Buffalo NY Abandoned Homes Selling For $1

[tay]

Like many cities, Buffalo, New York, is facing a glut of abandoned homes and lots. There are roughly 16,000 vacant lots and 4,500 vacant homes throughout the city.


Instead of tearing the homes down, city officials are selling them for $1. They’re calling it the Urban Homestead Program. The program requires that residents have the ability to make necessary repairs, and commit to living in the home for at least three years.




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Buffalo Abandoned Homes Selling For $1 - WNYC

 

[B00Mer]

First you have to get the squatters out of your new home.

 

[gopher]

This has worked in parts of NYC, especially Brooklyn. Once the houses were rehabbed, many became very valuable pieces of property and the tax base widened considerably. Unfortunately, as property values went up, some went way too high and the increased rent charges and property taxes forced out poor folks.

 

[B00Mer]

Gohper, this is Buffalo, NY we are talking about.. the whole economy of the city is flat.

You couldn't pay me enough to live in that city..

 

[lone wolf]

That's to Buffalo's advantage....

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

See, here's how it works. You give the banks a trillion dollars, they foreclose on millions of houses, then leave them to rot, providing attractive nuisances and blighting neighbourhoods.

Or we could have given the banks the trillion as payment on the houses. Then the banks woulda had their money and been outta trouble, folks would have their homes, and the neighbourhoods wouldn't have been blighted.

Good job, Bushbama!

 

[captain morgan]

Give the cash to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They, by far did the bulk of the foreclosing

 

[Grievous]

Jobs in Buffalo left to areas that pay 75 cents an hour.


What a shock.

 

[B00Mer]

Bushbama!

Classic.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Classic.

Only fair. It was both of 'em. Funny part is, to listen to folks on this board, you'd think they're miles apart in policy positions. They ain't. Couldn't slip a playing card between 'em.

 

[gopher]

That's to Buffalo's advantage....

I agree. The fact that Buffalo has suffered loss of tax base is to its advantage. True, it no longer is the cross roads city it used to be as shipping isn't as big as it was for transportation of products from the Midwest to the East. And its weather is notoriously bad. But NYC was thought to be on the verge of declining into Hell and it has enjoyed a tremendous resurgence. One thing that made it successful was private dollar investment: once the old, abandoned residences and warehouses were put on the market, entrepreneurs converted those buildings into viable residences, lofts, and art colonies as well as small businesses. NYC is much bigger than Buffalo and it proved that resurgence is very possible.

 

[gopher]

I can show you one hundred photos like this of houses that went for auction at $500 or less. Today they are virtually priceless.

i hope the same thing will happen in Buffalo.