All Forum Posts by: Joe Delia

Joe -

I didn't really think much of your posts yesterday and then you decide it's time to insult me with more posts and go at it again today. I respected you going into yesterday because I thought you were passionate about your city. That respect is gone when you lower yourself with personal BS.

I just wasted about 15 minutes researching your crap posts on here. I have posted on 3 Detroit forums in the last 12 months - not sure, but I am going to take a swing and guess there were over 100 in that time span.

First post - Yesterday's post was to praise young investors for having a positive attitude. I could not care less what you think about my post or if the guys I was praising are too new and naive to listen to a 12 year veteran who has built a $50 million real estate business.

Second post - Six months ago I suggested the name of @Jake Kucheck to another investor asking about investing in Michigan from out of area. This is the same thread where you said there were piles of dead dogs in the Hell Hole that is Detroit Animal control.

Third post - You called me to it for a factual error you found when listening to my talk at the BP conference. Without you putting my name in the thread, I don't even know it exists. BTW, here is your final sentence in that thread - the last time you responded to or mentioned me:

"Not a big deal. When i heard it i clicked back a few times to make sure i heard it correctly. Overall you did a great job. Keep plugging, i love what you guys do.

-Joe"

Don't have the time to see if I said the word Detroit in any other ones (I may have been passive aggressive and mentioned it in some post about Florida).

As a side note, I am truly hoping that you are not dumb enough to think part of a marketing strategy is to go on BP and bash Detroit in hopes of gaining business for another city. And the passive aggressive bit - that was funny if it was not so stupid. If you do believe that funny crap you were writing, then you are so far behind the marketing curve, you will not catch up.

I've already broken my own rule and responded to dumb posts on here, but you did earn my respect when you called me out the first time. It is almost impossible to lose my respect, especially over forum posts, but you make it personal and I have no need to waste more time.

@Account Closed both of you made posts about staying positive. I originally tried to highlight your post Aaron and commend you for those 3 sentences about a positive attitude and approach. If you believe in what you are doing, then you can have a positive effect on your city. It may be small, but it may also be the most one man and one company can do and that can make all the difference. I have not a clue where Detroit will be in 5, 10 , 15 or 20 years, but I know that Memphis overcame a lot since the 70's and has continued to go up and down over the last decade. Stay positive and just make your little piece happen.

As I was typing it I was thinking about you calling me out for my mis-statement about Detroit!

I flubbed my facts about the city in the past and should have included your name on the thread as the kind of guys that believe whole-heartedly in the city. I thought I was highlighting a good thing for the city itself! You need more positive people telling the cities' positive story...that is all I was highlighting.

As I was typing it I was thinking about you calling me out for my mis-statement about Detroit!

I flubbed my facts about the city in the past and should have included your name on the thread as the kind of guys that believe whole-heartedly in the city. I thought I was highlighting a good thing for the city itself! You need more positive people telling the cities' positive story...that is all I was highlighting.

It's not just property taxes, but also a city income tax. I know I would NEVER live in a city that charges income taxes. It's bad enough that the state charges income taxes when other states don't.

I agree that Duggan is a good choice for the city, but I don't see the crime and schools getting better anytime soon. Those will have to be fixed in order for families to WANT to live in the city.

These suburbanites moving to the city will have a big decision to make when they have kids - pay for private school and drive the kids who knows where, put the kids in public school, or move to the suburbs. I would bet on option #3.

I have exactly zero experience with Detroit and like most investors I only know what I hear from other real estate investors and read in the news or on sites like this one. I liked this 3-sentence quote from what you said earlier. I think a city itself is too broad for this statement to apply, but then again...don't listen to me, right! It takes people who are passionate and believe for any endeavor to come to fruition. It takes more than slogans, but a city like Detroit, which is identified as an iconic American city from the past, can absolutely come back and be a great city of influence again. It is going to take a change in mindset for both elected officials and residents. It will also take a mindset shift on the part of investors promoting the city and developing properties for sale to out of area investors. A shift in focus to high integrity, realistic returns, attracting experienced investors who understand long-term holds and the risks associated with a re-development of a city that has seen so much negative.

Before anyone says I said companies selling Detroit don't or didn't have integrity or realistic returns, I am not saying that. But there has been a perception, and some of it rooted in reality, that companies have been taking advantage of naive investors. There has been a perception that some opportunists had hurt the reputation of the market. That is true in every city, but it may have just seemed to be more pronounced in Detroit or at least more talked about. So for a city to overcome that, it is going to take some really high-integrity companies and individuals to be transparent and start telling a better story for the city. It is going to take people who are open-minded and don't accept what cannot be done...they are going to be too busy doing what others think is impossible!

If political ideology affects anything, I think it fair to say, it affects a community's stance on crime, taxes and public education. I agree that the ingredients implicit in Detroit's fall are too numerous to consider and are only hypothesis at best. But, someone or something must be held accountable, and if we do not hold the Leadership of Detroit accountable, whom are pawns in a political ideology, then who is responsible?

One need not be intimate with the inner-workings of Detroit to understand in whole what contributed and lead to this mess; one only needs to look at the City's balance sheet.

While it was a brief visit, I have been to Detroit. Just like I've been to L.A., Spokane, Phoenix, Vegas, Dallas, Houston, Montgomery, Birmingham, Jacksonville, Charleston, Nashville, Knoxville, Lexington, Richmond, NJ, Chicago, Lincoln, Kansas City, Minneapolis and on and on.. And I agree that every city is the same; there's the good and the bad.

I'm sure Detroit has the potential to flourish, but it can't do that at the hands of fools. And thus far, the people of Detroit refuse to elect anyone to the contrary.