Cash for houses -- what's the catch, you ask? Well, I think if you look at the photograph of the house above, you might be able to figure out the catch. Of course, besides the fact that the house is sort of falling down, there's another catch. All the extreme fixer-uppers -- and there are lots -- are in Detroit.
Find out how to get paid to move here.
Detroit's Mayor Dave Bing is offering cash incentives to lure homeowners to abandoned neighborhoods and dilapidated homes. For example, if you're a police officer willing to relocate to Detroit, you can get $150,000 in housing renovation money with just $1,000 down. College graduates can take advantage of an offer for $2,500 to rent and a $20,000 forgivable loan to buy properties.
While you may find it tough to get a job in the area (Metropolitan Detroit had an unemployment rate of 13.5 percent in November 2010), there are lots of formerly cool houses to choose from. If you're good with DIY and home improvements and you can find a job working from home, this could be a total score! Provided you bring some friends along to take on the junk houses surrounding yours.
Here are a few more examples from photographer Kevin Bauman's project 100 Abandoned Houses in Detroit.
Would you consider moving to Detroit to get paid for one of these houses?
Images via Kevin Bauman
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Comments 5
If I had money to fix them up, I so would. With the exception of the second one, I LOOOOOVE the architecture!
I was born in Wayne, MI and remember when Detroit was such a neat city. Seeing the articles and shows and pictures now makes me ill to see what the city has become. Sadly, no, I don't think any amount of money would make me want to move there right now. Maybe somewhere in MI, but NOT Detroit city.
Are you allowed to just tear them down and build a new place or are they trying to keep the old arcitecture? I would move there. I think you could totally fix up one of these places for about $100,000 if you do a lot of it yourself. All you would need to do is get a contractor for the stuff you dont want to mess up (electical, structural and maybe plumbing. The rest can be DIY. I love remodels. My only concern would be where would we live in the meantime while we were fixing it up.
You missed a really important point: Those incentives are for Detroit cops and firefighters who currently live outside the city (Detroit employees were required to live in the city until the mid-1990s....there were a ton in the neighborhood I grew up in incuding several friends of my family). And it covers two neighborhoods, which are hardly "abandoned" or anything like what you pictured...instead, they're fairly stable neighborhoods which are on the brink of not being so stable. One of them, Boston Edison, was one we were really interested in when we bought our house, but managing a five bedroom house with a ballroom and full basement was a little much for our budget and skills.