All Forum Posts by: Edmon Ussery

Oakland County. Troy, Royal Oak, Berkely, Some of Ferndale. Use your resources to diversify in an area where you already have investments resources, contacts and business relationships. I can't comment on other markets. Also Short Sales, Probate and Reverse Mortgage Defaults seem to be good investments for the most part.

How about Royal Oak? Good central location in my opinion.

I can tell you how some people make money here and others take a loss. Come here and get good understanding of the market in and out of the city yourself. That is the only way. You will lose without guidance. Look up Robert Piller on here and talk with him. I spent a couple of days with him last week helping him to understand the market and current economical conditions of the city. Hope this helps.

There is a high demand for a nice home in a nice area within the city. Most guys go for rental income but a fix a flip in an elite are within the city is good. Sherwood Forest, Indian Village and Rosedale Park would be my pick on fix and flips especially if you offered land contract terms with healthy down payments. These areas also have minimum risk for vandalism due to good home owner neighbors and block clubs. Sherwood Forest and North University District are hot right now. North Central part of the city where you can access multiple routes for the the metro area. You can make 20-40k pretty fast if you have a good team. East English Village CLOSE TO THE GROSSE POINTE BORDERLINE is also a good one. You can still flip in other areas but the best way would be to another investor with tenant in place, section 8 approved, brick, warranty deeds, nice area and perform tax appeals to reduce property taxes. I see guys make around 20k on these but they do 3+ at a time a month. Hope this helps.

There are so many different strategies in this business. Don't just look a being a listing agent. You will pass up so many buyers. I love doing dual agency when I can. I look for buyers personally. You have to be good at what you do. Most brokers will sell you a dream. Some companies are just unethical. What exactly are you trying to do? I have many agent/broker friends. Everybody specializes in something different. Buyers are easier to find than sellers so that is my focus. When I list a property, I probably have a buyer in mind already. One showing and then close. Short Sales, REO, Investment Property etc. Where is your interest?

We manage properties, handle rehabs, repairs, evictions, tenant placement and anything else that goes along with the job. We also try to encourage investors to have their properties meet Section 8 guidelines whether you use them or not. Also to perform a tax appeal to reduce property taxes and there are a couple of different things to do to reduce insurance. Let me know if I can help.

I have multiple guys that I deal with on rehabs. Had to dump the ones that weren't performing up to our standards. The only way that I could sell a home that was vandalized was to provide good contractors. Let me know if you need my help.

New Mayor!!!!! The market is coming back strong. Prices are increasing! Mortgage industry coming back! More jobs! I am so glad. I was worried for a while. More investors, rehabs, owner occupant home owners and local pride.

Just wondering if you have investments here?

There is a lot of money to be made but you have to have a strategy with people that you trust. Instead of removing items, we have house sitters. We only deal with certain areas and since the city has internal political problems, we don't have to pull permits for rehabs but yet they pass Section 8/FHA guidelines. This keeps the rehabs affordable and fast. Do not attempt if you think that you can do it remotely by just hiring PM's. The locals don't buy as much as out of town investors because they don't even understand the market. The majority of this town are still in the "industrial/labor" mind state. Another method would be to sell under Land Contracts. Less headaches, large profits but you cancel out the forever residual from rentals. There has to be a good balance of home owners and renters to build values. It's money to be made and money to lose going in blind and uninformed. The suburban contractors started the whole vandalizing concept. Nobody questioned professional looking individuals who cut the grass, met the neighbors and claimed to be remodeling the home next to them. The local criminals caught on and it has been horrible since. You have to know the neighbors wherever you invest. They will protect and chase off vandals (for the most part). There is a positive change in the city and it is being rebuilt at a rapid rate. Some areas are just distressed pass the point of hope. Stay away from these. It will be 20-30 years before they get around to them.