All Forum Posts by: Greg Miller

Since the new administration, there is nothing but stories of Canadians (and others) being denied at the border. As a Canadian, I have never experienced this much hostility for investing my money in the US but it seems even people going for business or have business or investments, have in fact been denied. I have 2 investment properties in Detroit and not only do I love visiting Detroit but I like to check on my properties periodically. I don't want to risk getting denied because they deem it as "working in the US" 

Would love to hear if anyone has visited recently and what their experience has been.

 So similar to the CHIPS act? Incentives vs tariffs. And still, factories would be built to be efficient from the get. Highly robotic with revenue going to the top and only few highly skilled labor with substancial tax breaks going to the corporations. So if you can afford to buy shares of the companies, GREAT! But it doesn't substantially help labor jobs. The infrastructure in asia is massive and has been built for decades on low labor, and just because America would be taking jobs away from china for instance, does not mean jobs are created in any meaningful way in America.   

 Besides some effects on jobs created by competition, what metric are you using to suggest NAFTA has been overall bad? GDP in the US surged after NAFTA. Thats new business and old business becoming more successful. People tend to scream that china is stealing the manufacturing jobs which NAFTA obviously doesn't cover. 

I often hear that tariffs will bring all the jobs back and it reminds me of the Piano. Once the largest industry and virtually died when the radio came in. I'm sure there were people screaming about re-opening piano factories but the world moved on. Theres no company in the world opening a new factory today, or planing a new factory today that won't be 90% robots/technology/AI. They will not be employing a substantial amount of humans.

As for housing and rents, extra costs added to labor and materials will slow construction and affordability lowering supply coming online, this will likely push both up in the mid-term, not down. 

 Hi Mirza, 

I'm also a Toronto native who fell in love with Detroit. Its an easy border city less than 4 hours from Toronto including an average border time. Its a city with a rich history both culturally and innovatively and is on a massive comeback. 

I purchased my first property admittedly with cash in 2018 as nobody I could find was lending money to properties at the price I purchased for. I have since renovated and refinanced for the next property. My refinance happened through a florida company LendAI who deals with international investors.   

US lending is challenging without credit or status, even with an LLC, but there are options through Canadian lenders with US footprints. Think RBC/CIBC, and they will accept your Canadian credit which is worthless to a US bank.

Structure is important too. My business is set up with an LLC and LP to manage risk and taxes. Once you have that, you can get a bank account in the US and then purchasing property is rather simple and straight forward.

Detroit has moved from high risk/high reward to moderate risk. Rents are going up, values over the last decade are near the highest appreciation in the US and the homes you are buying are some of the best built in the nation. A city that was in its golden area during the 20s. Solid brick homes built for a city that was rolling in money. (Pun intended) Detroit has moved from strictly the "motor city" to a tech incubator, innovation-cetric city with great food and nightlife. Its quickly shedding the old down and out narrative to one of excitement and possibility. 

Happy to connect further on your plans for US investment.

 This conversation began with Tariffs bringing auto plants back and I argue the tariffs will cause pain in the current factories in and around Detroit, not fuel. If auto plants came back, they would be highly automated bringing few jobs and to do so, they would need to build from the ground up. 

As for other industries, there have been huge investments in healthcare, tech with google/apple/amazon and fords major innovation hub investment of nearly a billion dollars to name a few. Tourism has begun to flourish with individual retail, entertainment and restaurants.  The comeback has been a decade in the making and although automotive history is important, its far more important the city diversifies moving forward. 

I run airbnbs in the city and I have heard first hand the change in sentiment surrounding Detroit. Tourism dollars have added significant revenue, revitalization and growth in the last half decade and continues to grow.  My argument citing an article from 2017 gives an outdated view of whats actually happening in the city.

 There was a population increase in 2024 for the first time in 50 years. Many of the buildings in this article have since been razed and/or redeveloped. The crime like many cities is in certain areas and blight has been significantly eradicated.

I 100% agree that bringing automotive factories back is not the way to go in Detroit, but using an article from 8 years ago to talk about the state of the city is not an effective argument. 

 My man, You are sighting an article from 2017. The city is has changed drastically as has crime and governance. You can always tell when someone talking about Detroit, has never set foot in the city.

Canadian (who owns rentals in Detroit) entering the Chat. Its not as simple as reopening plants. The materials to make these parts, and the parts themselves, are coming from other countries. As one example, 90% of all aluminum that is used in American vehicles is coming from Canada. The cost of vehicles is about to jump and thats going to cause job loss, which leads to plants closing. It would take decades to bring all manufacturing "in house". I'm all in on Detroit, but this may cause short and long term pain IMHO.

Boots on the ground and your desire to visit the city is very important in a market. Just speaking to Detroit as thats where I have been investing for the past 6 years. People/investors (usually not investing in Detroit proper) love to scare people off with horror stories. There are so many C+ changing to B and beyond neighborhoods now in the city where a $130 - $150k price point will get you a +positive cash flowing SFH with growing equity in a city that is in a having a rebirth.

In my airbnbs, I have hosted several California natives looking to invest and or move to Detroit. Direct flights to many Cities in California. Good luck

 As a Canadian, most of what you say regarding BC and Ontario is true due to Vancouver and Toronto being the major cities in Canada, but your immigration numbers and link to housing shortage is a bit of political rhetoric. There was very little immigration before 2016 for a decade and workforce decreased, and since then, there is a net gain of around 1.5 million. Numbers get inflated by international students who are not, on majority, buying homes or staying past their schooling. Housing shortages have more to do with boomers living longer and holding on to their large homes and provincial red tape. But all in all, its definitely a more difficult time for foreign buyers in Canada. IMHO