DETROIT (Reuters) – In a crowded ballroom next to a bankrupt casino, what remains of the Detroit property market was being picked over by speculators and mostly discarded.
After five hours of calling out a drumbeat of "no bid" for properties listed in an auction book as thick as a city phone directory, the energy of the county auctioneer began to flag.
"OK," he said. "We only have 300 more pages to go."
There was tired laughter from investors ready to roll the dice on a city that has become a symbol of the collapse of the U.S. auto industry, pressures on the industrial middle-class and intractable problems for the urban poor.
On the auction block in Detroit: almost 9,000 homes and lots in various states of abandonment and decay from the tidy owner-occupied to the burned-out shell claimed by squatters.
Taken together, the properties seized by tax collectors for arrears and put up for sale last week represented an area the size of New York's Central Park. Total vacant land in Detroit now occupies an area almost the size of Boston, according to a Detroit Free Press estimate.
LINK HERE
BANKS WORLDWIDE GET READY FOR THE OCTOBER SURPRISE?
LINK HERE
Disney's Iger: Our Movie Business Is Screwed
LINK HERE
Are we to feel sorry for this putz after all the years of customers getting royally screwed by the cost of visiting the home of Mickey the child molester?
ReplyDeleteThis is a huge inventory. I agree with you, banks needs to get ready for the surprise for this October bonanza. I also like the link in the post regarding banks and October surprise.
ReplyDeleteOctober is almost over. And I doubt anything will happen. Then I guess the November Surprise is next, followed by December?
ReplyDeleteThe Contrarian View
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with the October Surprise theory. I say this not because the market should collapse but rather the Fed, Govt., Banks, and Media will actually be able to put up the front for a few more months until after the Christmas season. They are all complicit.
Why?
3rd quarter GDP results will be coming out very soon. You will see a surprising increase of say 2-3% growth for that quarter. The markets will rally and the “green shoots” theorist will be propagating their nonsense again.
However, what will no be mentioned is that the 2-3% growth was propelled by the Cash for Clunkers and the short minor housing boom of the $8,000 tax credit for new homes.
Also, Capmark has been given only “mild” attention across the net. This story has legs but no Liberal media will run with it.
It wont be until after the Holiday sales are tallied and the commercial real estate sector collapses in full swing due to retail shops folding up after Feb when you will see the collapse.
Again, I disagree not because it “should” collapse but rather the Power Structure will keep it from collapsing until early 2010.
The holiday sales this year will be the worst in recent memory. Fine by me. BS holiday anyway in every regard.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best title pics ever. Honey lets get deeply into debt
ReplyDelete