Detroit Rock (Bottom) City

[elklad]

According to this article, the median price of a house sold in Detroit in December was $7,500.  Another source estimates that the median is around $10,000, with the average listing price more than seven times that.

For comparison, the latter source pegs the median sales price in New Orleans as $103,172.  It's difficult for me to picture what living

Comments

[ltlbird]

Wow, I had heard that Detroit had been hit particularly hard by foreclosures and such, but that's horrific.

[winterborne]

It's been pretty shocking to hear about areas of the country where it isn't even worth it to the bank to try to auction off the property, with the end result that the original owner is still stuck with it, can't pay the property taxes, and thus continues to just get in ever deeper trouble while the city or county tries to figure out how pay to convert it or tear it down. Negative property values, yikes...

[elklad]

ethicsgradient, cutefuzzyevil, and I were talking about that last night. I've seen some suggest that in many cases, the banks might be better off if they simply agreed to refinance homes at whatever their owners can afford.

[winterborne]

The problem in many cases seems to be the complexity of figuring out who really owns the mortgage. These mortgage-backed securities seem to create situations where the mortgage is effectively fractured, so it's hard to say who can come to the table and do that refinancing. At least, that's what I've picked up from listening to Marketplace every day (a questionable benefit of my new commute).

[elklad]

That's the rub.

I used to listen to part of Marketplace on my drive home. Though I don't find the market recaps very useful, the conversations with guests are often interesting.