I wonder what the property taxes, per year, will be on the 6000 parcels.
And, since many cities allow you to challenge the stated value, it could be very expensive, in time, to challenge 6000 parcel values.
And, since many cities allow you to challenge the stated value, it could be very expensive, in time, to challenge 6000 parcel values.
So I looked around a bit... the problem is you can often get a cheap house, but only if you take over taxes on the property, which are often multiples of the value of the house as they accumulated over the years. And then there's annual property tax which are really high.
I don't exactly know why... But I've seen houses which get taxed on a value that's 5-10x the value of the house. And beyond that, the tax rate is often 3x higher than other cities.
So you might have a house that's worth just $20k, but then it's valued-for-tax at $100k, and you pay 4% on that. So you're paying $4k in taxes or 20% of the house's value every year. It's insane.
And it's keeping people out. I for one am not interested in paying $10k in old taxes for a cheap home I have to completely newbuild, and then pay taxes on it as if I was paying rent on top of a mortgage.
But it's probably a goldmine for any company with a 50-year vision who can get economies of scale on things like construction, and can negotiate huge tax-relief deals, e.g. waive old taxes and waive taxes the first 5 years etc.
"The assessed value should represent 50% of the current true cash value of your property. IT IS NOT BASED UPON THE PURCHASE PRICE OF YOUR INDIVIDUAL SALE. IT IS BASED UPON A SALES STUDY OVER A PERIOD OF TIME."
http://www.detroitmi.gov/Portals/0/docs/finance/assessment/I...
(Clearly the municipality is trying to fight the clear erosion of their tax base by averaging in historical values.)
So even if you bought a house for $500, it may be assessed much higher. You could end up with a tax liability higher than the purchase price. I've looked at buying a cheapo house (or lot) in Detroit, because why not? But the tax assessment situation makes that a poor idea.