Bought a freehold landed house for USD 1000 at auction

[Big Toe]

Sounds totally like a scam but it's happening at Detroit, where there are not enough jobs to go around and people are leaving. Article link from CNN.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/10/07/real_est...index.html

The lesson that I learnt is that land is only as valuable as the economic activities that surrounds it. If there are no jobs, no employment opportunities, land is not worth very much.

Now, we are seeing a ridiculous number of houses being build in Johor without a similar quantum of jobs/economic activity being created. What happens then? I see a retirement village, at best.

[kelvesy]

well, i think it is a great buy.

like market cycles, there will be a chance to profit handsomely when something is bought dirt cheap enough.

[roxhockey]

The other thing you need to consider is the the land comes with liabilities. Dont know what these are exactly but you probably need to pay city taxes, keep the property in a state of good repair, cut the grass etc. it's not like you can just buy one property and leave it with the hope that it goes up one day.

[sgd]

detroit is a broken place from youtube videos I seen the only industry thats still employing people is pulling down and scrapping buildings for recycling.

don't think you want live there, nobody cares it's become a lawless place

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os-2SMPuyuY

[yeokiwi]

The other thing you need to consider is the the land comes with liabilities. Dont know what these are exactly but you probably need to pay city taxes, keep the property in a state of good repair, cut the grass etc. it's not like you can just buy one property and leave it with the hope that it goes up one day.

Besides that, if you are not staying in the house, you also have to have means to ward off homeless and vagrants from occupying the house.

Singapore is one of the few places that unlit units are very well protected. So, many rick folks treat the unrented units as fixed deposits.

[sgd]

http://en.ria.ru/analysis/20141020/19431...tates.html