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Woman buys house for $1.75 on eBay

Posted Oct 02 2008, 05:17 PM by Karen Datko
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Plenty of news stories point to gloom and doom in the U.S. economy, and "FMF" at Free Money Finance informed his readers about three: Car sales have tanked, bidding for a date with tennis star Maria Sharapova topped out at a mere $10,000, and -- the craziest by far -- a woman bought an old vacant house in Michigan for $1.75.

FMF said in his tongue-in-cheek way, "I knew things were bad in Michigan, but never thought they were this bad."

Joanne Smith, 30, of Chicago made the successful bid for the Saginaw house in an auction on eBay. Reporter Roberto Acosta of The Saginaw News noted that her bid, one of eight, was lower than the cost of a McDonald's value meal.

Smith told The Saginaw News that she's never visited Saginaw and hadn't seen the house, which looks pretty rundown in a photo at MSNBC. A notice on the door says a foreclosure hearing on the property is pending in January.

The house will actually be more expensive. Back taxes and yard cleanup will cost $850, The Associated Press reports. Smith said her plan is to sell it.

An enterprising reader of the newspaper, "zifferent," found tax information for the property online. It has a taxable value this year of $2,874. Another reader, "tightwork," commented, "I know that she wishes she would have bought a McDonald's meal instead."

FMF was most impressed with the Sharapova charity auction story. "When a date with Maria Sharapova goes for only $10k, you know we're in financial Armageddon!" he said.

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Comments

 

Wow! You know the housing market is bad when... :)

Unbelievable!

Trevor (Posted 10.03.08 1:42 AM ) Report Abuse

I watch Flip That House all the time, I am convinced there is hope for any house, Good luck. I hope she makes alot of MONEY!

T Clifton (Posted 10.03.08 8:50 AM ) Report Abuse

Most likely the aluminum siding and copper plumbing were stripped from that house, and would need to be replaced, and the house would also be likely in a questionable neighborhood.  There are thousands of houses like that in Cleveland, Ohio and other big cities that have had house foreclosure problems.  But still, with the real estate market down, there are bargains to be had, even if they need extensive work, because property values will eventually go up again once this real estate/credit/stock market crisis eases.  And there are people out there who would love to buy a champagne house on a beer budget, so to speak.  And these inner city properties could be attractive in a few years, when gas-price weary people start selling their outer ring suburban and exurban property and start moving back into the city and inner ring suburbs to be closer to their jobs...a 2-3 hour a day commute to and from a community with little or no public transportation might not be feasible with rising energy costs.  And the real estate market today does make it possible to buy a house that was worth $200K 5 years ago for $100K, and be worth $300K 10-15 years from now, once the real estate crisis ends.  People will buy Saks Fifth Avenue real estate at Wal-Mart prices now and just wait for the value to go back up.  There are bargains to be had.

Toby Radloff (Posted 10.03.08 9:12 AM ) Report Abuse

I drive around Saginaw quite a bit - it definitely has some rundown areas. I hope that she realizes she may have this house on her hands for a long time. No one wanted to buy it before - even if she cleans it up, few people will actually be interested in living in it.

ktl (Posted 10.03.08 10:07 AM ) Report Abuse

In the end she bought this house say roughly around $5k.. After some clean-up.. Maybe even $10k. shell make a profit on it either way. And there will be someone in desperate need enough to by that house for really cheap. Are there any more??

Claire (Posted 10.03.08 1:10 PM ) Report Abuse

Maybe it is a greet deal but maybe it's not.  What I want to know is what does the Foreclosure Notice say? And who is it from?  If the house currently has a mortgage, the lady will get nothing for her $1.75 because the mortgage company (or other lienholder)  will get it since they have a first priority interest in the property.

Mary (Posted 10.03.08 5:03 PM ) Report Abuse

Of course she will make plenty of money off the house as long as she holds onto it...What goes up must go down...What goes down will go up again...Its the way of the US economy...You never lose on property if you hold onto it...The reason people are hurting in the market is because when interest rates kept falling the houses kept going up...I knew this would all snowball eventually...People were living of future gains...Shame on those that didnt know...I have friends that kept refinancing and rolling in the closing costs...So ridiculous and this is the end result.

John Handrahan (Posted 10.03.08 5:06 PM ) Report Abuse

No amount of fixing up would make anyone want to live in some areas of Saginaw (and I'm guessing this is one of them... i.e. the East Side).  Put just enough money into the place to make it liveable and become a slumlord.  Sad to say, but she'll probably not have many tennants that will be able to make steady payments thru the term of the lease.

jeff (Posted 10.03.08 6:08 PM ) Report Abuse

Hey dummies.  You can lose your shirt on property. Inner city and run down. Property taxes and other assessments and possibly a requirement to improve the property. No buyers and still costs.  BS to those that think you can always make money on property.  Not always the case.

Frank Of NC (Posted 10.03.08 10:55 PM ) Report Abuse

Went traveling thru Missouri looking for an affordable house. Can tell you pictures on Ebay made properties look reasonable as they were taken from a distance. Inspecting the houses exposed the rotten parts, the improvements were often home made repairs, almost all these deals were in towns that are dying. 2 hour commutes to get food or work. It might sound great to get a house for pennies, from inspecting a few, my advice is stay away even if you could do the work itself. Buy short sales from a bank after you've had it inspected, let Ebay ads be like reading the comics.

inthespiritoftruth (Posted 10.03.08 11:44 PM ) Report Abuse

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