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Best way to invest in Detroit?

Hacp

Hacp

Lifer
Not in the government, but in areas like real estate or small businesses, especially downtown.

Its best to buy when the market is down, and the Detroit situation looks like it has alot of upside. The city is finalizing its bankruptcy and its probably gotten as bad as its ever going to get. So I need some diversified investment vehicle that I can put a few thousand into and have it grow at 20-30% for the next 10-15 years.
 
Hacp said:
Not in the government, but in areas like real estate or small businesses, especially downtown.

Its best to buy when the market is down, and the Detroit situation looks like it has alot of upside. The city is finalizing its bankruptcy and its probably gotten as bad as its ever going to get. So I need some diversified investment vehicle that I can put a few thousand into and have it grow at 20-30% for the next 10-15 years.
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"It's as bad as it's ever going to get"

They say that every single year about Detroit. Automakers are setting up shop in the south now, so I'm not sure where you're expecting this bounceback to come from.
 
Invest in Quicken Loans. Pretty sure they own half of downtown already

Maybe a Detroit REIT? Otherwise you're pretty much guessing which areas are going to get revived. Maybe the areas close to Greektown, the Renaissance Center or Wayne State but this is still a very risky investment
 
Hacp said:
Not in the government, but in areas like real estate or small businesses, especially downtown.

Its best to buy when the market is down, and the Detroit situation looks like it has alot of upside. The city is finalizing its bankruptcy and its probably gotten as bad as its ever going to get. So I need some diversified investment vehicle that I can put a few thousand into and have it grow at 20-30% for the next 10-15 years.
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Hahahahaha and you think Detroit is that vehicle?

The city has been dying for 60 years. But you somehow believe it is just about ready to bounce back?
 
Detroit, from a height of 1.6 million people in 1950, is down to about 700,000 people. People continue to leave as quickly as they can. Cities require population density. It is their lifeblood. They need the taxes and the commerce that a concentrated population brings. People are starting to propose offering visas to foreign nationals on the condition that they agree to live in Detroit. It's that desperate.
 
iamwiz82 said:
You missed the lows of Detroit, those were 15-20 years ago. Downtown is extremely vibrant.
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When a city is being revitalized, as parts of Detroit probably are, you can absolutely invest and make money, but you have to really pay attention to where development efforts are going, and where they are not.

I'll use Philly as an example since I'm not as familiar with Detroit. Twenty five to thirty years ago, Philadelphia was basically a giant urban slum. A few Philadelphia developers got together with City Hall and agreed on a plan to revitalize it: They paid hundreds of people to go out every day and literally clean up several blocks around City Hall. They picked up garbage, swept, cleaned the spray paint, etc. Then they brought in a hotel chain, showed them how they were cleaning up, made a bunch of promises, gave them a sweetheart tax deal, and convinced them to build a hotel in the area that was cleaned up.

That was was epicenter. The hip, cool, metropolitan part of Philadelphia has been growing slowly from that point ever since. How slow? The edge of "gentrification" or whatever you want to call it, is now Fishtown, barely three miles from City Hall. Thirty years to go three miles. And there are still parts of Philly between City Hall and Fishtown that are utter shit.
 
I have been floating this idea for awhile to my buddies. I am thinking about launching a self defense tourism business. I will construct heavily fortified suburbans or trucks of some kind with run flat tires, bulletproof windows ect. Those on tour will be driven into the highest crime rate neighborhoods in the country including Detroit. Those in the vehicle will have access to the finest legal tactical assault rifles available in 'Merica. Confederate flags will be flown and country music will be sounded at moderate volumes. Other than that the vehicle will simply drive slowly through the neighborhoods waiting for an opportunity to stand its ground.

Not sure if serious.
 
Minus the assault weapons, I believe that kind of thing is already done. i.e. big armored SUVs roll through urban blight as some kind of drive through safari. It seem pretty dumb and boring to me, but hey, different strokes.
 
My wife's BIL works for DTE Energy, electric provider for Detroit and a large surrounding area. They are tearing out their infrastructure throughout the city for a variety of reasons. One is to keep people from stealing electricity in unsafe manners, getting injured and then suing. He says that barring massive redevelopment which would first entail tearing down large swaths of dilapidated housing, replacing their infrastructure will not be even remotely affordable. In other words, they are not going to come in placing poles, stringing wires and placing transformers for one or even a few houses because nobody will pay the price let alone be able to afford it.

The city has got a lot farther to fall before it resurrects itself if ever.
 
boomerang said:
My wife's BIL works for DTE Energy, electric provider for Detroit and a large surrounding area. They are tearing out their infrastructure throughout the city for a variety of reasons. One is to keep people from stealing electricity in unsafe manners, getting injured and then suing. He says that barring massive redevelopment which would first entail tearing down large swaths of dilapidated housing, replacing their infrastructure will not be even remotely affordable. In other words, they are not going to come in placing poles, stringing wires and placing transformers for one or even a few houses because nobody will pay the price let alone be able to afford it.

The city has got a lot farther to fall before it resurrects itself if ever.
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People do not realize how much infrastructure is needed to support a city, and how difficult it is to build and maintain. This is an excellent example. Even if Detroit does have a turnaround, it will first occur in areas that already have the infrastructure. Areas that need massive redevelopment including contruction of dwelling units, electric service, plumbing/drainage, roadwork, etc. etc. will only be resettled if there is huge demand. This stuff has been deteriorating for decades, it's not like you just slap some spackle on the wall and paint.
 
I don't always ask for investment advice online, but when I do, I ask from General Discussion forums of technology message boards.
 
zeta.nuke.gif
 
Detroit is going to have bad crime for years to come. There was a documentary film even in the 90s about a future law enforcement figure they were planning to deploy there. If you invest in a company, just make sure they have good insurance.
 
Blackjack200 said:
People do not realize how much infrastructure is needed to support a city, and how difficult it is to build and maintain. This is an excellent example. Even if Detroit does have a turnaround, it will first occur in areas that already have the infrastructure. Areas that need massive redevelopment including contruction of dwelling units, electric service, plumbing/drainage, roadwork, etc. etc. will only be resettled if there is huge demand. This stuff has been deteriorating for decades, it's not like you just slap some spackle on the wall and paint.
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The key is to get downtown in a livable condition (which it is) and to bring people back there. Buildings downtown and being gobbled up and rehabilitated for tenants, commercial and residential. Bringing people down there brings the need for all the typical services. Quicken Loans is offering very large, forgivable loans to bring young suburbanites to downtown as long as they stay for 5 years.
 
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