All Forum Posts by: Michael O.

@Jon W. I bought and rehabbed a property off the Land Back back in 2015. It took me and my friend over a year to complete since there was so much work involved, but they were pretty accommodating as long as you were diligent with communication and showing that you were making progress. Pictures, receipts of work done, inspections, etc. 

Just do your due diligence; you can usually go to the open house before the auction.. when walking the house, bring a contractor to give you an estimate and time-frame of work that needs to be done, that is where we messed up. We thought it would only take 4-5 months when it actually took about 14 months. 

Good Luck!

 HAHA Sorry James

 that's so cheap! I hope I can find a crew like that here. Thanks for the info!

Hi All,

Wondering if anyone has paid to have a company come in to gut the house before they've started a rehab and how much the average cost is per sq ft? I do not enjoy the tear down portion of rehabs and would rather have a crew come in and do it for me. This is for the midwest region. Detroit, specifically. 

Thanks in advance!

@Nancy Mascorro zip codes will still have bad blocks within them, but some that I like are 48221, 48202, 48227, 48207. 

You'd be better off looking at neighborhoods within the city, as they are smaller square acreage and a safer play if you are out of state. 

Neighborhoods to look at:

East English Village 

Indian Village 

West Village 

Islandview 

North End 

Boston Edison 

Mexicantown 

Grandmont 

Bagley 

University District 

Palmer Park 

Sherwood Forest

Hi All,

Wondering if anyone in the Detroit area has a good contact for quality drywall installation that they might pass along? You can DM to me if you don't want to post it publicly.

Thanks in advance!

 Jay,

Your numbers are way off. You need to stop using metrics from the 1980's. There was a total of 2 house fires in 2018 during Devil's Night: Free Press Story

Congrats on the rehab, looks great! Did you do most of the work yourself? I think I know what city you're in, we should grab coffee sometime and chat about 5 year plans.

@Joseph Lewis I'm born and raised in Detroit and have also lived in DC for a few years. To say that Detroit is similar to DC 6-7 years ago is not far off, but like others have said, DC has the ability to pump money into infrastructure in the name of increased government, etc.. 

Detroit is definitely coming back in a slow and steady pace. The 7.2 CBD being rehabbed and brought back online by billionaires such as Dan Gilbert and crew have been the first part in repairing 50 years of neglect and decline. Certain neighborhoods are starting to see private equity come in to help turn them around; Grandmont/Rosedale, Bagley, East English Village, Corktown, etc. University of Michigan has partnered with the city to find a way to improve the poor state of education. 

The main issues that Detroit needs to fix before middle class families decide to move back is the education system and insurance rates. Good public schools need to get brought back online and insurance rates need to drop drastically. The blatant red-lining from insurance companies is insane and a HUGE reason why people don't change their residency to Detroit even when they move here. I still use my relatives address in the suburbs to save $100+/mo in insurance, as do many many others -- this is why the population is still "declining" though thousands of new units have come back online and tons of people live downtown again.

Long story short, do your research on the neighborhoods you want to invest in, talk to people that actually live and invest here. Don't watch mass media news to get your stories about the City. I'd be happy to chat some time if you want to learn more.

Good luck!

Nice to see you join the community @Elbert Crosby. Are you saying that you have a SFH that you're house-hacking now and you are looking to find a lender to finish the work on that house, then move on to purchasing a duplex?

I would recommend seeking out local banks and lenders. Personally, Chemical Bank has been helpful to me when purchasing my duplex. 

There are a bunch of investors from Metro Detroit that are on these boards that will be able to help you, as well. 

Good luck!