Detroit tears down 12 houses by mistake

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DETROIT, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Two artists who bought a foreclosed house in Detroit for $500 at a tax sale found it in ruins, demolished by mistake, on a recent visit.

The five-bedroom house was one of 12 torn down in error, The Detroit News reported Saturday. The other 11 had been bought by Sameer Beydoun, a Dearborn, Mich., developer who said he planned to fix them up.

Kristine Divin said she and Micho "Detronik" McAdow hoped to moved into their house this spring. In December, when they drove to the house to take some measurements, they learned their dream was gone.

"Instead of taking measurements for the boards we needed, we found our house in a pile," she said.

The problem, apparently, was that the house and the 11 purchased by Beydoun had been approved for demolition after the Detroit Fire Department determined they were potentially dangerous. At the same time, the Wayne County Treasurer's Department had put them up for auction.

Demolition occurred after the houses were sold but before the deeds of sale were officially recorded.

Divin and McAdow have been given their $500 back. Divin said the city has also told her she can have any available empty house in Detroit for free.

But she said she has seen nothing to match the one that was torn down. It had one big asset -- it was on the border between Detroit and its upscale suburb, Grosse Pointe.