Charities in the area see more donated homes

DETROIT (AP) -- Some charities in the Detroit area have been so flooded with offers to donate houses that they've been forced to adopt strict guidelines outlining what they can accept. The rise in offers came amid a housing slump that's hit the Detroit area especially hard, Detroit Free Press reported. Vincent Tilford, executive director of Habitat for Humanity Detroit, said the agency used to get two calls every other month from people wanting to donate houses. He said that since 2008 the agency has been getting several calls a week. "Ninety eight percent of them we turn down," he said. Donation offers come as property owners look for ways to escape taxes, insurance and upkeep for second homes, inherited houses and other properties. With a donation, the charity can benefit from the home's sale and the donor gets a tax deduction. Charles Konkus, president of Real Estate Donations, a division of the West Dundee, Ill.-based nonprofit Restoration America, said property donations are rising. The group accepts donations for its housing charity and manages the sale of donated houses for others. Last month, the group closed on its 101st donated home this year. In Michigan, he's recently received house donations in Atlanta, St. Charles, Owosso, Frankenmuth and Marcellus. He also has accepted donated homes by Chase Bank in the Detroit suburbs of Grosse Pointe Woods and Eastpointe. Some houses being offered are rundown and in deteriorating neighborhoods, and most charities are not in a position to fix up houses. "We had to kind of look at our policy on accepting house donations," said William Brazier, executive director of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Detroit. Brazier said there has been a "great increase" in houses being offered, something that was rare in the past. One out of 10 homes offered to the charity has been accepted, the newspaper said, while the others have been rejected because of condition. "If it's in nearly move-in condition," he said, "we would have no problem renting it out to a family in need or selling it." Published: Wed, Dec 7, 2011