Only in Detroit: couple buys first home for $100

When we moved to Detroit 12 years ago from South Jersey, we thought the city was a waste – beat up, crime-ridden and inhospitable. A dozen years later, we proudly call ourselves Detroiters and hope for better times to come. And now new homesteaders are lining up for auction deals that are starting at $5.

Housing prices here have crashed along with the automotive economy. This piece in the Detroit Free Press, focuses on a young couple who bought a Detroit house for $100 and are hoping to renovate and make it their home. Like so many others in the city, the property has been stripped of everything that could be resold, including all the metal and any woodwork with character. But it apparently hasn't been burned to the ground and the location is promising – Banglatown – on the edge of Hamtramck, a separate city within the borders of Detroit whose long-time residents, mostly Poles and Ukrainians, as well as Asian newcomers, have prevented the decline found elsewhere.