I think that charitable donation really IS a good idea in this case!

I now live in Saginaw and I bought my house just 'cause it was cheap; I had never been here prior to looking, signing papers (and paying cash- no evil mortgage for me!) and finally moving in, so Saginaw was/is a big adventure. As small cities go, Saginaw is quite livable: Magnate Schools; Public Transportation; Theatre(s); Concert Venue; Sports Venue plus beautiful older homes in pleasant neighborhoods and active community associations. Now, if we only had more jobs... Seriously, I don't know why more business don't relocate here, cheap taxes/land, and all of the employees they could ever ask for, also, we speak (a rude raspberry to all of those moving their operations overseas) English!

PS: To Mary- the mortgage holder must pay taxes too, if they don't they lose the property to the city/county. The property is free and clear to the purchaser except for the obligation to the local government, that's how we do things here in the Thumb-Pit!

Since most of you including the "lucky" buyer haven't been to Saginaw, good luck ever selling that house!  Saginaw has been beaten down by the economy & the closing of car factories.  Her biggest problem is finding someone who has a job that can afford to buy ANY house.  And the people who can afford to buy a home aren't going to live in Saginaw or a neighborhood that houses are being sold for $1.75.  If she can ever sell it it will probably be to a nice pimp or crack dealer.

As I have heard it said many times, you get what you pay for. She might be able to sell the lot and break even if the costs to clean it  up, and clear up all other costs, i.e. leins againts the property are less than $10,000. Who knows, with luck she might recover her $1.75!

I feel sorry for this young lady who has obviously been taken in by one of these huge companies that make big money selling the 'how to flip property' programs!!

This young lady will probably end up in bankruptcy herself.

Unless you can do the work yourself by either living in the property and fixing it, or living nearby and going into the property everday fixing and maintaining it, you will surely lose money on the deal.

This young lady will have to hire construction and landscaping personel to fix and maintain the property.  She will have to keep up with the taxes on the property, deal with city inspectors who give time limits on bringing a property up to code, possible lawsuits if she tries to sell it without fixing the problems, deal with utility companies who may be owed past due money, plumbers, electrician, roofing, bug inspections, the list goes on and on!  She's looking at thousands and thousands of dollars to fix a property, in an area that has falling house prices, no jobs, and maybe in a bad neighborhood.  So after all that work and money, she will probably end up losing big money on the whole deal.

Someone mentioned bringing the jobs from overseas back to the run down area in the US. I doubt it will work. I know in China, workers are paid at about 150$ per month. No health insurance or any other benefit. 150$ a month, that's all. Will any US worker take that offer? Absolutely NONE! Then you cannot compete with Chinese workers for those jobs. Why those chinese workers can take the "offer"? Because that's the only way they can feed their family. In China, there is no social security or anything like that. If you lose your job, you get no one to help you. The salary paid to one US worker can feed 10 families in China. That's reality.

Demolish the house (let the Saginaw Fire Dept burn it), keep the property and plant beans.

Next invest in a good plow and tractor.  

I'm hearing a lot of "buy and hold" for a profit mentality out there.  Saginaw, Flint, and Detroit, MI are not being anchored down by the current market woes.  These places are their own black holes or realty. They have been just about worthless for a long time.   No one in that neighborhood wanted that house for $1.75 and no one will want it just because she gets rid of some trash from the yard.  Gentrification has bigger and better fish to fry than going-nowhere Saginaw.

This is why property taxes should be abolished . Low income and middle class people formulate all the rules and regulations to make living unsustainable to the same claases. No matter how much you regulate, it is not going to affect the Sam Waltons. In the process of having  to justify low income jobs in the government these regulators are pushing the low income and middle class  even further.

From Franz Kafka's Parables and Paradoxes: "Leopards break into the temple and drink to the dregs what is in the sacrificial pitchers; this is repeated over and over again; finally it can be calculated in advance, and it becomes part of the ceremony."