All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

@Aishan Gonaduwage totally concur with what drew said. also 2024 was the first year that detroit had an increase in population since the bankruptcy. something like a net positive of 1,500 people moved to detroit last year.

@Rohmah Ismael maybe this map will help you get your bearings in the detroit mkt.

the more established areas in detroit, where the city is encouraging investment, are called "Traditional Main Street Overlay Areas." it's a term of art from our zoning code, that basically means that there's existing (probably vacant) commercial corridors that are being revitalized and re-tenanted in these areas. 

so if you look at the map of the Overlay Areas, the orange are the original areas and then the purple are the newer, up-and-coming areas. 

so the orange is like midtown, corktown, bagley (investors love bagley). it even sounds like the post author, jason, is investing around bagley. 

and the purple areas are like van dyke and 8 mile and the e warren Overlay Area, which is the 48224 zip code (which also includes morningside, another area that our post author is investing in)! 

i really like the 48224 zip code (the whole zip code, both north and south of i-94). the house sizes are rarely over 2,000 sqft (most are 700-1,600 sqft). there are some duplexes, lots are sfh, and owner-occs, and the neighborhoods aren't bombed out (like there aren't any vacant lots mixed in with the houses. rather, the streets are lined with little brick bungalows built between 1920-1950). 

the entry point in 48224 is a little lower than bagley for instance. but the ARVs are climbing and demand is there. i just leased half a duplex in 48224 for $1,450. it basically has original everything, but landlord painted and added new butcher block counter and dishwasher. last thing about 48224, it has some of the highest rated schools in detroit (in eev). and to be fair, so does bagley.

i'm not saying these are the only areas to invest in, but they are the established areas where the city is pushing investment. so if you strictly stick to the Overlay Areas, you'll miss out on some of the up-and-coming areas, like islandview (east side, around van dyke and kercheval) for instance, but will be investing in more established detroit neighborhoods.

i hope this helps give you some confidence in our 140 square mile city!

@Jason Mitchell 48224 is my hood! i love the east side. 

@Natalie Allie i love this question. i don't have a good answer for you. but i think i have someone i can speak with to get this info for you.

@Ryan York totally concur with what luka said. once we got pinched for not pulling permits. and we just cut a space into the drywall so we could retroactively get a permit and have inspector inspect the work we had done. 

@Jared Stong my team used to do this too! we doorknocked pre-foreclosures and cold called just on a single line dialer, and we never ran into issues. usually when you skiptrace a list, you'll see who is DNC. and then you just don't call those people. where we ran into issues was text blasting. the legislation is constantly changing around text blasts so we found that doorknocking and calling gave us more successes and less headaches. 

@Jaime Zarate i've sold real estate in columbus, oh and detroit, mi. so two super different markets. and in situations where we're trying to get into an asset class that is just getting eaten up by buyer demand (meaning bidding wars, sellers unwilling to negotiate, etc.). sometimes it's effective to start up the search again during the slow months of real estate when there are less buyers to compete with. slowest months are september through december. then buyers start coming back out in january. but january through march is the second slowest time of year. so if you're getting outbid on the properties you want, you might score better deals in q4 and q1.

@Paris Scroggins i should have tagged you in my response earlier! but does that map i uploaded for craig help you get your bearings? i want to connect with people who have eyes on detroit as well, so it's nice to meet you! also in case it's helpful, these are the 10ish neighborhoods where developers are building new construction. on the east side, you'll see islandview and east village (they border the yellow, which we call the villages - it's a really gorgeous historic district, like boston edison). and islandview and east village are very up-and-coming areas (pretty blown out, so that's why there's lots of land for developers to build on). and with that in mind, those areas (like all around van dyke and kercheval) are popping off and attracting renters and home owners bc of the retail/bars/restaurants that the villages offer (the yellow part of the map). is that info overload? or do you have any questions?

@Craig McConnell i moved to detroit last year (attorney from columbus turned realtor in detroit). since the city is 140 square miles, i read the 900 page zoning code, made outlines, and came to this conclusion based on market research and the zoning: the city is investing in "Traditional Main Street Overlay Areas." it's a term of art from our zoning code, that basically means that there's existing (probably vacant) commercial corridors that are being revitalized and re-tenanted in these areas. so if you look at the map of the Overlay Areas, the orange are the original areas and then the purple are the newer, up-and-coming areas. so the orange is like midtown, corktown, bagley (investors love bagley). and the purple is like van dyke and 8 mile (like Cameron mentioned earlier) and the e warren Overlay Area, which is the 48224 zip code. i really like that zip code (the whole zip code, both north and south of i-94). the house sizes are rarely over 2,000 sqft (most are 700-1,600 sqft). there are some duplexes, lots are sfh, and owner-occs, and the neighborhoods aren't bombed out (like there aren't any vacant lots mixed in with the houses. rather, the streets are lined with little brick bungalows built between 1920-1950). the entry point in 48224 is a little lower than bagley for instance. but the ARVs are climbing and demand is there, especially for $200k homes (they often go to fha buyers). and we're seeing closing cost concessions just being stacked on top of the purchase price (as opposed to cutting into seller's net). i just leased half a duplex in 48224 for $1,450. it basically has original everything, but landlord did add new butcher block counter and dishwasher. last thing about 48224, it has some of the highest rated schools in detroit. i'm not saying these are the only areas to invest in, but they are the established areas that the city is pushing investment. so if you strictly stick to the Overlay Areas, you'll miss out on some of the up-and-coming areas, like islandview (east side) for instance, but will be investing in more established detroit neighborhoods. 

in detroit, our condo resale market is def a buyer's market. we're seeing "price-sticking" in sellers, where they basically are stuck on the prices they paid for their condos in 2020-2022. so these sellers are less willing to cut prices and negotiate with buyers. therefore, our condo resale market has long DOM and has very much slowed as buyers have less buying power. many owners are renting their condos instead of selling rn.

however, on the new construction front (condo or sfh), those go very fast. still a seller's market for new builds. probably due to limited supply, so demand eats up every phase of development when they hit the market.

there's demand for sub-$200k homes (lots of fha buyers), and we see closing costs concessions for buyers added on top of the list price, rather than eating into seller's net. so still a seller's market for that asset class.

and it's a buyer's market for value-add, but i feel like prices were higher in q4 than i was expecting for value add sfh. so for sfh, our prices are still appreciating. we also had our first population growth in 2024 since detroit's bankruptcy, so that is helping sustain demand in our value-add and sfh market.