All Forum Posts by: Mardochee Pierre

Also New York city's tax base increased tremendously..(The I love NY campaign encouraged out of towners to  come here).

I live here and magnet schools were not the reason NYC rose from the ashes. They were here and that was after. Mayor Koch laid the blue print  for alot of what we see today. Crime was already on it's way done when Guiliani took office. It was the combination of gentrification, massive real estate construction, wall street etc...

@Bob Baldwin When comes to spitting out random facts that does not make a cohesive argument I think you take the cake. I am from what used to be called a hell zone. Harlem, New York. Heroin  capital of America pretty much . Lower East Side , Spanish Harlem, Bed-Stuy Brooklyn, Fort Greene, Bushwick etc...all used to be the crazy. In fact NYC used to be the the worst from like 72' to 2000 approximately. Now what happened. There were people who willing to take risks, invest, see the future and turn things around (It was actually more than that but I don't have time to explain things here). If you need a reference please look at this Exhibit A: http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_88.htm#...

Now There have to be structural changes, Tax incentives, investment opportunities, social programs , jobs that keep up with inflation etc...that's just to name a few. I should know,  I was there for some of the things that transpired. Detroit and Chicago have to go through that process. There is enough interest and potential money being invested that if it keeps pace it can turn around in a decade or so (once again to long of a conversation for me to get into now). This isn't any easy task but changing a city that's been through hell is never easy. Nevertheless there are people who are mentally and physically prepared to take on such risks. Also there are people willing to spend billion and millions. So this is a long process and a process you my friend are not willing to take cause you have not interest nor care about the Detroit citizens enough.  As much as you may hide sir they're alot of racial undertones to your frivolous argument which neither serves the purpose of enlightening investor or giving insight. You're just bloviating  nonsense and confusing the person and everyone else who is asking the question. Just like Investing in stocks everyone has a risk tolerance and you should choose accordingly. If someone asks me about investing in the countryside near Texas I'll refer them to a person who is enlightened about the matter. No need to go on a  semi intelligent tirade which I deem disrespectful and incoherent sir. If you're going to make a point make it intelligently and respectfully.  I for one will not take your disrespect lightly nor your disrespect towards fellow Biggerpocketers lightly either.  

As an out of state investor the problems are multiplied and they will get out of hand if you don't have a process to deal problems as they arise. As I have said it all depends on what your investment strategy is. 

That's why you have to do the due diligence. Anyone who expects to buy a 5k and flip it without doing any research is a fool. Secondly, Detroit isn't even close to being the city it can be. This a long term rebuilding process and in mean time you'll have peaks and valleys. That being said there are full of investment opportunities and the potential for growth are great.

Exactly. Like I said. Listen to people who have some skin in the game or people who have some tangible information and you will be fine.

You can't even begin to understand the complexity of the problem. Number two, you're not in Detroit nor do you understand the problem. Three, you offer no solution. Four, there seems to be alot of people in the town that are investing and making some type of money. So if you have nothing to add , why add anything at all...Bob Baldwin. Right.

Don't listen to people like Bob Baldwin...he offers  no facts and is looking to rain on your parade  . Do your homework and look to people who have the right information.

Here is a recent article on flipping homes in Detroit by the way. Please do your homework if you decide to go down this route. Good luck  either way.

Nationwide, the average gross profit for flips in the first quarter was $72,450, the highest since the firm began tracking flips in 2011.

Detroit is among the top five areas for returns on home flipping, a sign that there are not enough move-in ready or newly constructed homes for buyers, according to a report from RealtyTrac.

Nationwide, the average gross profit for flips in the first quarter was $72,450, the highest since the firm began tracking flips in 2011.

"The strong returns for home flippers in the first quarter demonstrates that there is still a need in this recovering real estate market for move-in ready homes rehabbed to more modern tastes, particularly given the dearth of new homes being built," said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. "The challenge for flippers in 2015 will be finding inventory to flip."

DETROIT FREE PRESS

Metro Detroit housing prices regaining ground, up 4%

Detroit is high on the list, he said, because it has a combination of distressed homes and buyers.

"It's good for the area; it's good for investors," said Howard Mitchell, a Detroit broker. "The market is improving. Values are starting to come back up again in certain neighborhoods. It's good for an investor when you can by property and turn around and sell it for a profit."

The report, released earlier this month, showed that 17,309 single-family homes, or about 4%, were flipped -- sold as for the second time withing a year -- during the first quarter, down from 4.7% the quarter before; and 6.7% the first quarter in 2014.

DETROIT FREE PRESS

Local housing market blooms for buyers and sellers

The practice of flipping has been popularized by a variety of reality TV shows.

RealyTrac compiles data from a variety of sources, including records from tax assessors, mortgage deeds, foreclosures and auctions.

The average flip was up from $65,290 in the previous quarter, and up from $61,684 in the first quarter of 2014.

More than half of the homes flipped sold for between $100,000 and $300,000.

In a ranking by percent return, an average of gross profit of the home price, metro Detroit was fifth with 58.3%, it followed Baltimore, with 94.1%; Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Fla., with 74.7%; Ocala, Fla., with 73.9% and Lakeland, Fla., with 62.5%.

Other markets in the top 20 included Tampa, Pittsburgh, Memphis, Chicago, Seattle, New York, Washington, and Boston.

"Savvy investors are still finding opportunities in our robust real estate environment," Mike Pappas, CEO and president of the Keyes Company, said in a statement. "The distressed inventory is waning, but still being liquidated by the lenders, which bodes well for those individuals positioned to remodel and create turnkey properties for new homeowners."

I'm not from Detroit but here are some news articles and numbers on why you might want to invest in Detroit.

1. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/china/chinese-investor...

2. http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2015/0...

3. http://michiganradio.org/post/kresge-foundation-pl...

4.http://www.detroitmi.gov/News/ArticleID/195/State-...

These are just a few articles to enlighten you. First thing I would ask myself is what is my timeline for my investment. Is it 5 years ,  is  it 10 years etc...? Second thing is what kind of investment strategy am I using. Are you flipping homes, Are you buying and holding or you using it as a vacation property. What clientele are you going for? Are you going for Hipster millennials (which they are flocking to the city by the way) or working class families? To be honest I can see Detroit back on the map within 10-15 years if you ask me. Just like NYC in the 70' and 80's Detroit is going through a transformation. It's only a matter of time.