DrewPhilp

I pay relatively little in taxes compared to some of my neighbors, but the mayor is working on trying to get them lowered, as they're artificially high throughout the city. I also pay income tax, twice, both because I live and work in the city. But it's the water bills are the killer. They're about twice the national average, which is ironic AF considering we literally live directly on the planet's largest source of freshwater. Those are going up drastically. Recently the city shut off water to ~80,000-- a population the size of Buffalo, NY.

As for services, they've started plowing the roads this year (they didn't before and it was a nightmare-- 4WD was a must) and now I have streetlights which is good. Obviously, these are basic city services and it's great we have them now, but I guess it's good only in comparison to what came before. But part of the allure to the neighborhood for me, is that we-- and by we I mean the neighbors and community-- do a lot of the work ourselves, like tree trimming. I feel like it gives me more agency in my neighborhood and life, and makes it easier to have a say and stake in where I live. I find it unconscionable though, that they would shut off water to that many people.

Because it had been abandoned for more than a decade before I bought it, I was able to purchase the house at the base price they sell them for in the county auction-- $500, so I didn't have to pay any of the taxes.

Sometimes. Detroit is a dangerous city, and someone did try to kick in my door one night-- It's a story I tell in the book. But I think what makes me the most safe is a good relationship with my neighbors. They look out for me, and I for them. I can't say it won't ever happen, as almost all of my neighbors have been broken into, but not a lot of people want to steal the tools from the guy fixing the elderly lad's fence down the block-- that's someone's auntie or grandma. So it helps to help people out. I also have a giant dog and do own a gun and I'm a boxer, so there's that too.

As mentioned above, my neighbors are great, wonderful people. I really do love them. Many have owned their houses for decades or generations, and it takes a lot to have made it through the 80's and 90's in that neighborhood during crack and mass incarceration and devils night, etc. They are some of my favorite people in the world. And yes, I made sure to speak to everyone to see if people were OK with what I was doing. They looked at me funny at first, but then saw I was for real and accepted me.

Here's the Imgur link:

http://imgur.com/a/66fDh

There's a few in there. Aside from a new front porch and all of the windows, the outside of the house looks pretty much the same. The siding will be just about the last to be done.

The only thing I paid to have done was the roof, because it was cheaper paying a pro to do it than paying my friends to help me, although I have done a number of roofs.

I worked on it for about a year before I actually moved in.

This is a good question. And, yes, it is considered a food desert. I have to drive quite a ways out of the neighborhood to get to a good grocery store. Mostly I shop in the enclave city of Hamtramck, or at a local Grocery store in Southwest Detroit.