Investing in Detroit

[Alex K.]

Many opportunities in the Metro Detroit area where you can buy a house for pennies on the dollar. Cheapest in the nation.

What are your thoughts ?

[Brian Ploszay]

I've explored Detroit in detail.  I was amazed by the place, probably for the wrong reasons.  It was an utterly devastated City.  There is a reason why there was so much abandoned housing:  No one wants to live there.  Yet the suburbs were healthy and booming.

Detroit today is in much better shape.  The bankruptcy and a fresh proactive mayor have improved the financial condition of the City.  City services are better and abandoned buildings are being torn down.  Parts of the city, albeit a small portion, are gentrifying rapidly.  Midtown, Corktown area.

In other areas of Detroit, houses are cheap, so some people are trying to re-purpose these properties.  It will work only if there is a stable tenant base.  Lower income people tend to want to live in the Suburbs, including Southfield.  

Map out your area of stable pockets in the city or areas near the gentrification.  And make sure you will be able to rent the properties to decent tenants.  I think the competent investors will have very high returns.