Belgian Investors Starting in Detroit Real Estate – Looking to Connect

[Helena Goyvaerts]

Hi BiggerPockets Community,

We’re Helena and Tom, a Belgian couple starting our journey into US real estate.

• - Personal: I work in tech, and Tom works at a VC Fund. We'd love to move to the US one day. We love traveling (next up: Trump's inauguration in January).
• - Our first investment: A house in Detroit via InvesteerAmerika (handling resales, property management connections, and setup). This is our 'learning' phase.
• - Financing: Starting with cash but hoping to secure loans for future investments. Experience with financing via US banks as a foreigner are more than welcome!
• - Our goal: Learn the ropes and eventually build a portfolio.
  

Looking to connect:

• - Are you a non-US citizen/ non-green card holder investing in the US?
• - What has your experience been like?
• - Any advice or tips on the real estate market in Detroit?
  

We’d love to hear from you, really!!!!
Helena & Tom

[Drew Sygit]

@Helena Goyvaerts welcome to Detroit!

Your first challenge is - you shouldn't buy based upon zip code!

The City of Detroit is block-by-block in many Class B & C areas.

In our opinion, zip codes cover too large an area.

We use Detroit Neighborhoods, which are much smaller than zip codes. Still have to be careful though, with the block-by-block challenge, depending on the Class of Neighborhood.

Also, be sure you understand the difference between the City of Detroit and the suburbs! You MUST understand this as the suburbs are usually much nicer than the city.

All of these challenges are why we have a map of Metro Detroit on our website with the cities in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne Counties listed, as well as 183 Neighborhoods in Detroit.

The majority of the 48235 zip code is Class C, the question is, do you understand what that means?

DM us if you'd like to discuss further:)