I have my frequent website haunts while drinking my morning coffee.  One site I check frequently is the Drudge Report, and it's never want for bizarre stories.  This morning there was a disarming story about a Detroit home that sold for $1.  The buyer will be paying cash. Hehe.  That $1 sale is costing the bank $10,000 in back taxes, real estate commission, etc., but desperate times call for desperate measures.  The home is a shell of a thing, all things of value or utility have been looted and it will cost the buyer thousands to restore the home...more if her improvements are looted as soon as they are installed!!

Knowing that the home needs an unprecedented amount of work and would almost be better off as a teardown (which costs around $5000 according to the article), back taxes will need to be paid or challenged, and that neighbors have been known to loot, loiter and squat, would YOU consider buying this property for only a dollar as an investment, or would you consider this investment more trouble than it's worth?

I think I might pass since this home, according to the article, was the nicest home on the block before foreclosure.  If I weighed the costs to restore were entirely too much for the comps in the area, even a dollar would be too much to take on this headache!

Angela Elliott is a licensed Florida REALTOR® with Century 21 Classic Properties in Gainesville, FL. Please visit my profile for more about me and browse my Gainesville, FL real estate website for additional Alachua County information and listings. Your phone calls are always welcome at (352) 256-7038 as are your e-mails to angela.elliott1@century21.com.  A portion of all my closed sales will be donated to the Alachua Co. Humane Society (View my mission statement).