The headline on the front page of Yahoo states "The town where you can't almost give a house away".  Well, reading on, this story takes a different turn, almost like a headline from the Enquirer.

No, they are NOT giving the houses away. The City of Detroit wants to be paid all of the back taxes owed on each property. So after 4 days of auctioning over 9000 houses, very few are sold.

Many people were interviewed who wanted to buy one of those homes, but the good ones were snatched up by banks or investors.  For others there was so much red tape that they couldn't possibly work their way through it.

After reading this story, I came up with an idea.

The city of Detroit should REALLY give those houses away. Give them to police officers, fireman, teachers, social workers, and other well deserving citizens who will promise to fix them up and live there for a minimum of 3 years. Make the closing easy. Reward people for wanting to help the city. 

Wouldn't it be better to loose $500/ house then to have a city the size of Boston composed of vacant run down houses?

Just think how much taxes will eventually be paid on those homes with families in them. Think of the jobs that will be made for contractors, construction people, plumbers, etc.  that the families will need to fix the homes. Think of the big picture with economic stimulation, not the little "how much can we get now" picture.

Yes, the auto industry in Detroit is dying. Time to move on and grow, with new jobs and new industries.

No, I don't live in Detroit, But what happens in other cities affects us all.  And although the  the saying "all real estate is local" has a lot of truth to it, we care about other markets as well as are own.