It’s also kind of funny to hear some commenters on NPR and BB suggesting that Jerry is anything other than a creative young fellow who wants to make the world a better place.

It’s a fun project, and Jerry is a creative guy doing something interesting and unique, which he puts a lot of his efforts into. And yes, he will make some money from it, (maybe a LOT of money) because people like me think the idea is cool, and don’t mind dropping $25. I hope he makes a million dollars from it.

There’s no scheme. It’s all pretty up-front. I know that my $25 gets me 25 square inches that I can use for whatever I want, but that I don’t actually “own” the land. So what? It brings attention to Detroit as a place where interesting new things are happening, and assuming that Jerry moves forward with some of his admittedly outlandish ideas, maybe it will result in something interesting that can be seen on the web (including my 25 inches and whatever I do with it,) and possibly something that people would be willing to travel to detroit to see. Maybe the kids next door will open a lemonade stand and make money from people coming to see the project. Maybe it will be the start of a community of artists.

The point is that the result is going to be something unpredictable, and some people like to help the unpredictable happen. :)

I’m, uh, the insane despot.

In case you were wondering.

According to some, I’ll be making a poor choice. Maybe I should buy a video game instead? That would be more worth the money, right?

Seems like a fun and goofy idea to me. I bought myself a square foot. $12 is about what I’d spend on coffee and breakfast in 2 days, so whatevs. If it does something cool, great. If not, then I get the world’s tiniest deed and a magnifying glass in the mail, and it will be a great conversation starter.

Maybe I’ll get one of those tiny display domes posted yesterday and put it in there.

err… I’m more of a metric person but I thought a square foot was 144 square inches.

Apologies to the people that did this, quite possibly with the best of intentions, but you just hit the wrong button on the Halloween Jack control panel.

Could you please tell that to my elderly cat?

Whether it’s worth twelve bucks for a little deed, glass, and a chuckle is up t’you. I guess it’s in a good cause, although of course with no track record it’s hard t’say for sure. (Their website text is so ridiculously energetic that I’m instantly mistrustful, and the phrase “social network” just sets off big red alarms in my mind.)

People leave those areas in droves for a *reason*. Buying super cheap land there won’t actually be a good investment for a long long time. Which means it’s just not a good investment at all. You could buy bonds and have a safer long term investment that won’t cost anything to maintain. The houes and land up for sale cost money (taxes) and don’t generate interest. There’s no way to know if you’ll recoup your investment, much less sell it for more than you paid for it.

Mind you, if you’re OK living in urban blight, get a cheap non damaged home, install some form of high speed internet (satellite? Does cable still run to these areas) and can work remote for a good salary, you’ll be able to live fairly cheaply. Beyond that, I can’t see any real good reason to buy that land.

That all aside- thank you guys for posting this!! My love for D-Town can now be baked into a deed, until I have the $4k required to buy a full vacation home for myself! <3 <3 <3

This micro-investment is a cool idea, gives the opportunity so people who normally couldn’t afford it, to contribute to a greater cause. Anything that helps to improve detroit is good in my book, kudos to you Jerry P. and good luck in your current/future projects.

still, it would be cool to legitimately be able to say that i own land.

No, I’ve never been to see my square inch of land, but as I remember my father got it for me back in the 1970s for $1 so apparently a square inch of land is a pretty stable investment.