In a rare move, Detroit’s assessor Alvin Horhn on Tuesday spoke during public comment at the City Council meeting to voice his support for bringing back property sale inspections in the city.
Of the 6,100 property inspections conducted by his office, all but 250 were transferred through a quit-claim deed, Horhn said. That means the majority of residential properties are sold as-is. Although legal, these sales come with unique dangers in a city with a single-family housing stock that can be more than 100 years old.
“People do not know what they do not know,” Horhn said, noting that quit-claim deeds don’t guarantee a buyer is getting a property that doesn’t have existing issues, and most owners don’t have the expertise required to adequately evaluate a house’s condition…