Downtown Detroit is home to Quicken Loans, a company that sells mortgages. The founder of Quicken Loans, Dan Gilbert is one rich dude and he's bought up a ton of downtown buildings, including a Casino. His real estate company, Rock Ventures group, owns somewhere near 60 properties totaling 9M square feet. According to the Quicken Loans website they are "America's largest online lender" and have helping "nearly 2 million American families finance their homes." So since they are so invested in the city of Detroit they are making it super easy for Detroit residents to get mortgages, right? Wrong. Nope.
As reported by Crain's, Detroit—where a major property owner made his money off of mortgages—is still a very hard place to get a mortgage. Gee if only we had a local investor with the power to DO SOMETHING about that. From Crain's
"You'd think it would be easy to get a loan, right? But getting a mortgage has been almost impossible. Banks are very reluctant to lend into a rehab," [Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan] said.The quote was in reference to how he hopes other lenders will take the lead of Chase Bank and Liberty Bank, which are making it easier for buyers of Detroit Land Bank homes to get loans. In 2013, there were only about 500 mortgages underwritten for Detroit homes, according to Crain's. To be fair, Quicken Loans is not a bank. However, they are certainly a powerful organization that should be well aware of the challenges of this real estate environment. Thoughts? Comment away.
· Chase teams with Liberty Bank to fund loans for Detroit auction homes [Crain's]
· Take a Closer Look at Gilbert's Miniature Model of Detroit [Curbed Detroit]
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