I believe the appreciation has been great over the past couple of years and prices are lower than in major areas like Miami metroplex or Charlotte.

I agree - plenty of affordable housing but you are not going to find it in a major city or a very desirable area.

So, here are my questions, if you have time to answer (not in a hurry) Have you seen the price difference between a ghetto and a downtown in any major city? 

:Class A Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, 3-5 years for positive cashflow, but you get highest relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% the more recent norm.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 680+ (roughly 5% probability of default), zero evictions in last 7 years.Class B Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, 1-3 years for positive cashflow, decent amount of relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% should be applied only if proper research done to support.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 620-680 (around 10% probability of default), some blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 5 yearsClass C Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, immediate cashflow and at the lower end of relative rent & value appreciation.

And THAT is the major point of the discussion.

@Derek Heinz you might be better off finding a major fixer-upper, getting a hard money loan (HML) to acquire it. 

TD bank is the only major bank that I know of that does helocs on investment properties, and last I checked they would only go up to 65% of the value of your home.

The NAR settlement was ridiculous and has only forced agents to do more paperwork and disclosures, but the vast majority of us are still working the same way.The law requires the agent to sign an agreement with you.

But like you all I have seen it done with other lenders.On the sale lease back Chris describes thats how i do the vast majority of my deals.

You MUST understand this as the suburbs are usually much nicer than the city.All of these challenges are why we have a map of Metro Detroit on our website with the cities in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne Counties listed, as well as 183 Neighborhoods in Detroit.The majority of the 48235 zip code is Class C, the question is, do you understand what that means?