Taxes in Garden City, MI

[Alejandro M.]

For those of you investing in Garden City, MI. I really like the area and was thinking that this is where I would buy my first deal. However, after doing the numbers it seems to me that taxes are ridiculously expensive. My understanding is the millage rate is 68 and most houses that I see on Zillow have a tax assessment between $30k and $40k. This leaves you with a tax burden of almost $2,500/year on a property that is (conservatively) going to rent for about $1,000. Once you subtract property management ($1,080/year), vacancy ($1,200/year), capex ($220/month), maintenance ($50/month), and insurance ($50/month) you're left with about $300/month in cash flow BEFORE the mortgage payment. This just seems kind of low to me.

Are my numbers just way off? How are you guys making money? My goal is to get 15%+ in CoC returns using what I consider to be conservative numbers.