Detroit Vacant Property – Would You Buy This?

[Luke Grettenberger]

I’m looking at a vacant brick house in Detroit on 14531 Promenade St. The seller’s bottom line is $15,000, but I was considering offering around $20K to account for my time if I pursue it.

The house needs some work, and I’d like to wholesale it or assign the contract eventually.

Just curious — what would you estimate the ARV to be, and does this look like a potential deal from your perspective?

Would really appreciate any thoughts — thanks!

[Drew Sygit]

@Luke Grettenberger so, let's see if we understand you correctly:

1) You think you can get this FSBO property for less than it's posted for sale on Zillow?
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/14531-Promenade-St-Detroi...

2) You want to wholesale it, to make a profit, yet you're asking for help to determine what it's worth?

3) Going to guess you have no idea on the rehab cost either?

In previous post (https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/55/topics/1243151-new-t...) you stated you are new to wholesaling.

No issues with that, but what value are you bringing your clients - when you don't even know if this is a "real deal"?

How many newbie wholesalers do you think waste seasoned investors' time with posts just like this?

Did you know you can find the Detroit Neighborhood this property is in, by looking it up on Zillow?

Then you can search Zillow for that Neighborhood?
https://www.zillow.com/airport-sub-detroit-mi/?searchQuerySt...

Then you can look up Sold properties in the last year in that Detroit Neighborhood, along with current MLS listings & FSBO's?

FYI: you can also find the Neighborhood on our website AND get the Property Class.

You can then play with the Zillow settings for beds, baths, square footage, etc. to do a rough Comparative Market Analysis. Be sure to look at interior pics of the comparables and choose corresponding properties or learn how to adjust prices for this.

You can also use Zillow to estimate the rent, so you can better position properties for landlord purchases.

You should network for contractor contacts and build rapport with them to teach you how to roughly estimate rehab costs. 

This is all part of being a trustworthy wholesaler versus one that just posts garbage that experienced investors will ignore.