What's the secret to acquiring properties in Detroit?

[Marcus Watson]

Good afternoon everyone,

I conceder myself somewhat a newbie at this, I currently have 2 properties, 1 I live in the other is rental. All in Detroit. My problem is I'm trying to 2 more properties this year, and pay with cash. Well,  for the past month I've been out bided on everything I bid on. Other than the obvious more $$$, what am I missing? I also think, I may need a better realtor, the one I use doesn't seem motivated enough. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[Travis Biziorek]

Hey Marcus, I just replied to your email a bit ago with some reasons why Detroit agents are generally terrible :-)

Outside of that is the challenge that there's just not much inventory out there (historically speaking). 

All the locals are competing for deals and there are a LOT more out-of-state investors looking to get into the market as well. 

Most of the OOS folks aren't educated. They are overpaying for MLS deals that look OK-ish but are probably pretty terrible. That's likely why you're seeing things get bid up.

If you can, go off-market. But that's tough to navigate if you don't have someone to really help you through it. But that's why I'm here :-)