Newbie Here to Learn How To Help Parents With Rental Properties

[Deanna J.]

Hello Everyone,

I am here to learn as much as I can about rental properties -- more so about property taxes, land value, zoning, redlining and more. As well as more on Whole Sale properties and flipping homes.

My parents have owned multiple single family homes in Michigan all my life.  In 02, my father passed and my mother who never handled the business side/management side  - took over and since then we have had some losses and issues.

I have lived out of state since undergrad - but recently moved back home to help my mother and before I head back to school for my Doctorate. 

I have so many questions about home values, property taxes, state equalized value, zoning and assessing to purchase properties.

The homes were all purchased cash - and my father was a jack of all trades --  and had a small business an electrian and contractor - in addition to working and retiring from GM as a Master Electrian. 

The homes are all in low-income areas - but very close to the city area in our town.  Some are "Section-8" -- and a few are not.

It seems like the homes have not increased in value even though they have all had updates and well-kept.  Some sites say they were worth at one point 80K+ - then a few years later they were 25K - even though they had improvements.

I plan on getting an appraisal done for each and updating the Parcel info with the assessor - since they are all incorrect.

I also want to purchase a few wholesale homes in next year - but I am not sure if the area they are in - even though close to the downtown area are worth it - since they seem to be in historically red-lined areas.  I would love to learn about taking equity out of rental properties and the best practices for doing so.

Whew! That's a lot -- but I just wanted to get it out there -- so I can make sure I can find the resources and advice I need.

Thanks in advance!

[Emily B.]

Hi @Deanna J., where in Michigan are you focusing? Prior to paying for appraisals, you could also work with a real estate agent who may be willing to provide area comps, to at least let you know if you're going to be in the ballpark of where you think the values should be.