Is this true?

[Walsingham]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...or-just-10.html

 

If it is then I for one would very cheerfully part with 30 quid to have the satisfaction of housing a few homeless people. What the hell is going on? Surely they're worth more than that for firewood!

[Zachariah Tam]

That is because there are no jobs available in a 100 mile radius. Detroit is a good place to play Fallout LARP. When the economic crisis struck the automakers and they set up massive layoffs Detroit was the hardest hit. Add in worsening poverty, drugs, and gang violence no one can really live there. It is damn shameful.

Edited March 13, 2010 by Zachariah Tam

[Walsingham]

That sucks.

[Gfted1]

I suppose the story could be true but I doubt it. If nothing else, there is more than $10 worth of recycleable material in each house in the form of aluminum, copper wire, etc... and the sales agency would make more money gutting them.

[Hurlshort]

I suppose the story could be true but I doubt it. If nothing else, there is more than $10 worth of recycleable material in each house in the form of aluminum, copper wire, etc... and the sales agency would make more money gutting them.

 

Actually there are probably just a bunch of other costs, the ten bucks is just covering the change of ownership. The amount you would be paying in property taxes and everything else would not cover what you might salvage from the house itself. These houses are likely already fairly stripped down, as well.

[Walsingham]

I imagine there must be costs such as insurance in case someone hurts themselves on the property, but ffs it has got to be worth it.

[Hurlshort]

I imagine there must be costs such as insurance in case someone hurts themselves on the property, but ffs it has got to be worth it.

 

As a long term investment, possibly. You are going to have to put some money into it and then wait and hope the area recovers a little bit. It is like buying those empty lots out in Nevada, sure they might turn into something someday, but it's a gamble. This has a better chance of becoming a decent property, given that there is infrastructure already, but there are more costs involved.

 

What they need is some company to come in and buy up a bunch of land for a factory or something, then that will create jobs, which will create a need for the homes and everything else. But that may be 5, 10, 20 years away. Maybe it can be marketed as some modern age Ghost Town, and tourism will drive up the property values.

[Walsingham]

There's an interesting point there. A conglomerate could make a lot of money buying up the housing along with setting up a factory. Sell the housing to workers/outsiders once the jobs are created and rolling. Good way to offset setup costs.

[Killian Kalthorne]

And what? Make Delta City?

[Walsingham]

And what? Make Delta City?

 

Hmm. Hang on. I need to make a model.

[Walsingham]

Some time later:

 

 

Note that you can make profit by making the cakes, but can also make profit by buying houses, driving up the local economy by your workforce wages, and selling on the houses. Normally the profit from the houses would be negligible, but if prices are low enough as here then it may become wise.

 

I just realised I've left out a feedback from profits into making more cakes. This is important because it illustrates how house prices will rise without any deliberate effort on your part.

 

I made the model using a program called Vensim, Sando. I suggest strongly that you pickup the student freeware version and give it a whirl.

[Killian Kalthorne]

Obviously you failed at getting the Robocop reference.

 

Damn shame.

 

Just for your information, I do agree.

[Walsingham]

Updated:

 

 

Feedback loops added