All Forum Posts by: John A.

Thanks to all for the responses! I'm not looking reasons not to invest in Detroit, I'll do my own research and when I feel I have the right people on the ground to watch my properties then I'll make a purchase, I'm not going in blind and just buying houses. The reason I started this thread was to find where are the best spots in the city to invest, not outside the city or nearby towns, but inside the city. If someone can give me specific neighborhoods where the area is good and I should buy and the bad areas where I shouldn't buy that would be a great place to start!

@Tom A.- Sound advice. Since you have ample experience with Detroit, what areas of the city would you recommend and what areas would you away from? I plan on visiting but I want to have a few spots in mind so I can compare with the rest of city to determine if it's right for me. I know it will be a good investments if I get sound info and pick my spots right!

I'm going to have to agree with Annette. Everybody, investors included, act like Detroit is some abandoned city with nothing going for it. There are still hundreds of thousands of people who live there and live there comfortable, in the good areas of course. I also agree with everyone who said I need to take a visit to see what I'm gettig into before I buy, which makes sense. I'm still looking for someone who can show me the ins and outs of the city and knows what they are talking about. As of right now and if your buying in the right areas, I cant see a better investments than Detroit. And as the billionaire and one of the most respected investors, Warren Buffet, once said:

"Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful”

And Detroit is a PERFECT example of that!

Alright I think I'm understanding what's happening. As @Matt Devincenzo stated earlier about "grandfathering the property", I think the property must have been grandfathered as multi-family before the area was changed to a single family zone. Then the property went under foreclosure and now had to comply with the new zoning laws, which explains why its zoned as single family. Now I'm going to take @Cynthia Taylor's advice and call the city hall to put in a request for "use variance" which will allow me to use the property as a multi-family while not changing the complete single family zoning laws. I think they should approve it with no problem, hopefully. Thanks for all the help and wish me the best!

@Matt Devincenzo I called the city development and they were the ones who told me it was rezoned because it's in a single family area and because it has been vacant for some time. This doesn't make any sense because the property was zoned as mult-family before and there are duplexes in the area close to the property.

@Nick Richards the property is located in Florida, don't want to give out the city yet

Hello,

I was planning on purchasing a multi-family property, only to find out that the property has been rezoned to a single family. Meaning that the property, which is set up for three units, can only be used as a single family. Is this even possible? lol The property was zoned as multi-family before but since it was vacant for more than 6 months the city changed the zone to single family. Any other investors had this problem before? I know there is a way to change the zoning but I'm having trouble trying to go through the process. I'm trying to get this under contract as soon as possble. If anyone has experience with zoning, your welcome to response! Thanks to all!

@Jerry Puckett. Great advice, what's the trick about finding cash buyers off the MLS? I am hearing direct mail is the best way of marketing, what your technique? Such as where do you get your lists from, do you use yellow letters or postcards, etc... I've always stayed away from direct mail because due to the low success rate of getting motivated sellers and the cost to mail to them consistently.

Hello Investors,

After listening to a real estate podcast on iTunes, I plan on making a squeeze page to start getting into online marketing. I'm using the squeeze page to build my cash buyers list so I can increase the number of deals I'm doing monthly. I know there are investors on BP using this method and are completely taking over their market. Where do I go to make a squeeze page, what key info should I put on it, and what is your success rate/ experience? Any advice with this method would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

Hello,

I did some research and this seems like a good way to go for multi-family financing. Does anyone have any more information on FHA apartment loans? What are the requirements, any advice would be great! Thanks

Thanks to all for the warm welcoming! The 4-plex is selling for around $130K, the units are 2- 2 bed/1 bath and 2- 1 bed/ bath. I figured I could live in one of the 2 bed 1 bath units and rent out the other three units. From researching the area, I could rent the 2 bed 1 bath for $700 and the 1 bed 1 baths for $600 each. I was planning to take out $10K from the Homepath renovation loan to fix up the property. Leaving total purchase/loan for about $140,000, the 3% down payment should be $4,200. Is there anything else I'm missing such as minimum income, credit score/ history, etc... any advice would be helpful. Thanks