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Houses in Dayton for sale on eBay with starting bid of $1

One city official says trend is destroying neighborhoods

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By Ken McCall, Staff Writer Updated 6:34 PM Tuesday, June 22, 2010

DAYTON — After years of predatory lending, waves of job losses and a rising tide of home foreclosures, parts of the Dayton housing market have come to this:

A little over a week ago, a three-bedroom home at 128 N. Decker Ave. went up on eBay for a minimum bid of $1.

Aaron Sorrell, housing and development manager for the city of Dayton, said the North Decker house is a “prime example” of a trend that is devastating neighborhoods in the urban core.

“As banks foreclose on these properties, and when they sell bundles of properties to investors at $5,000 a house, it’s driving down appraised values in these neighborhoods,” Sorrell said.

Back in October 2004, the 1,344-square-foot house sold for $57,000, county records show. But the house went into foreclosure in 2007, and its value plummeted.

Last October, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation — Freddie Mac — bought the house for $20,000, then sold it for $5,000 to a Nevada real estate liquidator called Iverson Investments.

In March of this year, Nancy Roberts of Santa Fe, N.M., bought the house from Iverson on eBay for $5,655 — one-tenth of its 2004 price.

On May 27, she put the 1927 house on eBay for a minimum bid of $1. By Friday, it had received 22 bids and was up to $2,175.

The banks’ dumping of houses has “completely disrupted” the market, Sorrell said.

“This is just one transaction,” he said. “And you think of all the various mortgage companies and investment banks who hold all of these assets. As they start unloading them for pennies on the dollar, it’s going to further push down the values in neighborhoods.”

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