Midwest Has Best Cities for Fixer-Uppers

IRVINE, CA-The number of available single-family homes plunged in recent years as the construction industry underwent a wrenching decline. The National Association of Realtors estimated that in April the nation still only had a 5.2 month supply of homes. But for those willing to take a chance by buying a fixer-upper bargain home, the best cities for this are mostly located in the Midwest, according to a recent report from RealtyTrac, a California-based online provider of real estate and foreclosure data.

Detroit leads all cities with 3,773 bank-owned properties built before 1960 and valued under $100,000. Rounding out the top three, Chicago and Cleveland, respectively, have 1,649 and 1,318 of these properties. Eleven of the top 15 cities are in the Midwest.