Death of a City

How low can homes go? Try $0:

Detroit real estate agent Ian Mason has sold homes for $1.

When I asked him to check the listings for other properties at that price, he found four more.

He then took me to a white, clapboard-sided house that his company, Bearing Group Real Estate Brokerage, has listed.

"If you want this house, you can have it," he said. "I'll just give it to you."

"I'm not allowed to accept anything of value from a source," I told him.

"Who said I was giving you anything of value?" he replied.

By contrast, the median price of a home sold in Detroit last month was $7,500... down 50 percent from last year.

Mason counted 1,228 homes listed for under $10,000, 209 of which were under $1,000.

Bernie Madoff Effect

On Fox Business News last week, Dolly Lenz, vice chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman, discussed how the Bernard Madoff scandal is affecting New York real estate. Lenz said Elliman has already lost six deals because buyers who lost money with Madoff no longer have cash for down payments, and she expects more deals will fall through. Lenz said that in New York and in Boca Raton in Florida, sellers whose deals have fallen through and now looking to unload their homes to anyone who can pay with cash. And although there are fewer people buying homes, most buildings still want buyers who can pay cash, and won't consider buyers who need financing. Lenz said, however, that although the median price in the city has fallen, the price per square foot is still strong.