Skip to content

Comment on Detroit's population crashes down 25% from 2000parent

Comments

I agree. In the long run Detroit has potential. But before they can make any economic strides they need to fix their bloated corrupt city government.

If you want to make a real 100 year bet on Detroit, buy some real estate now, it has never been cheaper. In some places you could buy an entire city block for a few grand. You could will it to your grandchildren. I've considered it, but haven't convinced my wife... yet.

Problem is that while the real estate is cheap, the taxes are not. There's also the potential liability of owning land you have no ability to monitor and maintain.

It's city, not agricultural terrain. There's a good chance sometime in the next 20 years the city authorities will force you to invest in it. Maybe even immediately.

Rockefeller didn't listen to his wife :)

Yeah, I ain't Rockefeller.

But the biggest reason I haven't done it is the city government. The above reasons not to invest in Detroit are clear - taxes, unknown assessments, liability. Allowing some of the land to go fallow or zoned agricultural or a long property tax holiday would help tremendously. The most expensive thing about living in Detroit are the taxes and the regulation if you can live through the crime.

AboutSource Built by g1lg1l

Hackerly is an independent reader for Hacker News, built on the public HN API. Not affiliated with Y Combinator.