Detroit (or Baltimore or Philadelphia) - Investing from abroad

[Pedro D.]

Hello to all!

My name is Pedro, I am from Argentina, and with a partner, we are planning to invest in single family homes in Detroit. We are working with a firm based in Miami (from which we have good references) to search for, buy and manage the property.

I wanted to seek some opinions regarding the neighborhoods to look at and the ones to stay out of. I am talking here about future value of the properties and how can they appreciate or not in time (I am aware of the risks of bad tenants, but that’s another story) and/or what to look at or not when choosing a neighborhood or studying a deal.

Also, to seek opinions from people within the US and, even more, people living in Detroit, to see if the hype that the city has been having (at least here) as a good opportunity to invest and expect a huge rebirth of the city in terms of jobs and population growth is justified or just hype.

I also want to seek opinions regarding the amount of investment the city has been having in terms of buying and reconstructing houses: does it match the actual need for single family homes or there are more houses available than the people looking to rent them? It worries me a bit the possibility for this to be an investors bubble that does not match the reality in terms of demand from people actually living there.

On another note, we have been offered the possibility to invest in Baltimore and Philadelphia, with higher amounts but similar returns to Detroit, any insights on these markets?

Really appreciate your time and all the knowledge I have grabbed from all of you during the last couple of weeks since I joined this community.

Cheers!

[Jamiel Strickland]

@Pedro D.

This question I can talk about for hours but I will make it easy lol. You really have to find someone trusted to give you appropriate feedback on the area preferably someone from here. I say this because even nice areas can have a bad street. It is a street by street anaylsis versus trying to pick a neighborhood. For example, Bagley is a nice area in Detroit but even in this nice area its streets within Bagley that can be a little shaky.