Where should I look when considering Detroit Real Estate Investing

This could be a stand alone blog topic, and one I'll likely write about often. Lets cover, what "Detroit" really is, in terms of actual locations. When people ask where the best neighborhoods are, for Detroit Real Estate Investing (www.DetroitRealEstateInvesting.com), its important to identify what they consider "Detroit" to be.

To people outside of the area, Detroit is a huge area. From Ann Arbor, to Saint Clair Shores, people often say "I live in Detroit". When in reality, they have NOTHING to do with Detroit.

REAL Detroit, is a city, located in a major metropolitan area. It actually only accounts for 25-30% of the population. And yet, its easily the most recognizable city in the area. We do NOT buy houses in Detroit. We buy houses in “Metro Detroit”. There was a time, 7 years ago, when we were very active in the actual City of Detroit. I would argue we were one of the first to see value there. But, we were also one of the first to realize that with the change in the housing market, our dollars are much more productive in the suburbs.

You can easily find a house in the City of Detroit for 5K. BUT, you will pay 40% more in property taxes, you have NO city services, the police will not protect your property, the neighbors will steal anything they can from your property, the police will never respond if you ever need to call them for a theft, or break in. And worst of all, good luck evicting a tenant through 36^th District Court. Detroit Property Management is extremely difficult when you receive no governmental support to enforce leases, etc.

So we’ve moved all our operations to the suburbs. Over a 5 year period, our investment costs are lower, our rental rates are higher, our vacancy rates are MUCH lower, and best of all, on the occasions when we DO need to do an eviction, it takes just weeks, instead of months to physically remove a tenant.