IS $19,448. The seller of the average house in Orange County could take his money to Detroit and buy 25 homes, with money to spare.
Just hope you aren't buying one of these homes.
Quotable:
The city is swamped with people attempting to cut their property taxes to match their loss in property value. And meanwhile, tens of thousands simply refuse to pay their taxes:
Just hope you aren't buying one of these homes.
Quotable:
if you search for $0 - $5,000 price range in Detroit, MI, you will find 1,397 properties in that range, out of 20,881 properties for sale.That was six months ago.
The city is swamped with people attempting to cut their property taxes to match their loss in property value. And meanwhile, tens of thousands simply refuse to pay their taxes:
Detroit collects 87 percent of its property taxes on average -- one of the lowest collection rates among large cities in the United States. Most cities collect 98 percent.Detroit estimates it loses $60 million in uncollected property taxes every year, with more than $1 billion lost in the past 20 years .. Records indicate that one-third of all properties in the city are tax delinquent, and more than $165 million is owed.
Yet in many cases, city officials have no idea who owns -- or owes -- what. Records are shoddy and rife with inaccuracies.
Of the 389,000 tax bills mailed this summer, as many as 40,000 will return stamped "undeliverable," says City Treasurer Clarence Williams.
70,000 properties in the city are eligible for foreclosure, the city takes only 1,500 parcels a year ..
Some 130,000 of the city's 400,000 parcels are listed as tax delinquent.