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Old 03-19-2018, 11:27 AM
 
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....what investments, if any, would you make in the city of Detroit? Or...would you just get the hell out of dodge?
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Old 03-19-2018, 12:11 PM
 
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Why?

Dan Gilbert is worth 5 billion (yeah 10X your jackpot) and has nicely upgraded the commercial side of Detroit (self serving for him as a developer). Who would try to compete with a guy already entrenched in the process and being 10X richer?

That would be like saying you won 500 million and you are going to build your own electric car (Tesla) or your own social media platform (facebook). 500 million doesn't make you an expert in the industry and probably gives you an easier path to failure without any bank vetting of your ideas (if idea sucks, bank probably won't loan you any money). Google Curt Schilling and his spectacular squandering of 50 million on a video game idea.
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Old 03-19-2018, 12:54 PM
 
13,806 posts, read 9,676,336 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by City Guy997S View Post
Why?

Dan Gilbert is worth 5 billion (yeah 10X your jackpot) and has nicely upgraded the commercial side of Detroit (self serving for him as a developer). Who would try to compete with a guy already entrenched in the process and being 10X richer?

That would be like saying you won 500 million and you are going to build your own electric car (Tesla) or your own social media platform (facebook). 500 million doesn't make you an expert in the industry and probably gives you an easier path to failure without any bank vetting of your ideas (if idea sucks, bank probably won't loan you any money). Google Curt Schilling and his spectacular squandering of 50 million on a video game idea.
I guess. Its always been a dream of mine to buy a block of houses in the Dexter/Linwood area. I have always loved the two story brick apartment flats and homes on the West side. Some of those blocks are a gentrification dream area. I am not thinking about downtown, really. That is not the only place to invest.

Last edited by Indentured Servant; 03-19-2018 at 01:34 PM..
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Old 03-19-2018, 02:28 PM
 
Location: North of Canada, but not the Arctic
21,076 posts, read 19,579,298 times
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My fantasy has been to buy an old church, school, or building and turn it into a palace. Some possibilities:

https://binged.it/2ppN6y8
https://binged.it/2ICvloa
https://binged.it/2IE6jor
https://binged.it/2IBMRJd
https://binged.it/2IDBHDo

Too many possibilities!
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Old 03-19-2018, 03:27 PM
 
Location: Grosse Ile Michigan
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I would like to buy the Old Wayne County building. I have plans for it but a 500K win might nor be all that much. Figure cut it in half for cash out, and half again for taxes and other fees. So pushing the total up a little bit because taxes will not be quite 50%, That would be $150 million. While that is a lot, if you were going to do any significant investment project in Detroit, it would take most of that. Would you be willing to put it all into a single Detroit investment? I would not. I do not need much to stabilize my finances and set my kids up with some back up money, but i wold want to give much of it to charities, or maybe set up some charitable trusts of my own. I think legally, my wife woudl have to approve my use of any more than half of it, and realistically relationship wise, she would need to be on board with any expenditure. Not sure she would be on board with dumping $100 mil of $150 into a Detroit investment.

I suppose buying a block and restoring it and then renting or selling it would not take that much, depending on where you chose. However any significant project downtown or midtown, is going to be in the $100 million range. If you look at all the recent projects not counting purchase they are in the $50 - $100 million range and that was some time ago for many of them.
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Old 03-19-2018, 04:38 PM
 
13,806 posts, read 9,676,336 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldjensens View Post
I would like to buy the Old Wayne County building. I have plans for it but a 500K win might nor be all that much. Figure cut it in half for cash out, and half again for taxes and other fees. So pushing the total up a little bit because taxes will not be quite 50%, That would be $150 million. While that is a lot, if you were going to do any significant investment project in Detroit, it would take most of that. Would you be willing to put it all into a single Detroit investment? I would not. I do not need much to stabilize my finances and set my kids up with some back up money, but i wold want to give much of it to charities, or maybe set up some charitable trusts of my own. I think legally, my wife woudl have to approve my use of any more than half of it, and realistically relationship wise, she would need to be on board with any expenditure. Not sure she would be on board with dumping $100 mil of $150 into a Detroit investment.

I suppose buying a block and restoring it and then renting or selling it would not take that much, depending on where you chose. However any significant project downtown or midtown, is going to be in the $100 million range. If you look at all the recent projects not counting purchase they are in the $50 - $100 million range and that was some time ago for many of them.
Not 500k.....500 million. Did not not Mega Millions get up to that amount recently?
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Old 03-19-2018, 05:05 PM
 
Location: 404
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I would move to Canada. Driving there is expensive, with shenanigans such as revoking a driver's license without notice, but more public transportation makes driving less necessary.
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Old 03-20-2018, 07:08 AM
 
Location: Grosse Ile Michigan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Indentured Servant View Post
Not 500k.....500 million. Did not not Mega Millions get up to that amount recently?
Just a typo - you can get that from the other numbers. Obviously 500K would not net $150 million.
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Old 03-20-2018, 09:11 AM
 
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Originally Posted by Coldjensens View Post
Just a typo - you can get that from the other numbers. Obviously 500K would not net $150 million.
My bad.

If Detroit was a city experiencing neighborhood gentrification like what is going on in DC, Brooklyn, Atlanta, etc, some of those West Side neighborhoods would be prime targets, given the architecture. I would like to buy and rehab a whole block. It would be a shame to see that type of housing torn down. I probably could buy a whole block in that area for a quarter of a million...hell I could probably buy the whole neighborhood for a couple of million....then put another quarter million or more in rehabbing, create a neighborhood association, get security and SHAZAM!!!!
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Old 03-20-2018, 09:23 AM
 
Location: Grosse Ile Michigan
30,707 posts, read 79,581,771 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Indentured Servant View Post
My bad.

If Detroit was a city experiencing neighborhood gentrification like what is going on in DC, Brooklyn, Atlanta, etc, some of those West Side neighborhoods would be prime targets, given the architecture. I would like to buy and rehab a whole block. It would be a shame to see that type of housing torn down. I probably could buy a whole block in that area for a quarter of a million....then put another quarter million or more in rehabbing, create a neighborhood association, get security and SHAZAM!!!!
I really believe that strong neighborhood associations are the key to improving Detroit neighborhoods. I lived in a neighborhood in another city that was coming back. The improvement was heavily due to neighborhood association involvement. We had twice nightly "patrols" which meant a group of people walking their dogs together in the evening or night and reporting anything untoward. Just having people out deters crime. Criminals do not want to be seen. We also recorded any significant code violations (including things like appliances ont eh porch, people living in garages etc) and met with code enforcement to push for enforcement. Then we followed up with them every month. We also worked with the City to get things we wanted done. Like blocking off some streets to prevent drive through traffic. Some of our residents did ride along with the police regularly. They could tell the officers when something or someone was out of norm or who the problem houses/apartments were etc. Finally we had a phone tree to gt better action form police. If I saw a drug deal going down I would call a neighbor and call the police. That neighbor would then call the police and call another neighbor. One or two calls they may ignore or respond slowly. Ten calls and they were right there. We also used a program called safe streets now where we made records of goings on at certain rental places and notified the landlord. If they did nothing. We arguably could sure them for creating a nuisance. However when we sent them the details about the program and notified them they could expect 25 lawsuits if they did not take action, they always took action. The impact of this was dramatic.

At the same time, we held events Easter egg hunt for the kids of the neighborhood, caroling in the park at Christmas. It got people out so they got to know and trust each other. People knew who belongs in a given house or apartment and who did not. It allowed people to watch out for each other.
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