BUYING a property in Detroit a few years ago seemed like a steal for overseas investors — as little as a few thousand dollars would get them a house in a U.S. city that had hit rock bottom and could only see better times.

    Yet the promise turned into a nightmare for many and stories of properties vandalized, ransacked, left untended and un-rentable have sapped the interest from overseas buyers, real estate brokers say.

    “The bottom has fallen out of the speculative market,” said Darin McLeskey, co-founder of Denovo Real Estate, who said he had received a lot of “cries for help” from investors.

    For a city that only emerged from bankruptcy a year ago Thursday, any setback in the real estate market’s recovery could hurt prospects of a sustainable rebound by depressing property tax revenues and making Detroit less appealing to live.

    Property tax revenues fell to US$100 million in 2014 compared with US$183 million in 2006 as a result of population loss and the aftermath of the 2008 credit crisis, according to data from the Citizens Research Council of Michigan.

    Detroit largely missed out on the mid-2000 housing boom and was hit harder than the United States overall during the economic downturn, according to property website Zillow. Now, just as this city of 680,000 is gaining a reputation for industrial cool, attracting young professionals and artists, its housing market has become tainted by reports of scams and dubious practices.

    “Nothing is as good as it seems,” says Des Curtis, who lives near Bristol, England. Curtis says he invested US$45,000 in a Detroit house in 2011 with the promise of steady rent but had his property vandalized and deemed unrentable. “My lesson was: keep away from Detroit for many years until it’s been re-established.”

    Curtis tried to hold the agents responsible and discovered he did not actually own the property. He said, after a long fight, he recovered most of the money via settlements with firms he declined to name due to confidentiality agreements.

    A reputation for scams “creates blight for the city, it creates ill-will towards Detroit,” said Debbie Schlussel, an attorney and conservative commentator who represented plaintiffs suing property management company Metro Property Group LLC in 2013.

    They accused Metro of buying homes in Detroit in unpopular and destitute locations for US$500 to US$5,000 and selling them to investors for up to US$50,000, despite knowing they were unlikely to be rentable, according to the lawsuit. The firm made fraudulent guarantees about the properties, failed to do repairs when promised and created fake tenants, the lawsuit alleged.

    In court documents, Metro said that the vast majority of investors were satisfied with their returns and the services provided. (SD-Agencies)