2 ms·

I'm not the most qualified to comment on this but I'll offer what I can: In the city proper, I don't know that the 'old folks' thing will work well. The old fo

by detst 16y ago

I'm not the most qualified to comment on this but I'll offer what I can: In the city proper, I don't know that the 'old folks' thing will work well. The old folks still in Detroit in decent neighborhoods will not be areas with the cheap houses you are looking for (yes, there are some really nice areas in the city). The others probably left for nice areas outside of the city. You'll probably want to look where the current wave of young people are moving to. I really don't know what these areas are but I'm sure you can look some up. Midtown, with Wayne State University and the Detroit Medical Center, is probably a good area. Don't know too much about it but Tech Town[1] is at WSU. They are offering incentives to get employees to move and live in Midtown. I don't know that you'll find any super cheap housing there. You could also look somewhere like Ferndale. It's just on the other side of 8 mile and maybe a 10-15 minute drive from downtown. You won't find the super-cheap $300 houses but you can find a really good deal. It's a nice, young, liberal town just on the border. It's also next to Royal Oak, a little more expensive area where you'll find a lot of young professionals. So that covers centrally located, safe and cheap, not super-cheap, but also not in Detroit proper, which also means lower taxes (as far as I understand). I guess it all depends on your motivation. Finding something super cheap, centrally located and safe will probably be difficult. [1] http://techtownwsu.org/ http://techtownwsu.org/

SwellJoe 16y ago
"In the city proper, I don't know that the 'old folks' thing will work well. The old folks still in Detroit in decent neighborhoods will not be areas with the cheap houses you are looking for (yes, there are some really nice areas in the city)." I don't mean "old, rich folks". East Austin was poor, mostly black and hispanic, and crime-ridden for decades before a resurgence began in the early 00s. But, a lot of the residents are still old folks who've lived through the whole process of decline and rebirth. Houston experienced white flight, and then began to recover in some of the older neighborhoods surrounding downtown (as far as I know downtown Houston is still a graveyard at night, and may not be fixable because there is no housing, the ground level streets are non-porous and have no shopping or nightlife). Same story, lots of older home owners that never left; their kids were grown when white flight happened, so they didn't feel as compelled to follow the good schools or were too poor to move or just didn't want to leave their home and stubbornly stuck around. But, the rest of your answer is awesome, and is exactly what I was looking for. I don't actually need a house to cost $1 to consider it a good deal. But, it would take a really good price to get me to buy property in a place with weather as bad as Detroit. Hell, the place is unlivably cold six months out of the year, as far as this Texan is concerned. But, I'd consider buying to have a cheap summer parking place in a cool and interesting town, and if it happens to come with a house built in the 40s or 50s that I could renovate a bit, that's gravy.
- detst 16y ago
  Just thought of someone that might be a good contact for you to help scout out the area: Emily Doerr. She's opening a Hostel in Detroit. She's young and seems to be passionate about the city and bringing others in. I read an article about her in the Detroit Free Press but can only find a picture gallery on their site now. Other people you could get in contact with are those doing urban farming. Links: http://iamyoungdetroit.com/index.php/2011/03/emilydoerr/ http://iamyoungdetroit.com/index.php/2011/03/emilydoerr/ http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=C4&Date=20101214&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=12140803&Ref=PH http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=C4&Date=... http://www.modeldmedia.com/devnews/hosteldetroit110910.aspx http://www.modeldmedia.com/devnews/hosteldetroit110910.aspx http://www.facebook.com/HostelDetroit http://www.facebook.com/HostelDetroit http://twitter.com/hostel_detroit http://twitter.com/hostel_detroit http://www.hosteldetroit.com/ http://www.hosteldetroit.com/

by detst 16y ago

SwellJoe 16y ago

"In the city proper, I don't know that the 'old folks' thing will work well. The old folks still in Detroit in decent neighborhoods will not be areas with the cheap houses you are looking for (yes, there are some really nice areas in the city)." I don't mean "old, rich folks". East Austin was poor, mostly black and hispanic, and crime-ridden for decades before a resurgence began in the early 00s. But, a lot of the residents are still old folks who've lived through the whole process of decline and rebirth. Houston experienced white flight, and then began to recover in some of the older neighborhoods surrounding downtown (as far as I know downtown Houston is still a graveyard at night, and may not be fixable because there is no housing, the ground level streets are non-porous and have no shopping or nightlife). Same story, lots of older home owners that never left; their kids were grown when white flight happened, so they didn't feel as compelled to follow the good schools or were too poor to move or just didn't want to leave their home and stubbornly stuck around. But, the rest of your answer is awesome, and is exactly what I was looking for. I don't actually need a house to cost $1 to consider it a good deal. But, it would take a really good price to get me to buy property in a place with weather as bad as Detroit. Hell, the place is unlivably cold six months out of the year, as far as this Texan is concerned. But, I'd consider buying to have a cheap summer parking place in a cool and interesting town, and if it happens to come with a house built in the 40s or 50s that I could renovate a bit, that's gravy.

detst 16y ago
Just thought of someone that might be a good contact for you to help scout out the area: Emily Doerr. She's opening a Hostel in Detroit. She's young and seems to be passionate about the city and bringing others in. I read an article about her in the Detroit Free Press but can only find a picture gallery on their site now. Other people you could get in contact with are those doing urban farming. Links: http://iamyoungdetroit.com/index.php/2011/03/emilydoerr/ http://iamyoungdetroit.com/index.php/2011/03/emilydoerr/ http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=C4&Date=20101214&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=12140803&Ref=PH http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=C4&Date=... http://www.modeldmedia.com/devnews/hosteldetroit110910.aspx http://www.modeldmedia.com/devnews/hosteldetroit110910.aspx http://www.facebook.com/HostelDetroit http://www.facebook.com/HostelDetroit http://twitter.com/hostel_detroit http://twitter.com/hostel_detroit http://www.hosteldetroit.com/ http://www.hosteldetroit.com/