Would you invest in Detroit?

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

The problem is that in a city like Detroit, rental houses are often the first ones that become vacant houses.

But a new owner who just invested in a house probably isn't going to give up that quick.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by Jonesy55

If the homes were owned by local African-American families then I guess there would be no problem with gentrification as those local families would benefit from rising prices, if they are all rented by African-American families from absentee landlords however then rising rents from gentrification will be something that is complained about.

So even if the absentee landlord is black its bad?

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Jonesy55

If the homes were owned by local African-American families then I guess there would be no problem with gentrification as those local families would benefit from rising prices, if they are all rented by African-American families from absentee landlords however then rising rents from gentrification will be something that is complained about.

Reality is almost always going to be between these two extremes, ergo there will be significant numbers of displaced locals, guaranteed. (And not even only the renters; there will also be long-term homeowners who'll decide it's time to cash out and leave for somewhere else.)

In any case, you can be 100% sure that there will be some people complaining that "the character of the neighborhood is changing" and that it's a bad thing.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Sun Belt

Can you explain the "told you so" part of your post?

Are you saying No to just the bombed out neighborhoods of Detroit, or just No in general to the idea?

I'm saying that if you go and try operating a decrepit portfolio of multi-story centenarian woodframe properties in a Northern climate from thousands of miles away, after a while you'll either 1) throw in the towel on that experiment or 2) grab the bull by the horns and move to where your portfolio is.

I'd say "hell yes" to ultra-cheap Detroit neighborhoods, if you intended to relocate there with all your Orange County capital to oversee everything yourself. (And if you're handy and wanted to do a lot yourself, then I'd be even more certain of your near-assured medium-term success.)

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

The Zillow home's Zillow listing specifically states it has fire damage and needs to be demolished.

As for me, yes, I would absolutely invest in Detroit. I would buy the very worst houses in the very worst neighborhoods, restore them faithfully and beautifully, and plant flowers in the front yards. My goal would be to instill a sense of menace and mystery: Who lives in that? What are they doing in there? My inspiration is a character in one of the Anita Blake novels of Laurell K. Hamilton -- one of the good ones back before her books just turned into out-and-out porn. The character was a powerful witch who lived in a bombed-out, gang-controlled neighborhood in St. Louis. Her house was surrounded by desolation... but also by red and white geraniums in the front yard, blood and bone, and everyone knew to leave her alone because anyone who crossed her ended up a component of one of the undead abominations that she kept in the basement.

So, yes. I need a place to stitch together undead abominations, magically reanimated, and consisting of up to ten individuals at a time, and nothing would be better than the last house on some windswept block in Detroit.

Plus flowers. There have to be flowers in the front yard. That's a crucial element.

lol, interesting. i lived in a chaotic neighborhood across from an active corner in st. louis that was controlled by people who had no qualms about emptying a clip for fun into the air in the middle of the night. putting up with that is for the young, i aged two decades in five years.

i did plant white roses by my front stoop.

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by Centropolis

lol, interesting. i lived in a chaotic neighborhood across from an active corner in st. louis that was controlled by people who had no qualms about emptying a clip for fun into the air in the middle of the night. putting up with that is for the young, i aged two decades in five years.

i did plant white roses by my front stoop.

Here, educate yourself: The Laughing Corpse

[llamaorama]

It seems like Detroit has hit bottom and there’s enough things in the core city that maybe it’s okay now?

[PhillyRising]

There is one thing that is always going to hold Detroit back...the lack of any commuter rail lines. If they would actually had a plan in place to build a system that links the whole region together, Detroit would be a nice investment now.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by PhillyRising

There is one thing that is always going to hold Detroit back...the lack of any commuter rail lines. If they would actually had a plan in place to build a system that links the whole region together, Detroit would be a nice investment now.

The Wolverine could function as a commuter rail line with an appropriate schedule...

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by PhillyRising

There is one thing that is always going to hold Detroit back...the lack of any commuter rail lines. If they would actually had a plan in place to build a system that links the whole region together, Detroit would be a nice investment now.

Detroit actually had some commuter rail back in the day. The grand trunk from Pontiac to Detroit, the Penn Central from Ann Arbor to Detroit, and the lake shore express from St. Claire Shores to Detroit, but they've all been defunct for decades.

AFAIK, the tracks/ROWs are all still there, so similar services could conceivably be restored in the future.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Detroit actually had some commuter rail back in the day. The grand trunk from Pontiac to Detroit, the Penn Central from Ann Arbor to Detroit, and the lake shore express from St. Claire Shores to Detroit, but they've all been defunct for decades.

AFAIK, the tracks/ROWs are all still there, so similar services could conceivably be restored in the future.

The powers that be are tossing around the idea of restoring commuter service as part of Ford's redevelopment of Michigan Central Station.

[Sun Belt]

Why take commuter rail when congestion is nonexistent?

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by PhillyRising

There is one thing that is always going to hold Detroit back...the lack of any commuter rail lines. If they would actually had a plan in place to build a system that links the whole region together, Detroit would be a nice investment now.

Hold it back in what way? The only issue I see with them not having commuter rail is that it hurts its overall "urban" scale.

Dallas has really low numbers of people who commute by rail(and only 1(is it 2 now?) actual commuter rail lines) yet it's number 2 in the nation for job growth.

So it hasn't hurt them one bit.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

The powers that be are tossing around the idea of restoring commuter service as part of Ford's redevelopment of Michigan Central Station.

RTA plans 3 of them; Ann Arbor, Pontiac and Mount Clemens.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Sun Belt

Why take commuter rail when congestion is nonexistent?

Is expressway congestion in metro Detroit really nonexistent?

I wouldn't know, but I'd much rather hear from someone who, ya know, actually lives there.

[ThePhun1]

Only if the city shrank and focused on rebuilding a denser, more concentrated and wealthier city centered on Downtown.

There's too much sprawl created by urban lots. I presume there's hope in places but it is spread out. And the unique sprawl of Detroit, presumably, takes up a lot of resources for policing and other city services.

If you're gonna rebuild, plan it and condense it. What's better, a Detroit of 200-300,000 with safe streets, a condensed footprint (easier for city services like policing and buses) and a healthy middle class or the status quo?

The outer areas deannexed can either ruralize or become like other Detroit suburbs, which are often really good.

[Sun Belt]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Is expressway congestion in metro Detroit really nonexistent?

I wouldn't know, but I'd much hear from someone who, ya know, actually lives there.

Here's a good source:
http://inrix.com/scorecard/

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by Sun Belt

Here's a good source:
http://inrix.com/scorecard/

Are you arguing that everyone would prefer to drive if there is no congestion or thet Detroit would do better with express buses on the highways?

[Sun Belt]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

Are you arguing that everyone would prefer to drive if there is no congestion or thet Detroit would do better with express buses on the highways?

I'm not arguing anything. I'm just stating the obvious reason as to why Detroit doesn't have a commuter rail -- because there is no need for it, due to the fact that the city declined from 2 million to 600,000.

Commuter rail makes sense in some cities, in others it does not make sense.

E] Crawford [of all people] would probably agree with me. We're on the same page with HSR.

[Crawford]

Commuter rail presently doesn't make sense in Metro Detroit because the region is highly decentralized and not particularly congested.

There was commuter rail, along the Woodward corridor to downtown, until the mid-1980's. It was dropped due to declining ridership. A major obstacle to restoring service would be the fact that the tracks leading downtown no longer exist. There are no active train tracks anywhere around downtown.