Author Topic: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)  (Read 7064 times)

Rachelocity

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I saw the article on the housing lottery in Gary, IN and had to post it here!  http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/gary-indiana-offering-homes-1-us-003502729.html

I'm not sure that Gary, IN is my idea of a retirement haven, despite the fact that it is the home of the Jackson Five, but it seems to me that many of the readers on this forum meet the criteria (income in the mid 30s, the ability to bring houses up to code, and the pioneer spirit that would be needed in such an undertaking.) 

Forcus

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #1 on: August 20, 2013, 10:38:59 AM »
I see this is on Yahoo Canada. Looks like they are trying to recruit a bunch of mild mannered Canucks to push out the murderers and drug dealers :).

Albert

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #2 on: August 20, 2013, 10:40:29 AM »
"Contingencies" = tripling (at least) your chances of being shot :)

sleepyguy

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #3 on: August 20, 2013, 11:36:37 AM »
Heck if they paid me $100k I wouldn't live there :)

adesertsky

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #4 on: August 20, 2013, 11:42:36 AM »
Sometimes I drive through Gary going from Chicago to Michigan and the whole time I hold my breath, praying that my car doesn't break down.

GuitarStv

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #5 on: August 20, 2013, 11:56:40 AM »
With no jobs and so many vacant houses that they can't give them away, that doesn't seem like much of an opportunity to me.

Rachelocity

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #6 on: August 20, 2013, 12:16:58 PM »
Quote
I see this is on Yahoo Canada. Looks like they are trying to recruit a bunch of mild mannered Canucks to push out the murderers and drug dealers :).

Well, the nearest Tim Horton's is in Richmond which is 3.5 hours away, so it's clearly hostile territory (never mind the shootings, lack of income, etc., etc.)  OTOH, 40 years ago, I read an article in Glamour magazine about a woman who bought a brownstone in Harlem for $5000 or 6000 and was fixing it up.  Back then, Harlem was a no-fly zone for anyone I knew, but it cleaned up good.  I wonder what Gary and Detroit will look like in half-a-century or so. 

Samsam

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #7 on: August 20, 2013, 01:56:29 PM »
Haha!  My coworkers and I were just talking about this the other day.  We both went to school in IN and when traveling around the state there is 1 place you are told not stop... and it is Gary.

mensa

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #8 on: August 20, 2013, 03:50:47 PM »
Didn't they use this approach in New Orleans about 20+ years ago? Seems to me they were really able to renew big swaths of scary neighborhoods. 'Course, then Katrina happened and kicked the crap out of the city again...

Will

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #9 on: August 20, 2013, 08:48:01 PM »
I was born in Gary.  My Dad's parents lived there.  My folks still live just south of there in a different town.  There are VERY few (if any) spots in Gary I would consider living in if I could get a house for $1.  I know when my grandparents passed away, there was no one in our family who wanted to live in the house (or even considered it).  Gary is NOT a place where people live because they want to.

chicagomeg

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #10 on: August 20, 2013, 09:03:48 PM »
Haha!  My coworkers and I were just talking about this the other day.  We both went to school in IN and when traveling around the state there is 1 place you are told not stop... and it is Gary.

Do you think that means I should stop being a cheap bastard and stopping there for gas everytime I go to Ohio to save 5 cents/gallon?

Samsam

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #11 on: August 21, 2013, 07:47:15 AM »
Haha!  My coworkers and I were just talking about this the other day.  We both went to school in IN and when traveling around the state there is 1 place you are told not stop... and it is Gary.

Do you think that means I should stop being a cheap bastard and stopping there for gas everytime I go to Ohio to save 5 cents/gallon?

Haha, I definitely do not stop there and I tell my friends not to stop there... you want to be friends? :)  But then again you could be 6'4" 250 lbs of ripped...you can do whatever you want.

infogoon

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #12 on: August 21, 2013, 09:05:03 AM »
There's a similar homesteading program in Buffalo - pay the city $1 for an abandoned house, with a promise to fix it up, and it's yours. They're not in great neighborhoods, obviously, but it's hardly Mad Max territory.

When a city has over ten thousand abandoned homes, you have to do _something_ to get them occupied again.

mpbaker22

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #13 on: August 21, 2013, 09:16:52 AM »
St. Louis has a similar thing, but it's usually $1000 and you have to show proof that you have the funds to fix the place. 
It's run by the Land Re-utilization Authority (LRA).  The thing is that some of the places are in decent condition and might just need new pipes or wiring.  Then, some of them are literally missing the 4th wall.

GuitarStv

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #14 on: August 21, 2013, 09:47:38 AM »
I guess that this news means that there are no homeless people in the city?

Argyle

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #15 on: August 21, 2013, 11:01:28 PM »
Some of the houses in Gary are really nice -- they often come from a period of great architecture.  Of course you'd need to know the lay of the land and exactly where you're buying.  Downtown Gary is 30-40 minutes from Chicago and I'm surprised that it hasn't become more of a commuter pioneering spot.  (The Miller section of Gary, which is on Lake Michigan, already has.)  It's not so dangerous that you need to fear for your life every moment, though it's not a rural idyll -- more like New York in that respect.  The off-putting thing about it is not the crime but the eerie abandoned feeling of all those empty houses.  What they really need is a critical mass of newcomers to take root in a neighborhood.  Yes, I am from Gary.

expatartist

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #16 on: August 22, 2013, 12:49:05 AM »
Argyle, thanks for your insight. It's easy to bash a place, harder to do something about it.

Sounds like they're looking for people who are truly committed to rebuilding the city, ie not just investors. Best of luck to everyone there. Some beautiful homes.

PS: only tangentially related - beautiful abandoned homes in Detroit http://www.100abandonedhouses.com/

mpbaker22

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #17 on: August 22, 2013, 09:59:18 AM »
Some of the houses in Gary are really nice -- they often come from a period of great architecture.  Of course you'd need to know the lay of the land and exactly where you're buying.  Downtown Gary is 30-40 minutes from Chicago and I'm surprised that it hasn't become more of a commuter pioneering spot.  (The Miller section of Gary, which is on Lake Michigan, already has.)  It's not so dangerous that you need to fear for your life every moment, though it's not a rural idyll -- more like New York in that respect.  The off-putting thing about it is not the crime but the eerie abandoned feeling of all those empty houses.  What they really need is a critical mass of newcomers to take root in a neighborhood.  Yes, I am from Gary.

Awesome.  I'll link this Google Streetview image that shows what can happen as a neighborhood restores.  This neighborhood still has a ton of vacant buildings, empty lots, and crumbling houses, but this picture might be a taste of the future.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=old+north+st.+louis&hl=en&ll=38.652137,-90.1981&spn=0.000448,0.00066&sll=39.877612,-75.323582&sspn=0.039587,0.084543&t=h&hnear=Old+North+St+Louis,+St+Louis,+Missouri&z=21&layer=c&cbll=38.652137,-90.1981&panoid=W8wX0huSMUPFVtRrOw-kCw&cbp=12,173.73,,0,-0.46

Forcus

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #18 on: August 22, 2013, 12:47:12 PM »
Some of the houses in Gary are really nice -- they often come from a period of great architecture.

I get what you are saying. Peoria (IL) has some fantastic older houses but many of them are in sketchy neighborhoods. I'd LOVE to get one of those houses and restore it but it's a no go with the crime in those areas.

StarswirlTheMustached

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #19 on: August 22, 2013, 04:35:29 PM »
I saw something similar being offered in Buffalo, NY not too long ago. Much better option for we Canuks--not just because the border is there if the NSA sees something on your computer and you need to make a quick exit--but more importantly, there's a Timmies.

mpbaker22

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Re: Gary IN: Homes for Sale for $1.00!! (And a few contingencies....)
« Reply #20 on: August 22, 2013, 09:33:09 PM »
Some of the houses in Gary are really nice -- they often come from a period of great architecture.

I get what you are saying. Peoria (IL) has some fantastic older houses but many of them are in sketchy neighborhoods. I'd LOVE to get one of those houses and restore it but it's a no go with the crime in those areas.

I've seen some that are in decent shape above the bluffs, but yea they are either in bad neighborhoods or need work.