Buy this fixer-upper with ‘Ghostbusters’ ties for just $1,000

The childhood home of Ray Parker Jr., writer and performer of the iconic Ghostbusters theme song, is for sale. But this listing is considerably sadder than most news about celebrity homes hitting the market in Detroit.

The three-story brick residence on Virginia Park Street in the Petoskey-Otsego neighborhood can be bought through the Detroit Land Bank Authority’s Own It Now program for just $1,000.

According to a DLBA spokesperson, the address matches the one for Parker Jr. in the book Home in Detroit: Where They Lived and a deed from 1963 shows it was purchased by Ray E. Parker Sr.

The low price is justified given the state of the 2,342-square-foot home. Photos on the listing show boarded up windows, piles of debris throughout the first floor, holes in the wall, and other issues. But there’s also some attractive wood paneling and a coffered ceiling that may be salvageable. Most homes sold through Land Bank quitclaim deeds are in similarly rough conditions.

The Wayne County Register of Deeds shows that the home went into foreclosure in the early 2010s, though a Google Street View image from 2009 already shows damage to the roof and porch overhang, as well as an untended front yard.

Getty Images

Parker Jr. is by far most well known for the signature Ghostbusters theme, though he collaborated with numerous famous musicians like Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, and Barry White. In a Metro Times article from 2012, he credits his Detroit roots, and specifically his childhood neighborhood, with cultivating his musical interests.

“Detroit in the days I grew up was an unbelievably musical town. I mean, everybody in my neighborhood played music,” he told the Metro Times. “Everyone I knew wanted to play an instrument. So we’d always have block parties and bands would just play outside on the front lawns and backyards.”

Parker Jr. moved to Los Angeles when he was 18 years old.