48208: A Depressing Tour Of America's Cheapest Zip Code

Buisness Insider ^ | 11-27-11 | Julie Zeveloff

[Lazlo in PA]

In the 15 cheapest zip codes in the U.S., the median price of homes currently on the market is less than $15,000.

And in the cheapest — a block of south-central Detroit that falls into zip code 48208 — the median home price is just $6,388.

48208 is just one neighborhood in Detroit that has been largely abandoned, thanks largely to the struggles of the auto industry, on which the city is so dependent. The city has tried to lure new residents with incentives like renovation money and forgivable loans.

What's life like within the confines of 48208?

[muawiyah]

Depends on the renters. Nederland, for example, which has just all sorts of quaint and ancient housing, all tended to neatly, is on on land which is 90% owned by the government. Virtually all of the housing is owned by large private companies who rent the land from the government.

The Dutch also invented the word "slum", and if you should foolishly tell your doctor "Hey, doc I'm not feeling too good today" he might euthanize you, they otherwise don't let the property fall into ruin.

[Lazlo in PA]

I don’t want to eat anything grown in the soil of Detroit. Besides, Michigan has all kinds of farmland.

There is always plan B...

[Hot Tabasco]

Urban warfare training center? (for NGO’s)

That's probably more like it.......

As a side note, I can't tell you how dangerous Detroit's East Side has become and it's all drug and gang related...........

[SnuffaBolshevik]

Notice the abandoned baby carriage at the lower right.

That says something, I’m just not sure what.

[cripplecreek]

One of the more horrifying pictures I’ve seen out of Detroit.

(Legs sticking out of the ice at the bottom of an elevator shaft in an abandoned building) Link only for the squeamish.

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/2408/algicebody.jpg

[William Tell]

From the linked article: "The crime rate is extraordinarily high. The murder risk is more than eight times the national average, and the robbery risk is nearly six times the national average, ..."

Well, we all know that it is gun ownership that causes crime. The gun ownership rate must be 300 or 400% to explain this violence.

If the local prices of guns have tracked the prices of properties, I should probably investigate investing in some Detroit firearms. I wonder if there are any local incentives for such purchases.

[SueRae]

I have to give Herman Cain credit for going to Detroit first to talk about opportunity zones. I don’t know if anything could save it but couldn’t we at least entertain the notion of giving it one last chance?

I scanned the few photos at the site...the two restaurants looked like they were doing okay at maintenance. And the Motown Museum? C’mon, that has to be worthwhile to save. The theatre? It makes me want to cry to see it...I can only imagine what the residents and those who have moved must feel.

[grellis]

MICHIGAN PING LIST

Please freepmail me if you wish to be added or dropped from the mitten ping.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Do you know what an acre of farmland in Iowa is bringing these days? It ain’t chicken feed.

[ronnie raygun]

48208 poster child for the rat agenda

[cripplecreek]

Something else is going on in Detroit that no one is talking about. In my opinion, Detroit has become a cross border drug transshipment point into Canada.

There have been some big drug busts along I-94 this summer and fall. When I say big busts I mean freight containers full of pot that came across the southern border on trains that were then placed on trucks. Just last week an 87 year old Indiana farmer was caught near Ann Arbor with more than 200lbs of cocaine. He says he was forced at gunpoint.

There has always been a fair amount of drugs moving between Chicago and Detroit but the drugs coming in now are far more than what Detroit users are consuming.

[cripplecreek]

Like it or not, Detroit is one of the top 5 port cities in America. You simply don’t let ports die.

[riri]

Really not all that different from many of the cities in upstate NY. A place I was fortunate enough to escape from 15 years ago, can’t imagine what some of those cities look like now.

[cripplecreek]

Trucks across the Ambassador Bridge:

2010-1,462,659
2009-1,197,967
2008-1,510,487
2007-1,773,465
2006-1,770,008
2005-1,745,318
2004-1,701,462
2003-1,634,319
2002-1,670,565
2001-1,642,042
2000-1,769,389
1999-1,758,752
1998-1,564,492
1997-1,440,804
1996-1,332,014
1995-1,206,477

Top Ports of Border Crossing/Entry (Yearly) Ranked by Trucks
Rank Port Name Year 2010 Trucks
1 MI:Detroit 1,452,659
2 NY:Buffalo-Niagara Falls 898,752
3 MI:Port Huron 670,769
4 WA:Blaine 318,059
5 NY:Champlain-Rouses Pt. 292,224

[ishmac]

I spent a couple years at Sacred Heart Major Seminary. It was just north of here in zip code 48206. At the time (2005) this area had the second highest incidence of shootings in Detroit. After dark you could hear gunshots all the time.

[cripplecreek]

Yeah I’ve read that places like Queens and the Bronx can be pretty rough.

My mother worked at a NJ truck terminal years ago and the police found bodies or parts of bodies near that place every few days.

[WePledge]

Maybe turn it into a giant blockbuster bomb testing range?

[truthkeeper]

I used to live in 48204, just down the street from 48208........

48210 here, many years old. My dad brought us to California in 1962. He said if he never saw Detroit again it would be too soon.

He would be turning over in his grave now, that's for sure.

[Kenton]

I sometimes wonder about someone maybe connected with the conservative movement buying up large tracts of the city of Detroit and turning it into something of value.

We should all pitch in and buy it and turn it into a game preserve.

[RedMDer]