Do You Really Have to Wonder What Led to Detroit’s Demise?

There is no doubt there have some questionable goings-on in the city of Detroit, but a recent report highlights just the type of mismanagement that had led to the city's downslide.

The Detroit News is reporting today the findings of expenditures in Detroit's effort to rid the city of blight.  It found that city officials there okayed the spending of nearly $9 millions to flip homes sold for a fraction of that.

A list of some 30 renovated homes, that received some assistance from the federal government, showed that in some cases more than a half million dollars was spend on bringing the home up to code, only to be sold for $100,000!

The move, by the Detroit Land Bank, took the eyesores and--in essence--priced them out of the market, with high end stainless steel appliances, an underground sprinkler system and even a geothermal heating unit in some.

The report found that in total $8.7 million was spent in the process, which averages out to nearly $300,000 per home!

So far, the city's return on the investment is a mere $2 million dollars.

Complaints are coming in now from residents who bought foreclosed homes and had to pay on their own to make them inhabitable.

"What they spent on one house could have helped a whole area," said Harvey Turner, who recently purchased a foreclosed home and is now left footing the bill for renovations on his own.

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