All Forum Posts by: John Knappmann

If by everyone you mean everyone registered on BP, I have bad news for you....

If by everyone you mean me, then yes, you will see everyone. I am trying to get my younger, but bigger brother Pete to also stop by.

Glad you can make it on time, Aaron, since you are one of the official hosts. I'm still not coming until after I'm done coaching my daughter's basketball team that night. :)

I'm in, be there about 8. I'll stay long enough that @Aaron Yates doesn't feel completely abandoned when he shows up after work. :)

Welcome, @Scott B. No doubt your education and background will help you here. Set up some keywords to alert you when your areas come up (i.e. Detroit, Royal Oak) in discussion. There are some great people on here from Oakland County and I am sure they are going to chime in with welcomes as soon as they digest their turkey dinners.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. You are smart to start doing this comparatively young. You've already taken risks in your career that paid off, here is another avenue to take a calculated risk that will pay off.

@Lisa Phillips, your concern about property taxes are unfounded. Although they are high, the state is reviewing Detroit's practice of too-high assessments and will be actually lowering them, not raising them, over the next couple of years.

Hi Tim, welcome to BP. You will find a few SE Michigan guys will chime in soon (if we can pry them away from the turkey). For example, my friend @Aaron Yates is usually good for a friendly welcome, too. I'm in Brownstown and work downtown, so I go through Southgate almost every day, twice.

Set up some keywords so that you know when topics that interest you are being discussed. For example, I got an alert because you had "Detroit" as part of your message.

What kind of investing are you interested in?

Good luck and happy investing. Don't hesitate to ask questions.

Good post, Joe. The transformation of downtown Detroit is not given the attention it deserves. I work downtown and now sometimes I even walk around it at lunchtime. I would have never done that four or five years ago. Now Midtown and Corktown are picking up.

The biggest hurdle facing the neighborhoods in Detroit has been the abysmal level of public services, especially lighting, fire and police. This terrible situation is now being addressed and will be vastly improved over the next couple of years. Between discharging the debt overhand in bankruptcy and the improved tax base, what has been an impossible situation will be manageable. And I think that the new mayor, Mike Duggan, will follow through on what he said and focus on services as his first and highest priority.

An improving Detroit opens up Southeast Michigan to improvement. The biggest impediment is the horrible system our state has for municipal finance, but we can save that for another time.

I flagged it, also.

Jay, I tried going to Paint.net. Are you sure that is the web address?

My biggest scare so far has involved looking at foreclosed homes. Occasionally I have come across evidence of squatters who kicked in the back door and moved in, even once where the front door was carefully secured and there was a lockbox. I'm now much more careful when I first enter.

I'm not against carrying a gun, but so far no major tenant confrontations where one would have been called for.

@Rob K. , you beat me to it!