Detroit had a number of very unfriendly investor situations.. from the danger of your block going to seed... to Devils night and your house gets torched. to Wayne county basically being totally dysfunctional as a county entity.. just better places to invest.. is better in the suburbs of Detroit and out of Wayne county I have no doubt its better and probably sustainable.So in my mind If you live there and its your JOB to buy and run these assets then by all means give it a go..

I agree with Michael,Rehab is dangerous for a newbie.

Additionally, if you have children, I do not think this would work very well at all - too much dangerous stuff to get into.

The eviction process is a sad and dangerous time.

That is a different (and very good) application of a different strategy I use (teach) that I refer to as using a "cash like substance"...

I'm still relatively new to the industry and it'd be dangerous for me to significantly leverage.The other big reason is that this will be done on my parents behalf; the current property we own is providing awful return and the capital is better utilized in assets with much higher return and greater potential, hence the 1031.

The dangerous side is when you can't find a buyer, it's not a deal at all, and the contract expires leaving the property owner with nothing but a terrible experience.

Once airborne, asbestos fibers can be inhaled into the lungs which is dangerous.

I don't have any experience in that but I am assuming it will be harder to find contractors that would be motivated to work in a more dangerous part of town.Any advice or book recommendations on the screening/managing contractors process would be greatly appreciated!

I understand that they can be dangerous from the perspective of historically they were predatory and people purchased properties that they couldn't afford, getting hit hard with the intro interest-only period of 5/7/10 years expire... but I see it as a flexibility option.