GLIGA Blog: October 2009

Detroit, Mi hate it or love it. Its heavily segregated, a vast majority of the residents have poor credit, the city is plagued with crime, the local government is too corrupt, the school system needs improvement, blight has invaded neighborhoods, and etc. I could go on and on, but the city is still highly profitable for real estate investors.

By my estimates 70% of the cities residents prefer to rent oppose to owning. I have met landlords who have told me tenants have paid off their mortgages from living in their properties so long. Detroit does have several nicer areas to live. Sherwood Forest, Rosedale Park, & Palmer Woods to name a few.

The city has the potential to recover, but with all the racism in the Metro Detroit area many large companies do not want to do business here.

Detroit is a very large city but it lacks the necessary industries to make it thrive. I have friends who live right next door to Detroit in Windsor, On. When they cross over to visit me they frequently complain how we have to drive so far to get to places. Its sad to say Detroit only has 2 major restaurant chain sit down restaurants, and there both on the edge of the city near the water front of the Detroit River.

There are no Fridays, Ruby Tuesdays, Chilis, Paneras, Max & Ermas, Red Robbins, outback steak houses, & etc in the city You have to drive into the suburbs to visit them.

Detroit also lacks major shopping mails, major food chain grocery stores, fitness centers, 7-11, Tim Horton's, The Detroit Pistons don't even play in the city, and so on and so forth. Until these issues are addressed the cities growth will stand still. Despite the fact we have 3 hotels with casinos, new stadiums, and development occurring downtown. The traffic comes from the suburbs, and promptly leaves as soon as the show is over. Detroit has become a transient city.

Even though the city has more than 3 strikes against it. For some reason people like living in Detroit. Many have moved, but several hundred thousand have stayed behind. The most damming part of investing in Detroit, Mi is too many real estate investors are in Detroit. All investors want a good quality section 8 tenant, but there are only so many vouchers out there. The city now has a ton of nice rehabbed homes, but a smaller pool of high quality tenants to choose from. You really have to know marketing in Detroit if you want to survive. Because if you run out of cash, you run out of luck....

I have came across too many articles, and press releases ill advising investors about Detroit. They give you the impression that every rental property you buy will yield up to $1000.00 in rent. That is not a realistic estimate. If many Detroit residents could afford that, they would have moved long ago with the others. Check out the demographics of the city by visiting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit there you can see what kind of income residents have.

By far the biggest drawback to owning rental property in Detroit are the taxes. Detroit has one of the highest millage rates in the nation. I am currently disputing an S.E.V(state equalized value) because the city raised the taxes so high it doubled the amount of the mortgage payments. I took the battle to the states tax tribunal, because Detroit rarely rectifies the problem. So once you factor in P.I.T.I. (principal,interest,taxes,and insurance) you may end up showing negative cash flow. And after you buy the property the taxes will go up again. Do the math before you make the offer on the property. The deal may not be as sweet as you thought.

Another major hurdle you have to overcome in investing in Detroit real estate is shrinkage. So many investors spend a lot of money rehabbing a house, and soon as the contractor leaves for the day the house is broken into. These burglars work very fast. They will steal every new window installed,kitchen cabinets,sinks,toilet,copper pipes,furnace, hot water tank,bathroom sink,vanity,security doors, and anything else bolted down. And they can accomplish this in a few hours.

Your material ends up on the black market, in someone else's garage sale, or in a hole in the wall mom and pop hardware store.The stolen material is then resold to a contractor, and for the most part they know its stolen goods. You may even end up buying back some of your own material if you don't pay close attention.

The neighborhood where your investment property is located is watching everything. Most of the time a neighbor has a hook up with someone, and lets them know about the vacant house full of treasures. Some of these thieves are crack addicts and will break in, and even try to steal the bathtub. One was so stupid, and petty they stole a vinyl downspout off one of my rental properties. This problem occurs all over the city. Even in some of the better neighborhoods.

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