Hey New Friends

I've been lurking on the forum for a bit reading and such. Close to diving in the waters.

I'm considering investing in the downtown ann arbor area. Would love to hear thoughts on that area? Any real estate agents that are top shelf in that area you can suggest?

Its a pleasure to be here

Not to discourage you, but Ann Arbor is pretty darn expensive. You are in a great area yourself as that 96 corridor from Howell to Brighton is awesome and in the beginning stages of exploding in my opinion. Highly suggest networking at local REI groups. Checkout meetup.com for local groups. Great one in AA and we just started one in Howell not too long ago as well. Come check them out.

Hi Justin--welcome to BP. I live near downtown. What type of investing are you interested in? There is a lot of development going on right now, with new condos and luxury student housing. Do you mean right in the city business district, or single family housing near downtown? Are you interested in rentals, or something else? 

@corey - Nice to meet you! Great info thank you so much! I will check into these resources. This really helps me a lot.

@sarah - Nice to meet you! To start I was hoping to get something downtown (in a building). Was possibly thinking something I could airBnB and use some of the time too. If all goes well I want to expend into monthly rentals. Any thoughts?

Good afternoon Justin. we are close but not to close. I am currently 18! I am also new but I currently have two single family rentals. in the Lapeer county area. Down town areas are just two much for me!!

@Justin Hamel , to get the @ symbol to work properly to tag someone, you have to choose the name that pops up in a prompt near the bottom of the page after you type the symbol and the first few letters of the persons name.  once you choose the person from that prompt it will turn the persons name blue and will send tgem a notification that they were tagged.  I believe, but am not positive of this, that you can only tag folks that have posted within the specific thread you are in or that are already collegues/connections of yours.

@Erick Michael Ford did i understand you correctly that you are 18 years old and already own two single family homes that you rent out?  WOW what a start in life

@Cory Mccarthy yes you understand correctly. Currently 18, and Yes. Well they are not paid off free and clear but I am working them down! I can only thank my Parents for being well off and being able to co-sign the loans for me without them none of this would have been possible. I could not hardly get a Mendards credit card, but i had two house loans in my name. It is a great start! but hey got to start young right! 

@Erick Michael Ford - Nice to meet you! You have a great start! If you need anything done online Let me know

@Cory Mccarthy - Thanks so much for that info!  You had mentioned the howell/brighton corridor... What types do you suggest for the area will provide the best return over a long period? Duplex, single family homes, lake homes, etc?

@Justin Hamel a lot of that depends on your specific situation and what you are trying to accomplish, but all of the above will work, some just may work better than others depending on your specific situation.  Do you own a home already or are you currently renting.  If renting, I would look hard at Duplexes or Mutli's and do the house hack thing to start.  If you already have a home, then something else might work better for you.  You mentioned above about doing AirBnB.  Lakefront could be great for that as well.  I just recently talked with a realtor who is renting out a lakefront property on a weekly basis, and finding a great deal of success doing that, much as they do in strong tourist areas such as the west coast of Michigan, but is doing it right there in Brighton somewhere. Surprised me, but she said they were covering a years worth of mortgage payments and then some just over the summer, so clearly she was getting premium prices for them and was able to fill it regularly.  I am sure she was also renting during the winter somehow as well to get even more out of the property.  Single family I think will do well in Livingston as well as I see homes there consistently renting for more than $1/Sq. Ft. and then some.  Livingston is growing steadily and there is extremely high demand there right now and lots of new business coming in, which will drive even more demand.  The real trick is buying it right.  As long as you do that, you will be fine in just about any strategy, but buying right is not really very easy.  But I don't think buying right is necessarily easy anywhere.  Requires a thorough knowledge of the area, a keen sense of the differences from one neighborhood to the next, from one house style to the next, etc.  I have been studying the markets around me for months and have been putting in offers regularly and have yet to get one accepted just simply because of how hot the market is right now and the very low levels of inventory available.  But after studying for that long, it is now much easier to spot a potential bargain and estimate rehab costs, so soon one of these will hit.  Just stay focused, remain committed and don't let anyone or anything get you discouraged.  As a serial entrepreneur, I am quite sure you already know that.  let me know if I can help any other way and best of luck to you on your new 

Welcome to BP! Do your homework and get in the game. Good luck on your endeavors, lots opportunity out there to make money! 

Don