Yeah, there are some people trying to do the same in Pontiac. If it works, good on them; but in situations where it has worked before (Portland, Brooklyn and the LES of NYC), the 'artists' typically feel really betrayed and alienated when rich white people start moving in and completing the gentrification process.
I get really annoyed when they complain so much about something that they initiated to begin with.
They did not expect themselves to be part of an ongoing process. They thought everything was said and done and now they could just make use of the debris and no one would be interested in it again. It's a nice dream, I must admit.
Yeah well that song is as old as time. It's not cool once it went mainstream, maaannnnnn. But that doesn't really matter. The artists get what they want, ridiculously low cost of living and a community that, besides crime, probably isn't going fuck with them. They can paint a wall or create some crazy structure and it's unlikely any homeowners association or neighborhood council or cop is going to bother with it. Plus they get to avoid all those mainstream professionals for a while because they don't exist there. If they are successful at being truly creative, then their reward is getting pushed out. Eventually they can find somewhere else.
P.S. I'm pretty sure some of those photos are staged. I mean, I'm sure there's plenty of abandoned property all over the place, but so many of the props seem a little too carefully strewn about.
Always worse before it gets better. Pittsburgh was covered in a black fog and no jobs when the steel industry imploded, now it's one of the cleanest cities in the country, one of the few cities that added jobs in 2008, and has a stable housing market.
Detroit just needs to shrink and it too will recover, hopefully.
Yeah that's the larger idea of the artist thing I was saying. Detroit was a one-trick pony for too long. It very likely can become a diverse center of business and commerce someday as long as government does everything they can to attract business and neighborhoods revitalize.
Yeah that's the larger idea of the artist thing I was saying. Detroit was a one-trick pony for too long. It very likely can become a diverse center of business and commerce someday as long as government does everything they can to attract business and neighborhoods revitalize.
I agree, but the question that remains is "when will the government in Detroit start showing an interest in that?"
Yeah that's the larger idea of the artist thing I was saying. Detroit was a one-trick pony for too long. It very likely can become a diverse center of business and commerce someday as long as government does everything they can to attract business and neighborhoods revitalize.
I agree, but the question that remains is "when will the government in Detroit start showing an interest in that?"
Once things get a little worse, people are going to get ticked, and hopefully you'll have a few that are willing to stand up, make a difference, take charge, and take back the city.
What WOULD be amazing, though only ideal, would be if a few corporations got together and asked their employees to voluntarily move to help them set up a new headquarter/office in Detroit, which would bring lots of low level jobs that all these unemployed people could take up and soon enough it would attract retailers and create even more jobs. Though it would generally be low-level jobs for a long time, it's better than nothing and there's still the problem of a lazy/corrupt government.
Just think: one could maybe buy some cheap properties and wait for them to be bought out by companies wanting to demolish a whole area. Might take a while, but it will probably happen someday.
Just think: one could maybe buy some cheap properties and wait for them to be bought out by companies wanting to demolish a whole area. Might take a while, but it will probably happen someday.
Are you willing to wait a decade for that to happen and then get maybe 150% of your investment back?
Just think: one could maybe buy some cheap properties and wait for them to be bought out by companies wanting to demolish a whole area. Might take a while, but it will probably happen someday.
I think it'd be more fun to just refuse to sell, no matter how much they offered. Imagine if, right in the middle of Manhattan Island, there was a crumbling, decrepit house which the owner's absolutely refused to sell, like the one in that picture above. In a hundred years, that could be you!
Just think: one could maybe buy some cheap properties and wait for them to be bought out by companies wanting to demolish a whole area. Might take a while, but it will probably happen someday.
I think it'd be more fun to just refuse to sell, no matter how much they offered. Imagine if, right in the middle of Manhattan Island, there was a crumbling, decrepit house which the owner's absolutely refused to sell, like the one in that picture above. In a hundred years, that could be you!
I'm honestly tempted. I mean, for $200 I could own 4 houses. I just feel like this is kind of a... something.
It's kind of a good way to waste $200. I mean, it's sort of like saying, if I buy stock that costs $.01/share, then for $200 I can buy 20,000 shares of stock! Then if the stock only goes up a dollar, you've made $20,000! There's a reason people don't invest that way.
You could buy seven houses and be ballin' as John McCain.
Haha, even better, if you also buy 4 houses that could collapse at any minute, you could also use his line "well I don't really know how many houses I own... somewhere between 7 and 11."
But everybody knows that buying Baltic Avenue is a loser strategy.
It's kind of a good way to waste $200. I mean, it's sort of like saying, if I buy stock that costs $.01/share, then for $200 I can buy 20,000 shares of stock! Then if the stock only goes up a dollar, you've made $20,000! There's a reason people don't invest that way.
Well, actually there are plenty of people trading in penny shares. Buy for 1p and a 1p increase = doubled monies.
However, folding and losing everything is equally plausible. Unless you really want a 'Real Estate Portfolio' stay the hell away.
I haven't checked, but I would imagine the property taxes would be low - both because of low property value and because wouldn't they be trying to encourage more people to buy this with lower rates?
Add to that the fact that there are probably still old hobos squatting in them. And that it's very likely that all the pipping and plumbing has been stripped from every one of them (copper theft is HUGE out here).
I haven't checked, but I would imagine the property taxes would be low - both because of low property value and because wouldn't they be trying to encourage more people to buy this with lower rates?
wow this thread has perfect timing as I just went down to Detroit today with my family. Every store we went to on the way has the cashier's counter complete encased in bullet-proof glass, Even the Mc Donalds we went to
I'd probably just pay to put a statue of an amalgam of all the 20th century mayors of Detroit with "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair" inscribed below it on the property.
Posts
Detroit, Pripyat... same number of letters, kinda similar... hmmm.
P.S. I'm pretty sure some of those photos are staged. I mean, I'm sure there's plenty of abandoned property all over the place, but so many of the props seem a little too carefully strewn about.
Detroit just needs to shrink and it too will recover, hopefully.
I agree, but the question that remains is "when will the government in Detroit start showing an interest in that?"
Once things get a little worse, people are going to get ticked, and hopefully you'll have a few that are willing to stand up, make a difference, take charge, and take back the city.
What WOULD be amazing, though only ideal, would be if a few corporations got together and asked their employees to voluntarily move to help them set up a new headquarter/office in Detroit, which would bring lots of low level jobs that all these unemployed people could take up and soon enough it would attract retailers and create even more jobs. Though it would generally be low-level jobs for a long time, it's better than nothing and there's still the problem of a lazy/corrupt government.
Maybe I should go buy a cheap home and start up a liquor store or something.
Seriously?
hmmmmm This will take some looking into.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
It's not the safest investment, but Lord could it be good.
Trouble is you might have to wait 40 years for the bounceback :P
Helping to rejuvenate the city and steer it away from crumbling and into something even better?
That sounds....
Quite appealing.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
if you don't get murdered in your home
Probably with strings attached, but still.
Fixer-uper! Only $100!
(To be honest, I'm more worried about the $100 homes that look normal....)
Eminent domain is pretty awesome.
It's kind of a good way to waste $200. I mean, it's sort of like saying, if I buy stock that costs $.01/share, then for $200 I can buy 20,000 shares of stock! Then if the stock only goes up a dollar, you've made $20,000! There's a reason people don't invest that way.
See if you can puzzle together a whole block/neighborhood for a couple of hundred. You know, like on a Monopoly board.
This is what I'm saying!
I mean it's obviously worthless, but it's also houses that I would just own. Be all "oh I have 20 or 30 houses *cough* in Detroit *cough*"
But everybody knows that buying Baltic Avenue is a loser strategy.
Well, actually there are plenty of people trading in penny shares. Buy for 1p and a 1p increase = doubled monies.
However, folding and losing everything is equally plausible. Unless you really want a 'Real Estate Portfolio' stay the hell away.
I really don't.
Add to that the fact that there are probably still old hobos squatting in them. And that it's very likely that all the pipping and plumbing has been stripped from every one of them (copper theft is HUGE out here).
That would make sense, but Michigan apparently has a reputation for keeping its property taxes ridiculously high, even on devalued properties.
Still, it's kinda cool to think that you could buy a city block with your next paycheck.
That's socialist.
And cross-subforum paintball sessions.
Turn it into Mos Eisley
Me and a few of my friends, all get together and buy a house, I found one for just over 21k, 5 bedrooms.
a mortgage on that, for 10 years is $270/month. For 4 working adults......
We could rule the neighborhood
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad