Verifying last 2 years of rental history and income extremely important to find the “best of the worst”.Make sure you understand the Class of properties you are looking at and the corresponding results to expect.The City of Detroit has 183 Neighborhoods we’ve analyzed.DM us if you’d like to discuss this logical approach in greater detail!

No issue with the city since lease is 30+ days.

The City of Detroit is block-by-block in many Class B & C areas.In our opinion, zip codes cover too large an area.We use Detroit Neighborhoods, which are much smaller than zip codes.

What if the city finds out? 

I believe Alexandria city allows it but portions of Fairfax county do not allow it. i would go option 1 personally. 

However, in some cities, getting work permits is difficult and slow so it can really hurt the investors' timeline through no fault of their own.

@Jesse Streng Great that you want to invest in the Detroit area but I encourage you to come to the city and spend a weekend here to get a feel for the market.

Our process server charges $40 within the city limits.

I'll admit, I might've bitten a little more than I could chew, but I got anxious and I just wanted to have my first property in the city that was up north. 

However, my take on this is they did not do sufficient due diligence on many fronts, including city government challenges, operating challenges, infrastructure challenges and marketing challenges.