Rental Market in Westland, MI

[Anthony Klish]

My wife and I are exploring long distance investment and, for a variety of reasons, you’re looking at Westland Michigan. Curious to know what the state of the current market is, the going rate for a three bedroom one bath single family home.  I know we’re looking north of Palmer, are there areas to target/avoid?  What is the primary demographic of the market?

[Rodolfo Goncalves]

Prices for purchase in Westland are between $150k and $200k. You can find lower prices if you are willing to invest 20-30K in rehabs. There are no rental houses in the market; listings stay up for a couple of days or less. You probably can get 1% rent, maybe a little more. North of Palmer is a good location overall for rent, with lower purchase prices. If you have more money available, stay north of Cherry Hill. Regarding the demographics, it is mostly comprised of blue collar workers employed at many of the surrounding companies. A good example is Ford in Wayne, Amazon in Romulus, and a LOT of healthcare workers. I have two houses in Inkster, close to Cherry Hill where there is a stretch of well taken care homes, rented for $1200. The last one (tenants moved a week ago) had 52 applicants and 90% at least were qualified. In my analysis, the whole region is a hot market for rentals and you can't go wrong. My only concern is finding a good property management company that is both landlord and tenant friendly. I hear a lot of horror stories from both sides... Good luck.