All Forum Posts by: Joe Silva

Yeah guys I think everyone here have dealt with the same issue. I am learning from my experience to never go for the lower bid or not worth going for the highest (In some cases the headache is even bigger) try to meet the middle bid with some "reputation." Thanks everyone for the comments.

Thanks for your insights Ali, this process has been very frustrated. I am thankful that I moved here and learned a lot about historic homes and how they work, Ive met wonderful people here from big investors trying to make money to people who just came because they wanted to be part of the rebirth, not to mention the locals. But like I said its all politics, lets move on 

I came to Detroit in 2013 invited by a friend, initially thought he was crazy when he talked about investing in the city, but I decided to come with him to "check it out".  I must say that I felt in love with the architecture of the houses and of course, I wanted to make money and why not help bring back these wonderful properties to its grandeur, I too wanted to be part of the Detroit come back story. I bought a couple of properties and made ok money being out of state (Mind you, I don't know much about investing in real estate.) Then I really wanted to be here full time here,  to manage a 4 unit that I used to own so I moved here. 

Property prices were very low, attracting investors from all over the globe and helped the city get over its dark bankrupt days. But then prices skyrocketed and Detroit got greedy.  Now it's targeting landlords requiring yearly rental inspections (Most cities requires it every 2-3 years) and most shocking.... yearly lead paint inspections which is very costly. $300-400 initial and $150-300 every time the inspector has to return if your property don't pass lead paint inspection in which 99.99% it wont, no matter how perfect you paint and rehab the property, if it is built before 70's, add greedy corrupted inspectors and boom, a recipe for a very costly lead inspection. Landlords usually don't make a lot of money on rentals here and adding that cost to an already high property taxes and one of the most high property  insurance in the county you are left with almost nothing.  I am very much in favor of inspections (yearly? not so much) and believe its important to fight blight and keep slumlords from being slumlords. Unfortunately It is all political. 

Most investors I know are fleeing fast and soon will be a flood of  properties in the market and God knows what will happen. I am really disappointed to see that the city of Detroit is targeting those who helped it come back to spotlight.

@Roy Gutierrez Thats my intention. Theres no way I will be renting montly and making it work. This property is backing Grosse Pointe Park so that's always good since they don't allow Airbnb yet.

@Jim Goebel There are no properties in the good areas in Detroit anymore, very rare to come by. Mind you when property were in record low lots of investors poured in and now they are eager to find others. There are a lot  of properties in areas that are not worth investing. I guess that was the reason that I jumped into this one. Lesson learned.

@Christian Hutchinson I agree, perhaps I can do airbnb since GPP dont allow Airbnb in the cabbage patch area. I am going to fix it and hold until I get a sense of the market, it can always be sold. I got better quotes, lets see what happens. Thanks for all the great advice guys!

I know, trying to get reasonable pricing contractors who knows what they are doing in Detroit is nightmare I constantly run into. I jumped into this deal cause I was having a hard time finding anything with decent bones in the areas I am interested on and needed a project. This is backing Grosse Pointe Park close to the water.

Hello BPocketers!

I am newbie in real estate investments in the Detroit area. I made some quick flips that made me some money and recently acquired a two family (Paid cash 57k) in a nice upcoming area of the city. I plan to keep it, but like everything in Detroit needs a lot of work (2 1/2 new bathrooms, 2 kitchens, re-wire electric, new plumbing, concrete driveway, boilers, and on and on). My estimates is that it will take approximately additional 80k to fix it (Using some savings cause I don't plan on taking any loan) Rent in this area are around $900-1,000 monthly per unit. It will take 10 years to make the numbers work, unless I hold on to it and flip it, but God knows whats coming our way in the Real Estate market.

I would like to hear from everyone, please help with any advice.

Good health and big success to all! 

Hello BP members, 

This might be a subject that has been discussed here many times, but since I am new to BP, would love to hear from newer members as well. I am new to Real Estate investments in the area of Detroit, I did some flips that I am holding on as rentals and the house that I live in currently. My experience when working with contractors here is that I found extremely difficult to find reliable fair priced contractors in the city of Detroit and surroundings. When I call most contractors respectfully to obtain a quote, it sounds like I am the one offering something cause I always get some kind of attitude or unprofessional BS and when they come, I get an outrageous quote. Mind you, these guys were struggling couple years back, I think big investors spoiled the good ones. To be competitive I must have reasonable pricing without being cheap or bargaining so much. I understand I perhaps have one project (Single home flip) which I try to do during winter months so I get more competitive pricing.

It would be nice to hear from more experienced pros in the Detroit area and nationwide how they find reliable contractors and hold on to them. I would love to hear from contractors as well. Feel free to add me everyone.

Thanks and best of success to all!

Hello Brandon, I know there are good and bad everywhere, and certainly there are good contractors here in Detroit area as well, as I mentioned on my post, most of the good ones are working with big investors, and I'm happy for them. Unfortunately for me, only the inexperienced, crooks were left. Oh well! My luck. I will privately message you whenever I'm ready. Thanks for reaching out :-)

Hello Bart, Thank you so much for the response, I would prefer Dallas over Houston but I know you still find hot deals in Houston, I'm just not familiar with the areas yet, working on it. Best of luck!