When you’re in the bottle it’s hard to read the label!  In case you are not aware of this there is a tremendous amount of money being poured in to metro Detroit by out of state and out of country investors, right in our own backyard.   Why Detroit some might ask?  The answer is simple, low prices.  There is no other major metropolitan area in the country that you can buy homes for what you can right here.  This was even highlighted on NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” when the contestants where given a temptation to take cash to leave the show.  The initial amount was Five Thousand Dollars.  A contestant from Detroit made the comment, “You can buy a house in Detroit for that!”  While many local investors do not want to invest in the city of Detroit, there are many outlining suburbs where you can get great deals.

With the rental market still going strong, right now is a great time to buy and hold property.  Like any investment make sure you do your homework and have an exit strategy in place going into it.  With these unprecedented economic times it very difficult to predict what will happen in the future.  My thoughts are…if it makes sense, do it!

Chris Yatooma, President Real Estate Investors Association of Oakland