Take this for example

Wallace, 27, said he did not want to leave his fiancee and two children with a mortgage before shipping out to Iraq later this year.

“I still have student loans and I’m trying to be responsible. I don’t want to leave debt,” he said.

Wallace waited for the auction to roll around to Detroit’s Boston-Edison district, a once stately area that was home to boxing legend Joe Louis and Motown founder Berry Gordy.

But he was quickly outbid. An unidentified investor at the front of the room who had scooped up several dozen properties took the home Wallace wanted for about $15,000.

“Why am I competing against a bank?” he said later. “It would be common sense to have a separate process for people who want to move back to the city or it’s going to stay empty.”

As an investor, note

1. there are people who want to live in the city
2. you can’t just buy and hold and SIT in the real estate market in Detroit, You have to buy with a plan. Otherwise, you don’t have an investment, you have a liability.

Read the rest of the article here.

Hazel Park, Eastpointe and Pontiac all had higher rates than Detroit, according to a Free Press analysis of metro area foreclosures over the past 3 1/2 years.

Read the rest of the story in the Detroit Free Press

Top 5 Foreclosure Markets in the US

For starters, you don’t have to move right away. And if you work out a payment arrangement with your lender, there’s still a chance you can stay in your home.

Helpful information for those in trouble. Good information for the real estate investor. Know the process and what you’re getting into. In general, in the Detroit area,

• the owner can miss up to 3 mortgage payments before action is taken
• there is still time to redeem the house up to the sheriff’s sale
• even after the sheriff’s sale, the 6 month redemption period allows one to buy back their home

Read more in the article “Foreclosure doesn’t automatically mean eviction“.

• Real estate agent
• Real estate attorney
• Mortgage broker
• Accountant
• Title company
• Home inspector
• Contractor

Now, with a solid team in place, you take on the role of manager and major decision maker and can create an efficient system that minimizes risk while maximizing profit.

Assembling a Team of Experts and Advisors
You may like doing things yourself. You get them done, you get them done right. And, when buying property, others you get involved may become rivals and pick up on your hard-earned secrets and tips.

However, going it alone in this business is a good way to go broke soon, or at least limit your potential profit. I always look to cultivate relationships with  specialists knowledgeable in various areas.

This works well for me for a couple of reasons.

First, they provide expert guidance whether I am negotiating over consessions, looking for a property manager, acquiring particular financing, or even researching a particular community.

Secondly, they help me avoiding common pitfalls. Why should I reinvent the wheel? Trust others who have gone before me.

Third, I get SO much more done when the workload is shared. If I have delegated jobs to others–other who are better equipped to handle it–I have just freed up my time for finding the most profitable opportunities.

Get people in on your act. Investing in foreclosures is a specialty, full of nuances that don’t exist in other real estate markets. Collect your team of specialists to help you build your business.

In Detroit and Southern California, foreclosure opportunists are going after cheap homes in downtrodden neighborhoods, which are selling in the five-figure range.

But there are plenty of million dollar-plus homes out there, in good neighborhoods, which have fallen into foreclosure as the result of shoddy lending practices, speculative buyers and homeowners walking away from a negative equity situation.

Interesting article.  I like the general theme about the opportunities. I can’t say I agree with some of the opinions like the motivation of banks and of agents. What do you think?