on a fixed income. I have a credit score that makes zero look high. Despite that, I OWN the house I live in. Back in September of last year, I paid 500 USD for this place. Five hundred one dollar bills. Yeah, strange critters were living in it for a year or two or three before I got here. Yeah, it had no furnace, no hot water heater, the copper was gone – electric and water – and someone had ripped out the back wall of the bathroom to get at the cast iron tube but, and that should be BUT, the house was in solid shape, in a neighborhood that is trying to come back, just as much of Detroit is trying to come back.
And I OWN it, lock, stock and barrel, so to speak. My taxes cost me less than 100 USD a month. Try to find a rental at that rate.
At of the writing of this post, I know of at least 5 houses someone could OWN for less than 5000 USD. Nice places, in neighborhoods that are struggling to come back. Yeah, the crime is a bit higher than elsewhere, but not as much as so many believe it to be. And, in neighborhoods like mine, where the people here give a damn, it’s even less.
5000 bucks American! Where the hell else can you be a homeowner for that kind of money?
So why, I wonder, are more folks not pouring in to snatch this opportunity up? Is it the damn racial thing? Are all you White Folks so damn afraid of all the Black Folks? I’m White folk and let me tell you that’s such bullshit. I have a White Folk friend who lives at 30 mile road, about as far from Detroit as you can get. Her house was robbed. By White Folks. WTF?
You want to own a home. I mean OWN it, title in hand? Do you have the skills to fix it up or, have access to Google to find articles that will detail how to do the things you need to do to fix it up? Can you find a job here that will pay you at least minimum wage so you have the money to fix it up? Leave me a comment or an email and I will turn you on to resources that will aid you in your search.
This city is coming back. It will be, as it once was, a great and powerful city. Come back to Detroit or come for the first time. You won’t be sorry.
Write me for more info. And just for the record, I’m not making a dime for this. I just love this battered old city, see so much opportunity here and want others to get their own.
Hey, don’t be afraid. Detroit ain’t nearly as bad as the media makes you think it is. C’mon on down, buy a place, be a part of the rebirth. I’d love to have you as a neighbor.
500 bucks, 5000. I mean, Dude, how you gonna beat that to own your place? A little sweat, a little inconvenience. How hard can that be to actually own a place of your own?
