Ohio Cities Buying Up Foreclosed Homes For $1 Each

Source: AP

POSTED: 6:37 pm EST November 4, 2007

TALLMADGE, Ohio -- Under a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program, cities in Ohio may buy unsold foreclosed homes for $1 each.

Through the program, any foreclosed home that HUD has unsuccessfully listed for sale for longer than six months is available for city purchase.

The city of Tallmadge, in suburban Akron, is hoping to buyat least one house as part of their efforts against the rising tide of abandoned homes in the city.

HUD advertises the Dollar Homes program as a way for communities to repair empty houses and resell them to help revitalize neighborhoods, but Tallmadge has a different plan.

City officials say they likely will tear down the house, sell the land and put the sale proceeds into the city's historic preservation programs.

Read more: http://www.newsnet5.com/money/14508725/detail.html

That does not seem very fair to people who might want the chance the buy a house at an affordable price.

Nothing ever helps the working people.

Before selling it to the city for $1

usually hud houses are pretty cheap. they are also usually in pretty bad shape. which is why they don't sell.

Probably the smartest investment I have ever made. Luckliy all it needed was a new code of paint...the neighborhood had others too, but were mostly falling apart and one was a former meth house!

fyi

:crazy:

(okay, there are more criminals, which is sad to say, but is the answer so simple? Probably, but possibly not. Some good people land under bad times and if loitering can be a crime... society used to think people would have jobs; not have them offshored.)

...until you factor in small details like fixing the place until it's suitable for habitation, and being able to pay for utilities and upkeep.

The city sure won't.

I am betting so many people could qualify for those homes at a lower price as well as perhaps the poor people who are losing their homes. I can see a great opportunity for abuse by cities.

This is another instance of corporate welfare. A struggling family could use a helping loan and buy this property

They aren't snapping up all the homes, just the ones that aren't selling. And they're probably not selling because they need some major repairs done to them, that would be out of the reach of the poor to afford.

It depends on how the property is used and developed--too soon to know.

Ohio foreclosures continue at an alarming rate
Sunday, October 28, 2007

WASHINGTON — Sen. George Voinovich doesn't have to be told how hard the foreclosure crisis has smacked Ohio.

He is reminded every time he goes home.

Three houses in the northeast Cleveland neighborhood where he's lived since the early 1970s have been abandoned, suddenly and without apparent warning — visible evidence of the subprime market's impact on his hometown. "People just walked out one night, closed the door and disappeared," said the Ohio Republican. "This is a fiasco."

In Washington, his congressional colleagues are finally getting that message. Virtually every presidential candidate has weighed in on the issue. Multiple congressional panels have devoted hearings to the issue. Both Voinovich and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, are pushing proposals.

But with Congress rapidly approaching the end of its legislative year, Congress has yet to send a bill to the president addressing the issue. The House has passed two bills — one mirroring a Voinovich Senate proposal to relieve foreclosed-upon homeowners from being taxed when all or part of their loan is forgiven — but the full Senate has yet to take up a bill.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/10/28/ddn102807foreclose.html

foreclosures. In which case, it might not be so dreadful to get the expensive-to-fix, unlikely-to-sell assets off the books.

I think the proposed relief strategies have promise, if they ever get enacted. I especially think the 'allowing bankruptcy courts to amend mortage terms' one is a good idea--that one alone would probably keep a load of people in their homes.

rapidly shrinking populations due to mass layoffs. It is better to tear them down and make green space than have boarded, abandoned homes. Why sell them to a slum lord who will rent to anyone who pays a month's rent and then sets up a meth lab?

that would be communistic.

Those homes are derelict. You wouldn't put a dog in them in their present state. That's why they're giving them to the city for such a nominal fee.

There's no market for them, they're in dreadful condition, and it's an expense simply to carry them on the books. Better to let the situation revert to local control, where the local government can address the problem in a way that works for them.

they would put the homes in a lottery, the eligible people would put their name in the bowl, who ever's name was drawn could buy the house for $1 or some small amount, but they had only a certain amount of time to fix it up and move in.

...NPR reported on the Flint Program last week: <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15766619>

Basically, they are selling off deralict houses to the city and then, either the city clears the lot and turns it into a green space for a small park or the next-door nieghbor can buy it for $1.00 and have a really big side or backyard.

This is a way around eminent domain defeats around the country. Just "buy" the homes that have been foreclosed upon. Save the financial companies but screw the home buyer.

honest working people.

$11,000
3 Bed, 1 Bath
844 Sq. Ft.

1406 HENDRICKS AVE
DALLAS, TX 75216
MLS ID# 10698513

CALL YOUR INVESTOR*3 BEDROOMS*1 BATH, 1 CAR GARAGE*NEEDS REPAIRS*PROPERTY HAS BEEN VANDALIZED*LOCATED NEAR DART TRAIN STATION*SELLER ADDENDUM REQUIRED*NO ASSIGNS*CASH OR LIKE CASH ONLY*PLEASE SUBMIT PROOF OF FUNDS WITH OFFER. NO BLIND OFFERS PLEASE. BACK ON THE MARKET!!! UTILITIES WILL NOT BE TURNED ON FOR INSPECTION.

From a web story on the economica of remodeling industry:

In 2005, there were an estimated 124 million dwelling units in the United States; 108 million of those homes are occupied, leaving 12 percent vacant. These account for the homes and apartments that are for rent at any given time (24 percent of the 16 million vacant units); occasionally used homes (17 percent); seasonal homes (25 percent); and those for sale (9 percent).

The four percentages add up to 75 percent, which leaves about 4 million homes that are really vacant.

Actually, I think that the overall number is up from 16 million vacant to about 17 million, due to the boom in building the last couple of years.

The government is only allowed to have free market failures

If it suceeds and makes money, the free market owns it

If it loses and fails, then it is the government's problem