[deleted]
Nah, we've got the police and military on our side. Oh, and food and running water and communication networks and healthcare.
We're prepared for class warfare--they're not. :|
Detroit gentrifiers face daunting task buying $500 homes evicting poor residents
11–20 of 80 posts
Re: Detroit gentrifiers face daunting task buying $500 homes evicting poor residents
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
According to that article a lot of these people already have paid off the mortgage and have the deeds to the house. It's that they can't keep up with the taxes. If you raised money to pay their back taxes, what would they do the following year? This kind of stuff really is sad, there has to be some solution to not kicking people that have lived in these houses for 30+ years because they can't afford the taxes.
This kind of stuff really is sad, there has to be some solution to not kicking people that have lived in these houses for 30+ years because they can't afford the taxes. There is, the article points it out: Owners can buy their homes back with debts cleared at auction for $500 as a solution of last resort. The problem doesn't seem to be the lack of a solution, but knowledge that it exists and what they have to do to b…
So, the solution is: Don't pay your taxes. Wait for your house to go to auction. Hope no one buys it. Pay $500 to effectively erase your three year tax debt. Repeat.
That apparently currently works. It's a clear market signal to the government that it has no alternative but to put up with you not paying your taxes. But, I expect if it became widespread, the tax man would see it as a loophole to be closed.
Re: Detroit gentrifiers face daunting task buying $500 homes evicting poor residents
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
According to that article a lot of these people already have paid off the mortgage and have the deeds to the house. It's that they can't keep up with the taxes. If you raised money to pay their back taxes, what would they do the following year? This kind of stuff really is sad, there has to be some solution to not kicking people that have lived in these houses for 30+ years because they can't afford the taxes.
This kind of stuff really is sad, there has to be some solution to not kicking people that have lived in these houses for 30+ years because they can't afford the taxes. There is, the article points it out: Owners can buy their homes back with debts cleared at auction for $500 as a solution of last resort. The problem doesn't seem to be the lack of a solution, but knowledge that it exists and what they have to do to b…
Yes, but it's an auction, no guarantee that the place is going to go for less than the taxes owed, let alone $500.
Re: Detroit gentrifiers face daunting task buying $500 homes evicting poor residents
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
One of the first times I've seen that property tax really does read like serfdom.
Property tax is really onerous for those who own their houses but fall on hard times. Its implementation can be terribly unfair, because it essentially says that you don't really own all of your property. You own most of it, but if you don't kick that little bit up every year, then you're out on your duff and what you get back is subject to the whims of the auction bidders. That's a troubling implication for me. I'm…
I think it's even more screwed up than that, right? One pays property taxes in order to get the benefits of the people they pay taxes to. It looks like the local and state government have utterly failed to provide the policing, schooling, or other tangible benefits associated with taxes.
There is literally no incentive to abide by that part of the social contract other than the vague fear that they'll be called in one day or forcibly evicted. The state is acting in bad faith.
Re: Detroit gentrifiers face daunting task buying $500 homes evicting poor residents
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
According to that article a lot of these people already have paid off the mortgage and have the deeds to the house. It's that they can't keep up with the taxes. If you raised money to pay their back taxes, what would they do the following year? This kind of stuff really is sad, there has to be some solution to not kicking people that have lived in these houses for 30+ years because they can't afford the taxes.
This kind of stuff really is sad, there has to be some solution to not kicking people that have lived in these houses for 30+ years because they can't afford the taxes. There is, the article points it out: Owners can buy their homes back with debts cleared at auction for $500 as a solution of last resort. The problem doesn't seem to be the lack of a solution, but knowledge that it exists and what they have to do to b…
This assumes no one else buys the property out from under them the first time it goes up to auction. If someone does, it's nice that they get some value out of it, but they're still ejected from their home. If they can't find something nearby, their kids have to change schools. Their job may be harder to get to. Until they can find another place to buy, they're throwing money away on rent. Etc, etc.
Yes, in theory they can stay in their home, but only if no one else wants it. And if someone does, their lives are upended and from the sound of the article, the money they get isn't going to be anything like enough to buy something comparable to their former home.
Re: Detroit gentrifiers face daunting task buying $500 homes evicting poor residents
#16If there was anything worth starting a KickStarter for, it would be to raise money to buy as many of these homes as possible, and give the deeds outright to the people who already live there. That'd be a really great thing.
Why? These houses are getting foreclosured due to owed taxes. If they got the deed back, they'd just get foreclosured again to pay the rest, no?
I agree that throwing money into tax auctions every three years is a band-aid. However, there is certainly an 8-figure opportunity here for whoever can come up with a more permanent solution.
Perhaps instead of paying $500 each to boot out poor grandmas to the streets, some low-income apartments could be built for those grandmas based on the expected values of flipping their houses and a govt tax break promise.
Re: Detroit gentrifiers face daunting task buying $500 homes evicting poor residents
#17[deleted]
Re: Detroit gentrifiers face daunting task buying $500 homes evicting poor residents
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
One of the first times I've seen that property tax really does read like serfdom.
Property tax is really onerous for those who own their houses but fall on hard times. Its implementation can be terribly unfair, because it essentially says that you don't really own all of your property. You own most of it, but if you don't kick that little bit up every year, then you're out on your duff and what you get back is subject to the whims of the auction bidders. That's a troubling implication for me. I'm…
That is what we did in California. We started capping the rate of growth of property taxes. Now old people and companies pay little property taxes since they bought the property long ago. Meanwhile the young people usually end up paying the bulk of the property taxes (along with sky high mortgages.)
Re: Detroit gentrifiers face daunting task buying $500 homes evicting poor residents
#19If there was anything worth starting a KickStarter for, it would be to raise money to buy as many of these homes as possible, and give the deeds outright to the people who already live there. That'd be a really great thing.
According to that article a lot of these people already have paid off the mortgage and have the deeds to the house. It's that they can't keep up with the taxes. If you raised money to pay their back taxes, what would they do the following year? This kind of stuff really is sad, there has to be some solution to not kicking people that have lived in these houses for 30+ years because they can't afford the taxes.
> If you raised money to pay their back taxes, what would they do the following year?
Detroit property tax rates are something like 3% per year. If I own the house outright, shouldn't I get a mortgage on the house to pay the property taxes, rather than lose the entire house?
If I was a banker in the Detroit area I'd be all over this—with a little bit of marketing I could offer to “save your house from the tax man”, take care of all the paperwork, and charge the highest interest rate that still let me sleep at night. (People could shop around, but if you're going to shop around for a better interest rate, you're probably of the type that isn't about to lose your paid-off home over a bill for 10% of the total value.)
Re: Detroit gentrifiers face daunting task buying $500 homes evicting poor residents
#20[deleted]
I interpreted it as he bought $14,000 worth of debt and sold it to her for $7000, so he halved her tax bill