Home truths concerning Detroit's cheap housing_美文

Home truths concerning Detroit's cheap housing

According to Forbes magazine Detroit is the most dangerous city in America. The murder rate is 11 times that of New York. Not too long ago, the rate of self-defense killings in Detroit was 2,200 percent above the national average. Last year the FBI found that Detroit had the highest rate of violent crime of any US city with more than 200,000 people. And because of its severe financial problems, the number of police in Detroit has decreased by 50 percent in the last decade. It's gotten so bad that last year the Detroit Police Officers Association warned: "Enter Detroit at your own risk".

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Owning property anywhere is no picnic; it's not like buying a stock or bond and following the price in the newspaper or online. It's very hands-on and a 24/7/365 responsibility.

In Detroit, being a landlord, or dare I say "slumlord", is even more challenging. Add to the cost of the house hundreds or thousands of dollars a year in taxes and that's after doing renovations as most of the houses are naked and stripped shells devoid of anything valuable. And those are the lucky properties that weren't set alight by gangs, drug dealers and other miscreants, especially on Detroit's infamous Devil's Night, a time around Halloween, when the local sport is burning down abandoned houses. Since the police force is stretched so thin, add another few hundred dollars or more for private security. We call them "rent-a-cops!"