Upland, CA · Member since 2015 · 18 posts · 20 votes
I'm planning to buy my first rental property as a buy and hold in Lansing, Michigan. I think this city, as well as East Lansing, will be one of my investing cities. I have researched extensively on these cities. Can anyone tell me more information about Lansing and East Lansing Michigan? Is it a good market to buy and hold and rent? Do jobs seem to be stable? Is anyone currently investing in these cities? Please give me the ins and outs of these two cities. Thanks!
I've lived in the Greater Lansing area my whole life. I am currently working as a Realtor with local investors to help them meet their property goals and I dabble in a bit of investing myself. There is much potential in the Greater Lansing area although I would not recommend starting in the East Lansing are because some of the East Lansing ordinances dealing with purchasing of properties and rentals. There are similar communities nearby that I would recommend starting with. Lansing does have some basic rental requirements which converting a primary residential property to a rental may take a small amount of additional time and licenses but you can often purchase a property already currently being rented out with a license. No matter where you invest it comes down to management and having good tenants with a screening process. When you are ready to start looking for investment properties in the Greater Lansing area give me a shout out and I can send some reommendations your way.
Both cities are tough on rentals, i.e. their inspection programs are pretty thorough. Both use the International Property Maintenance Code but they have different inspection intervals. I'm assuming it is a pretty good market for student rentals. However, East Lansing has been trying to push out single family student rentals into apartment communities. I can give you the name of a person you can connect with there to discuss all this and more.
thanks for the info. I plan to invest there because it seems to be pretty good working class neighborhoods there. The house that I may go into escrow has a renter as well as the renter's licence. All numbers look good.
@Gina Williams, in East Lansing you will be competing with MSU which is by far the largest provider of rental housing in the City. The rental codes are strict and enforced strictly, especially in years that MSU has low enrollment or has an excess of housing available. They would prefer students come to them for their housing.
Agreed with the strictness around here (inspections), have been going through that myself. East Lansing is difficult to get into, especially if you're looking for SFH. Those that do have them (and rent them) pretty much hang onto them. With Lansing, you have better prices and with MSU, state government and GM all as local employers, it made sense to me too. There seems to be a lot of out of state interest in SE Michigan as well, so you may want to check that out too.
If you do decide to venture in the east Lansing student rental market, I would be glad to answer any questions you may have. I graduated from MSU a few weeks ago and rented off campus for three years.
@Gina Williams I lived in Michigan for the past 5 and 1/2 years. Kalamazoo, East Lansing (Lansing), Ann Arbor (better to get Ypsilanti bordering Ann Arbor) and definitely Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids is all the rage in Michigan and for good reason. Great City and Beer capital of the USA. Kalamazoo and the others are great college towns. All these tows with the exception of Ann Arbor are VERY affordable. Especially compared to Upland! Just teasing! At any rate if i were to head East these towns in Michigan are a hit and property can be had for a song.
@Gina Williams - we are fully invested in Lansing (65 apartment units) and Holt (16 units). We have also successfully flipped around 20 houses in Lansing.
I have no student housing and am not looking for any. It is only about preference, but I would maintain that the college and the city of East Lansing want to drive students back into the college dorms. The citizens don't want student rentals in their neighborhoods and the college is losing revenue if their dorms are empty. Until that happens, East Lansing will remain a tough place to start a multi-family business.
Economically, Lansing is in the same place as any Michigan city that was tied into the auto business. Since the downturn, we are starting to see some diversity in employers and that helps. State Government is here, Michigan State University is here, hospitals are here, and the future looks good. Property prices are still relatively low as are rents.
i live in the Greater Lansing area and I'm also looking to buy my first properties in Lansing, downtown more specifically. I see a lot of positive things happening in the city right now and it seems to be a great time to buy.
If anyone has any advice also, it'd be appreciated as I'm fairly new to RE investing (One flip and one student rental).
@Douglass Benson Thank you for your information. In fact, I thank everyone so far who had been generous with information. The thread seemed to have gone into renting to students and student housing as well as East Lansing. I'm not quite interested in East Lasing in particular until I get more capital. Lansing is more affordable at this point. I also have no desire to provide student housing. I want regular everyday families; bread and butter type properties with 2 or 3 bedroom and 2 baths. I want stable working class families in SFR, duplexes and possibly apartment buildings. I'm new and just starting. I just found out that my crazy student loans are holding me back from getting any more funding/ properties except for my primary residence which I bought last year. Now I'm in a quest to find other kind of funding. I'm new and just want to get started. I'm listening to podcast, online, reading and getting info, but just can't get started because of funding. Just trying to figure it out. Thanks!
I live just south of both of these communities in a smaller town named Mason. There is quite a bit new development in Lansing. It's really trying to revitalize some areas. REO town and Old town are both up and coming areas.
Best of luck.
Just want to clarify on the student housing issue that the City of East Lansing has expressed no intent to push students out of the rental market. I work as a consultant and interact with the City of East Lansing and I recently asked (last Thursday) if they were pushing student rentals out of their family neighborhoods into the fringes. Their response was an affirmative "No." They said the student rental communities that have cropped up around the fringes were developments outside the city limits in the adjacent township, which they had no control over. They also said, "We are a college town!" They said it makes sense to have student rentals in the neighborhoods, especially close to campus. They want to accommodate all residents, and students are part of the mix. They've been trying to provide housing opportunities for other markets besides students, but that doesn't mean they are trying to push students out.
Would they make it tough to set up new student rental houses? I don't know. They might. I know they have pretty tight rental regulations in a lot of neighborhoods, and some of the local neighborhood associations have rid themselves of the ability to rent altogether (save the one's with that option grandfathered in). But the city itself isn't going to force existing rentals to go away. So if one comes up for sale, buy it!
I use to also tell people the City was pushing student housing out, and I've heard the same from others. Seems to be the commonly held belief in the area. Just wanted to shed some light on the issue since I just talked to the city about it.
I've lived in the Greater Lansing area my whole life. I am currently working as a Realtor with local investors to help them meet their property goals and I dabble in a bit of investing myself. There is much potential in the Greater Lansing area although I would not recommend starting in the East Lansing are because some of the East Lansing ordinances dealing with purchasing of properties and rentals. There are similar communities nearby that I would recommend starting with. Lansing does have some basic rental requirements which converting a primary residential property to a rental may take a small amount of additional time and licenses but you can often purchase a property already currently being rented out with a license. No matter where you invest it comes down to management and having good tenants with a screening process. When you are ready to start looking for investment properties in the Greater Lansing area give me a shout out and I can send some reommendations your way.
I'm new to the Lansing market and like it for all the reasons that you do. I'm curious if you ended up buying in the area and how it is going for you. Also, anyone on this thread that has advice for Lansing area rentals for single family rentals/small multi families would be appreciated. I am trying to stay out of E. Lansing because it seems like the cash on cash returns are far less and with a much larger upfront cost to get into the market, along with having to deal with the city....
I am new here, looking to invest in rentals in Lansing area, I will appreciate a chat any one with experience that help me navigate investing in this area.
I am a student at Michigan State in East Lansing and I am looking to house hack or purchase a rental. If there is any experienced or aspiring East Lansing investors or agents out there I would love to connect with you to learn more about investing and rentals in the city!
@Grant Snyder I am a student at Michigan State in East Lansing and I am looking to house hack or purchase a rental. If there you are an experienced East Lansing investor I would love to connect with you to learn more about investing and rentals in the city!
Hello JT Sarafa, I would be happy to provide you a link to East Lansing website which has lots of information on obtaining a rental license in the City of East Lansing. If you have any question do not hesitate to ask. I can send you some market data on the East Lansing area if you would like also.