I love the tone of this article. Yes, there are problems in the city. But my car still got broken into in Clawson, which is 96% white and considered by my parents generation to be a "safe" suburb for that reason. Real estate SHOULD be a long-term investment. The Villages still have homes that are selling for $400,000+. So a home like this one is definitely worth $23,000 and $20,000 in materials (not labor) to restore.
If I had won that $600M Mega Millions, I would have used the money to buy entire neighborhoods and fix them up for market-rate rental. Pay the Detroit Mower Gang to maintain an entire 16-block area, clean up the vacant lots, and then dump $20M or so into the M-1 rail to make sure it gets built so my investment will gain value. -Nathan Downing Phenicie via Facebook ["Villages" Living on the Cheap! Not That We're Cheerleading It]