US property for $1??

I

in the pub

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Was reading in the paper the other day that in certain places in the USA, houses/property/land are selling for a dollar! So went to the website mentioned and put in a random search and sure enough-property eg. 2-3 bed houses for $1.

Can somebody please explain what the story is with this. What's the catch-am I missing something here?! Thanks
 
There are probably (almost certainly) arrears of property taxes on the property.
 
I read an article in yesterday's guardian about such houses in Detroit.

For sale at $1250: the Detroit houses behind the sub-prime Disaster

det4.jpg


From what I can gather the houses have been valdalised and stripped of their fitttings.

Secruity of vacant properties can be an big ongoing expense.

One industry, demolition, is thriving in the slump. On Stansbury Street this week, Frank Farrow of Farrow Demolition pulled up in a pickup truck to hawk his services. He displayed a list of a dozen bank-owned properties which he was contracted to destroy in a week.

"A house like this, we could have it down in 15 minutes," he says, eyeing the up-for-sale property at number 14,918. The only problem? It will cost $4,500 to cart away the rubble and back-fill the foundations.

For the banks, it is cheaper to give away houses than to knock them down.
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in the pub said:
Was reading in the paper the other day that in certain places in the USA, houses/property/land are selling for a dollar! So went to the website mentioned and put in a random search and sure enough-property eg. 2-3 bed houses for $1.

Can somebody please explain what the story is with this. What's the catch-am I missing something here?! Thanks
Click to expand...

You could buy properties in the west end of Newcastle Upon Tyne for a pound not so long ago. Down side was that you a) had to invest 30K in improvements and b) had to either live in it yourself as an owner occupier, or lease it via an approved council controlled scheme at a fixed rent. I looked at these but after taking into account the tax hit it didn't add up for me.

There's always a down side somewhere, either in ongoing costs like tax or forced improvements, or risks like you may not get out of the area alive after a viewing trip.
 
in alot of cases in the US the $1 is for outstanding property tax and all you are buying is a "tax certificate" which is like a share as you have not title rights to the property. You are mearly paying the taxes on the owners behalf. When the owner finally pays the tax you get a % return from 5 to 18% in most counties in america.

If between 2 and 7 years the owner dosnt pay the tax you can apply to court to get the house forclosed at which point it will be auctioned and ou get your return from the proceeds of sale.
 
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