hey mike! thanks for the suggestion. look for it in the next update, which shouldn't be too long. very happy to hear you're enjoying the site. cheers from the team
@Robert Manikowski, sorry about that! the map's working for most people but we've heard from a few others with the spinning wheel and are trying to isolate and squash the bug. would you mind sending me an email at jerry@makeloveland.com with what browser and kind of computer you're using? thanks for that, hopefully we can use that info to get you going.
@iain "Has anyone out there worked out who 'TAXPAYER' is?"
ha, that's a great question. not entirely sure, and i wonder if paying for the individual property lookup with the wayne county register of deeds would show more: http://www.waynecountylandrecords.com/ .
couple related thoughts, i've also heard that it's possible to write in "taxpayer" instead of a proper name when filing with the city, and apparently in michigan if you buy a property from someone, sign the contract, the whole thing, there's no time limit on when you have to file the new deed by.
any property pros with insight into the existence of 'TAXPAYER' please enlighten the class!
hey bob! just saw this message (post notifications were off). it seems like group privacy and better private interactions is right up at the top of the list of usefulness. we've been working on private, multi-user versions of the service for people managing big projects. looks like we should shrink down a version of that for members, too. stay tuned...
hey all! sorry we didn't hop on this sooner, didn't see the message alert. please email me at jerry@makeloveland.com and let me know what kind of computer and web browser you're on. we'll look into it right away. this doesn't seem to be a common problem but we've heard it from a couple others as well, and we'll get it fixed for you. sorry for the trouble!
totally random right now. a couple people who ended up partially over the edge of the city got to re-roll, but otherwise you don't know where you'll land. there's an element of detroit roulette to it :-)
the wdwot team is meeting with wayne county deputy treasurer david szymanski tomorrow morning to talk about improvements to the tax foreclosure system and what we can be doing with wdwot. anything you want us to ask or try to make happen, let me know!
thanks, ben! the county database still lists those properties as foreclosed, which is where we're pulling that data from. we'll update them on wdwot. here's to building a self-correcting public database :-)
hey, bill! interesting. if it's on the "2013 foreclosure risk" layer then that's coming straight from the county. see if it shows up in this PDF of the detroit legal news listing: http://www.legalnews.com/pdf/2013_Wayne_County_Delinquent_Tax_Liens.pdf (gonna have to do a search on that page...lotta stuff).
thanks for sharing your story, kristine, and terribly sorry that happened. this is a clear case of different databases about detroit land not working together, and why they need to (if an auction building is on the demolition list, it should at least be noted). we'll try to find and show the demolition list if we can get it (seems like that should be very public information). please follow-up and share more when details become clearer (who exactly tour it down? what happens next?) and if you're having any work days people might like to help with.
attaching a before and after picture of the house that kristine posted online, with her permission.
quick reminder for everyone that at 6 PM tonight we're holding a conversation about wdwot, the auction, and potential innovations. model d and urban innovator exchange are hosting at the new cafe con leche pop-up at 1561 lafayette street. details and rsvp at http://www.facebook.com/events/443764328994435 . looks like there's a couple hundred signups so it should be an energetic crowd with some great guests. hoping to meet some of you there if you can make it to share stories
right on, tenesha, just posted this first write-up of the meeting: http://wdwot.tumblr.com/post/35639770102/off-to-see-the-auction-wizards-part-1 . looks like the cities and towns in wayne county have until january to decide if they want the unsold properties, which accounts for most of that wait, and then they're likely all off to the state land bank who will make sale decisions. maybe drop them a line too to get in the queue? http://www.michigan.gov/landbank
also, for the record, this thread originally started here with tamika asking what she could do to immediately secure the house she purchased before the deed arrives: http://whydontweownthis.com/topics/58
ack. that's terrible, tamika. :-( the wdwot team is meeting with the treasurer and his team tomorrow morning. we'll ask about this and report back to you asap. in the meantime keep track of all the efforts you're making and things that happen because these are the stories that will help change things
"The world’s largest property auction just went down in Detroit. Just about 20,000 properties (roughly 5% of the city) were auctioned for $500 and around 8,000 properties did not sell. Overall it seems there was nearly a $250,000,000 (quarter billion dollar) property tax revenue gap.
"Crazy stuff. What are some creative ways to approach this?"
hope to see everybody, and please invite others. the conversations, characters, stories, and ideas posted on wdwot will help frame and drive the night, so please keep it coming.
woa! that does sound like an incredibly long time (25% of a year). has anyone else gotten a message like this? i was invited to meet with the treasurer and his team in the second week of november and will ask about this if we don't learn what's up beforehand.
at the moment all the green properties on the site are ones that made it through auction without bid. there are about 8,000 of them. and stay tuned as we transition the site for the post-auction era...
youch, sorry to hear that, juanita. the county says to email them at taxinfo@co.wayne.mi.us if you want to buy a property that didn't sell. if someone did buy the property at auction you should still email the county and ask who it was. good luck! let us know how it goes.
pretty neat. the WDWOT team has been invited to meet with the wayne county treasurer in the next couple weeks and discuss the auction. keep the ideas and input coming.
i've been trying to get in touch with the county via email and phone, but no luck yet. i'll try to make it down to their 400 monroe street office later today to ask this and other questions. the listed phone number is 313-224-5990 and then hit 7 to try and talk to a person, but right now that's going straight to a dead tone.
Also think about the financial collection gap in the current approach, where the unprecedented scale of Detroit's tax foreclosures really throws off the curve. This year's auction generated approximately $50,000,000 in bids, which appears to leave an approximately *Quarter Billion Dollar* deficit in tax revenue the county says it's owed.
Since 2,000 tax foreclosed properties were withdrawn from the auction after starting with 22,500 -- presumably because the owners got on some sort of tax plan -- the totals originally owed may have changed somewhat, but there will also be some bids where the money doesn't actually come in:
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
• Sum of all back taxes originally owed on all 2012's tax foreclosures in all Wayne County: $275,521,615
• All back taxes owed just Detroit: $239,845,800
• All back taxes owed everywhere else: $35,675,815
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
• Total money bid at auction in all Wayne County (Round 1 & 2): $49,975,566
• Total money bid in just Detroit: $32,525,044
• Total money bid elsewhere: $17,450,522
We should add the total back taxes owed to the dashboard, too, for easier comparison -- had to add up totals from individual cities.
I remember when Macomb County decided to sell all its 627 tax foreclosure auction properties to one bidder without competition for $4.8 million a little bit back, the reason given was that the county just needed to cover back taxes owed, and since the buyer was willing to pay, their duty was done without needing an auction. (Map and link to news story at http://whydontweownthis.com/us/mi/macomb ). If raw financials are the driving duty, and if the gap is really is in the neighborhood of $225,546,049, we gotta get Wayne County on kickstarter.com. Jeepers.
well, the good news about the tigers losing the first 2 games is that when they come back to life we'll have an extra couple days to think about this :-)
hi phil! congratulations on your winning bid. did you get the payment piece taken care of? the new owner process sort of just dumps you off the side of the boat and into the ocean, and there isn't really a formal system to help you float. to that end, one of the things i feel like should happen next with this site is building out a social network of new property owners and amateur developers where we can all help each other out by sharing problems, questions, solutions, resources, all that, and in the process build new user-friendly property management tools.
to be continued, and in the meantime happy physics!
also let me say thanks to you guys. nothing's gonna work without people using the service, asking for things, pointing out errors, contributing, being helpful, and all of that. so a bow to you. let's keep it growing and improving!
we'll be there! i encourage the wdwot community and anyone reading this to go, too, as we're all having a relevant experience. should be good, and will be better with more interested peeps
cassandra, it turns out the buyer who outbid you has purchased more than 600 properties at the auction: http://whydontweownthis.com/winner/BelieveInTheD . as soon as we learn who believeinthed is we'll share it and try to learn more about their plans. my guess is you're not the only person in this situation, which is going to draw a fair bit of attention, so hopefully it turns out ok for you and everyone. please let us know if there's an update and if there's anything the wdwot community can do to help
hmm. broken into just this week? eesh. i'd talk to the neighbor and get a sense of whether the person is trying to live there or is ducking in to occassionally camp because the door is now open. if it's a case of occassional camping because the door is open, that's exactly why the house should be boarded up or otherwise secured, and i'd expect the neighbor would agree. my personal, non-professional advice is proceed with caution and compassion, treating it as a human and not a legal issue, and the person who broke in will probably move on when they learn you're attending to the property. but i obviously no know details here, so just please be careful!
ronald, as soon as we can get the real identities of the big buyers we'll post them. it may take anywhere from a couple weeks to a month or more depending on how the county handles the information, but we'll request and share it here.
i'm still new to learning how the housing commissions work, but maybe try contacting the united community housing coalition http://www.uchcdetroit.org at 313.963.3310. sounds like they've been helping people out around the auction.
not sure, brandon, sorry. we don't yet have as much experience with and data like that for hamtramck. we'll try to change that, but in the meantime you'll want to run to city hall and check, unless someone else knows a better way
yea, we gotta have lunch or something soon. too much to say here. i really appreciate your comments. sometimes i think detroit can be more like a cult than a city (insiders, outsiders, getting it, not getting it, the way it is, not like other places, real deroiters, etc) which can lead to incredibly ineffective strategies for dealing with problems and a sad acceptance of the unacceptable. but that's a bigger, more philosophical conversation that goes well with a hamburger. hit me anytime if you want to meetup: jerry@makeloveland.com
hey, congratulations, tamika! my personal advice is that yes, it's a good idea to secure it asap. even if you didn't just win it at auction, no one would get you in trouble for that. good luck!
oh, also real quick, detroiter, you said in your original comment: "Instead of advocating that people just buy, I think the focus should be on encouraging them to buy and rehabilitate vacant property or property being occupied by squatters not on trying to make people homeless."
just for the record if anyone's new to wdwot and its philosophy, in no way have we ever advocated for people to blindly buy buy buy simply because they can, and we're totally in line with your suggestion to encourage people to take on vacant properties and not speculate. from the wdwot about page: http://whydontweownthis.com/about
"We want to help match vacant places to owners who will love them.
"You can use this site to publicly state your interest in, and/or intentions for, a property. We believe that sharing our interests and goals for these properties before the auction will encourage partnerships and co-operation. This will show other investors where there is pre-existing interest to help prevent unintentional bidding wars.
"For example:
"An investor in London might have a few thousand dollars to spend on a certain empty Detroit house, while a nearby neighbour might only have five hundred dollars, but would improve and secure the home right away. If the investor in London can see who she would be bidding against she might choose another site since, unlike the resident, her interest is not specific to that house.
"Two or more community groups may try to purchase the same property. While a traditional auction would pit them against each other, driving prices higher, open dialogue can keep prices low by encouraging partnerships and agreements.
"Individuals looking to make investments can buy near the more sought-after areas, or in the areas where fewer people have expressed interest, depending on their preference.
"This site can also connect project sponsors with people looking for funding. If you have a great idea for a property- share it. If someone loves your idea and wants to help you make it happen this site can connect you. We will work with potential project funders to make bids on your behalf and will transfer you the deed if the bid is successful.
"And finally, people who can no longer afford to pay their back-taxes and are at risk of being foreclosed on can let investors know who and where they are and what their story is. Instead of facilitating real estate speculators buying these homes from under them, this site will search out donors who are interested in doing what they can to keep these Detroit families in their homes. There is no way to guarantee what will happen in an auction, or after it, but if enough of us begin sharing our ideas and hopes for the vacant and foreclosed on properties of Detroit we will be able to change in the way land is bought and sold in this city."
i hope that helps clarify the spirit of the site. bill and anyone, if you want to help organize a meetup for next week, hit us up: team@makeloveland.com. cheers!
sorry to be a little slow coming into this thread, it's been super busy. this is a question i put a lot of thought into and have strong feelings about. what we're all seeing through this site is the lights starting to come on in a very dark and very messy room. not everything looks nice, but keeping the lights off only makes things worse. i like bill's idea to do a big get-together for everyone who wants to talk about the auction and what's next.
right now my mind is on how best to follow-up after the bidding ends. as of this moment there are still more than 10,000 properties without bids, many of which will be in limbo after the auction. there are also currently 8 buyers of 100 properties or more and many more bulk buyers to look into, say hello to, and see what's up: http://whydontweownthis.com/top (
thank you so much to everybody who's been commenting and discussing and sharing and helping others out. i don't know if it feels like it to you yet, but i really think we're at the start of an inevitable movement towards a more openly manageable detroit (and other cities, though detroit may lead the way through sheer need) through user-friendly technology that incorporates human voices to better deliver public information to the public and solve hard problems. it's exciting, and will ripple far beyond the auction. looking forward to meeting more of you when the meetup happens. thank you and keep it up!
hey mike! thanks for the suggestion. look for it in the next update, which shouldn't be too long. very happy to hear you're enjoying the site. cheers from the team
hi jeanette, i don't think it's been announced yet, but if it's like last year, then september and october
@Robert Manikowski, sorry about that! the map's working for most people but we've heard from a few others with the spinning wheel and are trying to isolate and squash the bug. would you mind sending me an email at jerry@makeloveland.com with what browser and kind of computer you're using? thanks for that, hopefully we can use that info to get you going.
@iain "Has anyone out there worked out who 'TAXPAYER' is?"
ha, that's a great question. not entirely sure, and i wonder if paying for the individual property lookup with the wayne county register of deeds would show more: http://www.waynecountylandrecords.com/ .
couple related thoughts, i've also heard that it's possible to write in "taxpayer" instead of a proper name when filing with the city, and apparently in michigan if you buy a property from someone, sign the contract, the whole thing, there's no time limit on when you have to file the new deed by.
any property pros with insight into the existence of 'TAXPAYER' please enlighten the class!
hey bob! just saw this message (post notifications were off). it seems like group privacy and better private interactions is right up at the top of the list of usefulness. we've been working on private, multi-user versions of the service for people managing big projects. looks like we should shrink down a version of that for members, too. stay tuned...
hey all! sorry we didn't hop on this sooner, didn't see the message alert. please email me at jerry@makeloveland.com and let me know what kind of computer and web browser you're on. we'll look into it right away. this doesn't seem to be a common problem but we've heard it from a couple others as well, and we'll get it fixed for you. sorry for the trouble!
totally random right now. a couple people who ended up partially over the edge of the city got to re-roll, but otherwise you don't know where you'll land. there's an element of detroit roulette to it :-)
the wdwot team is meeting with wayne county deputy treasurer david szymanski tomorrow morning to talk about improvements to the tax foreclosure system and what we can be doing with wdwot. anything you want us to ask or try to make happen, let me know!
thanks, ben! the county database still lists those properties as foreclosed, which is where we're pulling that data from. we'll update them on wdwot. here's to building a self-correcting public database :-)
ha, that's a great question. i'll ask jason. maybe still him, but i know he wants to deed it over to someone else
hey, bill! interesting. if it's on the "2013 foreclosure risk" layer then that's coming straight from the county. see if it shows up in this PDF of the detroit legal news listing: http://www.legalnews.com/pdf/2013_Wayne_County_Delinquent_Tax_Liens.pdf (gonna have to do a search on that page...lotta stuff).
that's awesome, darin (minus the family sickness). good on you.
howdy, garrick!
nice waterfront pet block, matt! you should probably take a look at this: http://www.commonwealthofbelleisle.com
i love north corktown
thanks for sharing your story, kristine, and terribly sorry that happened. this is a clear case of different databases about detroit land not working together, and why they need to (if an auction building is on the demolition list, it should at least be noted). we'll try to find and show the demolition list if we can get it (seems like that should be very public information). please follow-up and share more when details become clearer (who exactly tour it down? what happens next?) and if you're having any work days people might like to help with.
attaching a before and after picture of the house that kristine posted online, with her permission.
quick reminder for everyone that at 6 PM tonight we're holding a conversation about wdwot, the auction, and potential innovations. model d and urban innovator exchange are hosting at the new cafe con leche pop-up at 1561 lafayette street. details and rsvp at http://www.facebook.com/events/443764328994435 . looks like there's a couple hundred signups so it should be an energetic crowd with some great guests. hoping to meet some of you there if you can make it to share stories
right on, tenesha, just posted this first write-up of the meeting: http://wdwot.tumblr.com/post/35639770102/off-to-see-the-auction-wizards-part-1 . looks like the cities and towns in wayne county have until january to decide if they want the unsold properties, which accounts for most of that wait, and then they're likely all off to the state land bank who will make sale decisions. maybe drop them a line too to get in the queue? http://www.michigan.gov/landbank
woa! good luck, tamika! if this is you, hopefully a little exposure helps: http://www.myfoxphilly.com/story/20078502/vet-says-squatter-is-living-at-detroit-home-she-bought-at-auction?clienttype=printable .
when the wdwot team met with the treasurer's office yesterday the deputy treasurer expressed interest in your story, so connecting you 2 in email.
and denise, that's so awesome you're around the corner and noticed this! sounds like a welcoming committee would be most...welcome right now.
also, for the record, this thread originally started here with tamika asking what she could do to immediately secure the house she purchased before the deed arrives: http://whydontweownthis.com/topics/58
ack. that's terrible, tamika. :-( the wdwot team is meeting with the treasurer and his team tomorrow morning. we'll ask about this and report back to you asap. in the meantime keep track of all the efforts you're making and things that happen because these are the stories that will help change things
sharing on this thread, tamika just asked a new question at http://whydontweownthis.com/topics/91 . someone's now tearing up the house she bought. :-(
ok, big conversation scheduled for november 28th at 6 pm: Model D & UIX Present: No Property Left Behind: http://www.facebook.com/events/443764328994435
"The world’s largest property auction just went down in Detroit. Just about 20,000 properties (roughly 5% of the city) were auctioned for $500 and around 8,000 properties did not sell. Overall it seems there was nearly a $250,000,000 (quarter billion dollar) property tax revenue gap.
"Crazy stuff. What are some creative ways to approach this?"
hope to see everybody, and please invite others. the conversations, characters, stories, and ideas posted on wdwot will help frame and drive the night, so please keep it coming.
woa! that does sound like an incredibly long time (25% of a year). has anyone else gotten a message like this? i was invited to meet with the treasurer and his team in the second week of november and will ask about this if we don't learn what's up beforehand.
at the moment all the green properties on the site are ones that made it through auction without bid. there are about 8,000 of them. and stay tuned as we transition the site for the post-auction era...
youch, sorry to hear that, juanita. the county says to email them at taxinfo@co.wayne.mi.us if you want to buy a property that didn't sell. if someone did buy the property at auction you should still email the county and ask who it was. good luck! let us know how it goes.
hi tenesha! the county says to email them at taxinfo@co.wayne.mi.us with the address of the property you're interested in. let us know how it goes!
pretty neat. the WDWOT team has been invited to meet with the wayne county treasurer in the next couple weeks and discuss the auction. keep the ideas and input coming.
i've been trying to get in touch with the county via email and phone, but no luck yet. i'll try to make it down to their 400 monroe street office later today to ask this and other questions. the listed phone number is 313-224-5990 and then hit 7 to try and talk to a person, but right now that's going straight to a dead tone.
Also think about the financial collection gap in the current approach, where the unprecedented scale of Detroit's tax foreclosures really throws off the curve. This year's auction generated approximately $50,000,000 in bids, which appears to leave an approximately *Quarter Billion Dollar* deficit in tax revenue the county says it's owed.
Since 2,000 tax foreclosed properties were withdrawn from the auction after starting with 22,500 -- presumably because the owners got on some sort of tax plan -- the totals originally owed may have changed somewhat, but there will also be some bids where the money doesn't actually come in:
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
• Sum of all back taxes originally owed on all 2012's tax foreclosures in all Wayne County: $275,521,615
• All back taxes owed just Detroit: $239,845,800
• All back taxes owed everywhere else: $35,675,815
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
• Total money bid at auction in all Wayne County (Round 1 & 2): $49,975,566
• Total money bid in just Detroit: $32,525,044
• Total money bid elsewhere: $17,450,522
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
***Countywide collection gap: $225,546,049***
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
You can see some county stats including the number of properties sold (11,972) and unsold (8,686) at http://whydontweownthis.com/us/mi/wayne
And Detroit stats (10,570 sold and 7,907 unsold) at http://whydontweownthis.com/us/mi/wayne/detroit
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
We should add the total back taxes owed to the dashboard, too, for easier comparison -- had to add up totals from individual cities.
I remember when Macomb County decided to sell all its 627 tax foreclosure auction properties to one bidder without competition for $4.8 million a little bit back, the reason given was that the county just needed to cover back taxes owed, and since the buyer was willing to pay, their duty was done without needing an auction. (Map and link to news story at http://whydontweownthis.com/us/mi/macomb ). If raw financials are the driving duty, and if the gap is really is in the neighborhood of $225,546,049, we gotta get Wayne County on kickstarter.com. Jeepers.
+1
for a second there i couldn't help but read the bid graph on this house as a stock ticker for the raccoon scat market. thanks, sandman :-)
just connected her with someone from the Fair Housing Center of Metro Detroit at 313-963-1274 http://www.fhcmetrodetroit.org
well, the good news about the tigers losing the first 2 games is that when they come back to life we'll have an extra couple days to think about this :-)
i feel like this is a group hug thread. too soon?
hi phil! congratulations on your winning bid. did you get the payment piece taken care of? the new owner process sort of just dumps you off the side of the boat and into the ocean, and there isn't really a formal system to help you float. to that end, one of the things i feel like should happen next with this site is building out a social network of new property owners and amateur developers where we can all help each other out by sharing problems, questions, solutions, resources, all that, and in the process build new user-friendly property management tools.
to be continued, and in the meantime happy physics!
not sure, but looks like newhomes1 bought just this one property, so they must have really wanted it
also let me say thanks to you guys. nothing's gonna work without people using the service, asking for things, pointing out errors, contributing, being helpful, and all of that. so a bow to you. let's keep it growing and improving!
larry sheradon is a super genius, and the rest of the team ain't too bad either :-)
we'll be there! i encourage the wdwot community and anyone reading this to go, too, as we're all having a relevant experience. should be good, and will be better with more interested peeps
cassandra, it turns out the buyer who outbid you has purchased more than 600 properties at the auction: http://whydontweownthis.com/winner/BelieveInTheD . as soon as we learn who believeinthed is we'll share it and try to learn more about their plans. my guess is you're not the only person in this situation, which is going to draw a fair bit of attention, so hopefully it turns out ok for you and everyone. please let us know if there's an update and if there's anything the wdwot community can do to help
hmm. broken into just this week? eesh. i'd talk to the neighbor and get a sense of whether the person is trying to live there or is ducking in to occassionally camp because the door is now open. if it's a case of occassional camping because the door is open, that's exactly why the house should be boarded up or otherwise secured, and i'd expect the neighbor would agree. my personal, non-professional advice is proceed with caution and compassion, treating it as a human and not a legal issue, and the person who broke in will probably move on when they learn you're attending to the property. but i obviously no know details here, so just please be careful!
ronald, as soon as we can get the real identities of the big buyers we'll post them. it may take anywhere from a couple weeks to a month or more depending on how the county handles the information, but we'll request and share it here.
i'm still new to learning how the housing commissions work, but maybe try contacting the united community housing coalition http://www.uchcdetroit.org at 313.963.3310. sounds like they've been helping people out around the auction.
not sure, brandon, sorry. we don't yet have as much experience with and data like that for hamtramck. we'll try to change that, but in the meantime you'll want to run to city hall and check, unless someone else knows a better way
that's the winning question(s). sharing this link and will be back to participate in the conversation i hope happens
*googles pecuniary*
yea, we gotta have lunch or something soon. too much to say here. i really appreciate your comments. sometimes i think detroit can be more like a cult than a city (insiders, outsiders, getting it, not getting it, the way it is, not like other places, real deroiters, etc) which can lead to incredibly ineffective strategies for dealing with problems and a sad acceptance of the unacceptable. but that's a bigger, more philosophical conversation that goes well with a hamburger. hit me anytime if you want to meetup: jerry@makeloveland.com
thanks for that link. if you or anyone have more resources like this, let's share 'em. we can also add a page that lays it all out simply
hey, congratulations, tamika! my personal advice is that yes, it's a good idea to secure it asap. even if you didn't just win it at auction, no one would get you in trouble for that. good luck!
oh, also real quick, detroiter, you said in your original comment: "Instead of advocating that people just buy, I think the focus should be on encouraging them to buy and rehabilitate vacant property or property being occupied by squatters not on trying to make people homeless."
just for the record if anyone's new to wdwot and its philosophy, in no way have we ever advocated for people to blindly buy buy buy simply because they can, and we're totally in line with your suggestion to encourage people to take on vacant properties and not speculate. from the wdwot about page: http://whydontweownthis.com/about
"We want to help match vacant places to owners who will love them.
"You can use this site to publicly state your interest in, and/or intentions for, a property. We believe that sharing our interests and goals for these properties before the auction will encourage partnerships and co-operation. This will show other investors where there is pre-existing interest to help prevent unintentional bidding wars.
"For example:
"An investor in London might have a few thousand dollars to spend on a certain empty Detroit house, while a nearby neighbour might only have five hundred dollars, but would improve and secure the home right away. If the investor in London can see who she would be bidding against she might choose another site since, unlike the resident, her interest is not specific to that house.
"Two or more community groups may try to purchase the same property. While a traditional auction would pit them against each other, driving prices higher, open dialogue can keep prices low by encouraging partnerships and agreements.
"Individuals looking to make investments can buy near the more sought-after areas, or in the areas where fewer people have expressed interest, depending on their preference.
"This site can also connect project sponsors with people looking for funding. If you have a great idea for a property- share it. If someone loves your idea and wants to help you make it happen this site can connect you. We will work with potential project funders to make bids on your behalf and will transfer you the deed if the bid is successful.
"And finally, people who can no longer afford to pay their back-taxes and are at risk of being foreclosed on can let investors know who and where they are and what their story is. Instead of facilitating real estate speculators buying these homes from under them, this site will search out donors who are interested in doing what they can to keep these Detroit families in their homes. There is no way to guarantee what will happen in an auction, or after it, but if enough of us begin sharing our ideas and hopes for the vacant and foreclosed on properties of Detroit we will be able to change in the way land is bought and sold in this city."
i hope that helps clarify the spirit of the site. bill and anyone, if you want to help organize a meetup for next week, hit us up: team@makeloveland.com. cheers!
sorry to be a little slow coming into this thread, it's been super busy. this is a question i put a lot of thought into and have strong feelings about. what we're all seeing through this site is the lights starting to come on in a very dark and very messy room. not everything looks nice, but keeping the lights off only makes things worse. i like bill's idea to do a big get-together for everyone who wants to talk about the auction and what's next.
right now my mind is on how best to follow-up after the bidding ends. as of this moment there are still more than 10,000 properties without bids, many of which will be in limbo after the auction. there are also currently 8 buyers of 100 properties or more and many more bulk buyers to look into, say hello to, and see what's up: http://whydontweownthis.com/top (
thank you so much to everybody who's been commenting and discussing and sharing and helping others out. i don't know if it feels like it to you yet, but i really think we're at the start of an inevitable movement towards a more openly manageable detroit (and other cities, though detroit may lead the way through sheer need) through user-friendly technology that incorporates human voices to better deliver public information to the public and solve hard problems. it's exciting, and will ripple far beyond the auction. looking forward to meeting more of you when the meetup happens. thank you and keep it up!