All Forum Posts by: Tommy Desmond

Without a doubt, anyone who's in Detroit's real estate market knows there's some major activity happening. I target primarily the northern suburbs in Oakland County, but there's an obvious energy buildup downtown.

There's a lot of big money coming into the city from the east coast, and I expect there to be a pretty serious clean up over the next few years in Detroit. In a decade people are going to be laughing about how "you used to be able to get a house for $1000 here ten years ago.".

I don't know your market at all, but in mine, I shoot for a minimum of 3 bedrooms. 2 bedrooms sit on the market longer. I also try for a minimum of 1000 sqft.

... but again, Cali is a different animal.

The primary issue for a self-directed IRA funds is that you're a "passive" investor. You can't take the money and use it to actively manage a business. If you work with someone who has an LLC, you can direct your funds into their business, so long as you're a passive investor. You can't take the funds from your SDIRA, put them in your LLC, then flip a house with the LLC.

I mean, you can, but expect a phone call from the IRS.

Detroit is actually relatively meth-free. The primary drug industry in the city is crack cocaine, and apparently those "businesses" work to keep meth out of the city as it's a competitor for them. The west side of Michigan produces almost all of the meth in the state.

I know this is a weird topic to put my 2 cents on, but my sister-in-law is a forensic scientist for Michigan State Police and she deals very specifically with this issue, so it's something I accidentally know more than I want to know about. lol

Oh and if someone's a pessimist, stop talking to them.

Yeah, Aaron's right. Don't assume just because they're agents that they understand investing. The vast majority don't understand it, or do it personally.

Depending on what brokerage you're working with, it might be wise to speak to the "team leader" and ask them directly "Are any of the agents in your office real estate investors themselves?"

I won't lie though, if you don't have a track record (haven't done any deals yet), it's going to be hard to get the real investor-oriented agents to work with you. If they're good, they already have a network of people they shop deals to. Getting on their buyers list might be the best you can hope for, in which case, they'll just send out deals they've located. Don't expect an agent to take you out to look at tons of properties, because they probably won't.

Build a relationship and things get easier.

New agents might be a better bet until you get your first deal under you. Newer agents are just so desperate to start doing some business, they'll accommodate a lot more BS from investors. A new agent will take you out to places, run comps, submit lowball offers, and pull public record data for you. But take their advice with a grain of salt, and run your own numbers, because they might not know a whole hell of a lot yet.

If you can search the public record or the tax rolls for the area you're in, look for individuals who own multiple properties, there's your investors. Typically they'll have the "taxpayer address" listed, which is usually their homestead. Send them a good old fashioned letter, or knock their door if you're feeling ballsy.

Another trick is to find properties owned by LLCs or INCs on the public record, then search your state's business registry (if it has one) for the company's formulation documents. They typically indicate the owner or the registered agent. Sometimes there's even a phone number.

@Aaron Yates It sounds like you found a real investor agent. I know a couple people who work like that, and yes, they are the kind of agent you want to find. They are fairly rare. Usually agents with lower license numbers who are still active are this kind of agent. If they've been around for a long time, and they don't have any visible marketing of their name, but are still doing business, they're an investor agent. Good find Aaron.

We're all always in training ;)

I'm honestly not the person to answer that question, I've never had to evict anyone, so I don't have any first hand knowledge. I'm originally from New Jersey, so I've heard Michigan is incredibly landlord friendly, but that's relative to NJ and NY, so I don't know what the rest of the country's perspective is.

Anyone else have any input?