The queen of soul's Detroit mansion sells for a song..

[mikey3000]

Unbelievable. Such a huge historic mansion sells for peanuts. What a shame. I wonder what she paid for it.

https://toronto-citynews-ca.cdn.amp...ection-aretha-franklin-detroit-mansion-story/

 

[unloadonme]

The report says the property had been vacant for 10 years and was in need of major refurbishment. That will have kept the price down. That said, a property like that round here is likely to be worth in excess of £1 million.

 

[72-Jay]

That link gives me a:

404. That’s an error.
The requested URL was not found on this server. That’s all we know.

 

[Cormac135]

There's no interior pics so i can't comment on it.

Could be a shithouse inside.

 

[rareboy]

Someone got a good deal.

 

[nycguydowntown]

would make a good HGTV special as they bring it back to its past glory

 

[sixthson]

It is Detroit, afterall. I'd be curious what comparable properties of all conditions are selling for in that area. It's a beautiful brick home, not a tear down. I wonder why she nearly lost it for failure to pay taxes? Was she financially strapped?

 

[DantheManFL]

I read a few years back that you could buy a house there for $1. I'm sure it would need a lot of work for that.

This is what you get in Toronto for $2,310,000.

https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-toronto/2018/11/577-crawford-street/

 

[mikey3000]

Haha. I know. I grew up in the High Park area of Toronto, between Roncesvalles and Parkside Dr., just south of Bloor St. You would be shocked what houses sell for.

 

[Vannie]

I guess I can use it for the servants.

 

[NotHardUp1]

There is no such thing as a house having a universal value. $300,000 may be a song in a steep market, but it may be top dollar for that neighborhood in Detroit.

It's a bit tedious to hear folks from expensive markets cluck their tongues at less wealthy markets. It's not a song where I live and incomes here aren't what they are in the urban centers of the coasts.

Ms. Franklin may have bought the home in the heyday of her career and that neighborhood, yet they both may have declined since then. The landscape is certainly a sign that there hasn't been money spent lately on the place.

Here is the pic from the link in the OP:

Additional photos from another site:

 

[Alistair]

^ the antenna on the roof has an antique look too

 

[NotHardUp1]

And one more.

I imagine the price is simply weakened because it is Detroit.

As you can plainly see in the bedroom pic, the roof is leaking and there are steel bars on the windows, not a sign of a safe neighborhood.

A somewhat limited video tour is available here: http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/375536448-video

Glimpses of the ceiling suggest the interior walls and ceilings all have to be repaired.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Here is the address in the Zillow listings: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/18261-Hamilton-Rd-Detroit-MI-48203/88101203_zpid/

And here it is in Trulia: https://www.trulia.com/p/mi/detroit/18261-hamilton-rd-detroit-mi-48203--2050525226

As you can see from the Trulia comparisons, it is not out of line with the community prices, especially considering the damage.

My home in central Albuquerque sold near the same price, and its taxes were 1/3 of Ms. Franklin's. It sounds like Detroit is hurting for tax base.

 

[Vannie]

^ the antenna on the roof has an antique look too

We have two houses with older couples on our block with those roof antennas. They probably get 100 free channels.

 

[gsdx]

I read a few years back that you could buy a house there for $1. I'm sure it would need a lot of work for that.

Nicole 'Rehab Addict' Curtis buys a lot of derelict houses in Detroit and has bought some for a dollar. Many have been abandoned and boarded up for decades and take a lot of money to bring back to life, but the results are astounding. Nicole doesn't renovate. She brings them back to what they would look like in the time that they were built.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Notice the large empty wooded lot to the NE of the Franklin estate. It is valued at only $33k. Whether Zillow is full of shit or not, it at least thinks the market is that dead, even with a park in front, a golf course out back, and nice homes all about.

 

[NotHardUp1]

We have two houses with older couples on our block with those roof antennas. They probably get 100 free channels.

And only half of them are religion or PBS with year-round beg-a-thon commercials.

 

[Kahaih]

I saw the word ' historic ' in the opening post. Has the house been deemed as such by a zoning board, a state/national registry, or some such government office?

That sort of thing often makes repairs very expressive as materials and labor have strict boundaries, must be close to original, and often, only a small percentage of an historic building can be altered/repaired at a time within a set time.

 

[Kahaih]

"expressive" ???
I meant 'expensive', of course. LOL

It's been a long day. I'm going to bed.