Posts (RSS)Bargain Repo Properties for Sale Abound in Detroit
Bargain repo properties for sale are in abundance in Detroit, according to brokers and realtors in the city.
Based on the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index for 20 major cities over the past months, Detroit is among the cities where home prices have dropped substantially since the downturn began and is among those which are still struggling from declining home values. The median distressed home sales price has fallen to a low of $8,000 last August, far below the $59,700 median price in August 2005. Nearly 25 percent of the more than 4,000 houses available for sale in September were foreclosures and total home sales dropped by almost 20 percent compared to sales in September last year.
Because of the high unemployment in the city, people have left and now, there are only around 900,000 residents, far below the 2-million population in the 1950s.
Among the neighborhoods thought to be immune from foreclosures because of the high number of residents who are judges, lawyers, auto-industry executives and educational professionals is Indian Village. Here, investors and first time home buyers can find a lot of bargain repo properties for sale.
Because many of these professionals were laid off and many of them were unable to convince their lenders to reduce their monthly payments, many were forced to let their homes go into foreclosure. Now, about 15 percent of the 350 houses in Indian Village are foreclosures.
To save Indian Village from the deterioration and collapse that occurred in other Detroit neighborhoods, residents in the area took action and decided to find a realtor committed to the neighborhood and help sell the foreclosed properties in the neighborhood to families and individuals who will live in the properties and help preserve the neighborhood.
The residents found Joy Santiago, who arrived in Detroit in the 1980s from Ann Arbor and started working in real estate in the 1990s, focusing on Indian Village.
Since then, Santiago has been successful in creating buzz about the neighborhood, especially its lower-priced mansions. She has organized bus tours where she talks about the backgrounds and histories of the homes she showed.
Among these houses is a four-bedroom Colonial that was built in 1925 but still sturdy. It is being offered at only $39,000. Another is an 8-bedroom Colonial mansion which is being offered at only $189,000. These are only two of many bargain foreclosed properties for sale being offered in Detroit.