You have Ravendale who is an absolute warzone, then going up Connor heading towards Outer Driver is nicer.Both would be outside my comfort zone doing Detroit investing.My standard thing I'll say: spend some money on exterior lighting(dusk to dawn, motion sensor, high powered lighting).

Well, you hit all the general drivers of real estate in your question already.

My take on in... look for areas that are expanding out in a certain direction, look at the drivers of that expansion, and if they seem long-term, get in front of where that expansion is happening.  

He says bad to give out alcohol to drivers though..

It sounds like the borrower made her plan and wants it to go according to her desires but when she failed to maintain the debt service and now can't sell the property to pay for the loan, she doesn't really sit in the driver seat of this situation.

Once you take in consideration all three of these profit drivers, you can calculate the internal rate of return for your holding period, and then you can truly compare a real estate investment against any other available investment.

@Michael Kugler why not use Realist, Parcelquest, etc. to get copies of the property records, contact the owners, and if the owners are interested, have them send you identification, such as driver's license, passport or some other form of government ID? 

Household formation / housing supply has been a big driver of rents the last few years nationally.

It has all of the economic drivers you could want and fantastic rent/value ratios.  

I just joined up because I decided that the truck driver life I have been living isn't cutting it anymore.