Peter Grosso of Long Island, New York, paid about $90,000 for 29 Detroit homes at an auction for tax-delinquent properties last October. He’s sure they’ll sell at a profit within 10 years, while he rents them for income.
Grosso is part of a Detroit land rush that’s drawn investors from around the U.S. and as far away as England, Cambodia, China and Australia seeking distressed homes for as little as $500. Local buyers — and even a Dutch mink farmer — scooped up hundreds of houses at Wayne County’s tax auctions, which last year put a record 21,350 tax-delinquent properties up for sale, 89 percent of them in Detroit, and sold 12,333.
