The Trojan House
It was a beautiful July day when we found the Trojan House. A client of ours had been dealing with an agent he didn't know and contracted us to assess 5 properties for him, going around Detroit and reporting on each of them. Usually, these things are hit-and-miss, some houses good, some beyond bad.
The first four were vacant, the conditions typical of a house that had been abandoned for some time. At some point, squatters had probably moved in and trashed these places. Holes in the roof and the lack of windows sped up the destruction. With everything exposed to the elements, the carpets had molded, the wood rotted, and the overall structural integrity was compromised. We moved through them quickly, taking notes and shooting photos and video of the property and surrounding area.
The neighborhoods are of varying quality, some decent, others a warzone, and it differs block-to-block (that means cruising around the neighborhood to see what kind of place it really is). We had high hopes for our last stop, though. It's in Detroit's historic Boston-Edison neighborhood, a place filled with grand old homes from the city's pre-Depression boom.
The Google Maps photo we had of the house was a year or two old, but the place looked pretty good. It's always exciting getting to (legally) explore a cavernous old house. Aside from all the windows being smashed the house looked decent. For once that day, the outdated photo matched the reality. Or so we thought.
It looked like the place could be saved, right up until we got to the front door. The actual door was long-gone, the entrance blocked off with a section of chainlink fence that revealed the charred interior of the foyer. The house had been gutted by fire. We could barely mumble "Oh my God," when we were confronted by 3 loud and aggressive pitbulls. As we backed away from the doorway, the nextdoor neighbor, hearing the commotion, came over and asked what we were doing. We introduced ourselves and explained our presence. He chuckled and told us about the house's recent history.
Someone had set a fire in the basement, which worked it's way upstairs, burning through the old wooden support beams and floorboards. By the time the fire department put out the blaze it was too late. The Neighbor told us that squatters and thugs had attempted to move in until he repeatedly chased them off and secured the entrances, giving his dogs the run of the place. He said the house had sold before, going to some investor who closed on it not knowing what he was getting into. We reported our findings back to our client, who passed on these sketchy, too good to be true listings.
The story of the Trojan Horse is legendary. After their failed invasion of Troy, the Greeks withdrew, leaving behind a large wooden horse secretly filled with soldiers as a gift. The Trojans, having no idea of the horrors inside, accepted it and brought it into the city, causing their downfall. The lesson is, "Never buy sight-unseen". Even if you can't be there personally, have a trusted third party visit the property to assess the actual condition of the structure (and it's immediate surroundings).