DETROIT – The Detroit Land Bank is selling 26 houses starting at $1,000. The homes are in distress and need to be remodeled and occupied after the sale.
It's a big weekend for Detroit's Osborn neighborhood.
Potential buyers can tour four Land Bank homes up for sale starting at $1,000.
The 26 homes will all soon be up for sale with the hopes that buyers will fix them and sell them to families.
"It's a huge impact in the community when people can rehab these houses and bring them back into productive use," said Alyssa Strickland of Detroit Land Bank.
In 2017, Quincy Jones, the executive director of the Osborn Neighborhood Alliance, was just getting started on a house on Mapleridge. Now, it's been updated and sold to a family for about $50,000.
"You hear the concept, 'One block at a time. One house at a time.' This is the concept," Jones said.
He said he has plans for a few other homes on the block, and neighbors can see the progress.
"I think they're doing a great job in the community," resident Michael Alexander said.
"This could be a starting point of really bringing back people into the community that are in the neighborhood that want to stay in the neighborhood," Jones said.
"There are so many houses in Detroit that can be saved, and we really want Detroiters to invest in the neighborhoods and fill these homes with families again," Strickland said.
The sales event is the first of several. There could be an additional 18 sales totaling hundreds of homes in the coming months.