Flint, Michigan. Why you should consider investing now ?
Flint, Michigan. Why you should consider investing now ? Known as “ The Vehicle City “ Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, 66 miles northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. According to the 2020 census, Flint has a population of 81,252, making it the twelfth largest city in Michigan. After considerable research Global Investments with their professional contacts in the U.S. have just released buy to let investment property in Flint, Michigan. For a seasoned buy to let property investor there are many factors that sway decision. Obviously the main factors are, price, rental yield and potential capital appreciation. Global Investments started business nearly 10 years ago selling investment property in Detroit. Many people at the time were harshly critical of the area and potential. It is very easy to simply read one side of the story and listen to the negativity surrounding the demise of the once bustling city filled with business and opportunity. 10 years ago Global Investments were selling an average three bedroom, brick built single family home for less than $25,000 in Detroit. The increase in demand and steady growth of Detroit is still continuing however to purchase that same property it will now probably cost you close to $60,000 Our early investors ( that we still deal with ) have been extremely happy with their decision. Who can blame them ? Now, we are not making any statement that Flint will mirror Detroit however there are current statistics and trends that are peaking the interest of many savy long term investors right now in Flint. The first thing to mention is price. One of the many reasons that sales slowed down in Detroit over the last few years which catapulted Cleveland, Ohio into one of our busiest regions was the ability to enter into the market at a very low cost. Property prices is Flint are incredibly low right now which enables a larger audience to look at getting on the investment ladder. So to begin let’s get the “ Elephant in the room “ out of the way and explain why properties dropped so considerably in Flint, Michigan. Quite simply put it was the water scandal. It began in 2014, when the city switched its drinking water supply from Detroit’s system to the Flint River in a cost-saving move. Inadequate treatment and testing of the water resulted in a series of major water quality and health issues for Flint residents. This stemmed from the tragic decision in 2013 to end the city’s five-decade practice of piping treated water for its residents from Detroit in favour of a cheaper alternative: temporarily pumping water from the Flint River until a new water pipeline from Lake Huron was built. Although the river water was highly corrosive, Flint officials failed to treat it, and lead leached out from ageing pipes into thousands of homes. One of the few bright spots of the Flint water crisis was the response of everyday citizens who, faced with the failure of city, state, and federal agencies to protect them, united to force the government to do its job. On the heels of the release of test results in the fall of 2015 showing elevated lead levels in Flint’s water—and its children—local residents joined with NRDC and other groups to petition the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to launch an immediate emergency federal response to the disaster. Those efforts paid off. In November 2016, a federal judge sided with Flint residents and ordered the implementation of door-to-door delivery of bottled water to every home without a properly installed and maintained faucet filter. A more momentous win came the following March with a major settlement requiring the city to replace the city’s thousands of lead pipes with funding from the state, and guaranteeing further funding for comprehensive tap water testing, a faucet filter installation and education program, free bottled water through the following summer, and continued health programs to help residents deal with the residual effects of Flint’s tainted water. Since then the state provided more than $350 million to Flint, in addition to the $100 million from the federal government – all of which is helping with water quality improvements, pipe replacement, healthcare, food resources, educational resources, job training and creation, and more. For five years in a row Flint’s water has been meeting federal standards. The water is now testing at 3 parts per billion (ppb) which is much lower than the federal requirement of 15 ppb. Flint’s water is one of the most monitored and testing the same as similar cities across the state and country. Obviously during this scandal many people and businesses left the City and the housing market plummeted. But things are changing, with the number of homes on the market continues to be near historic lows, which has driven prices up. Strong demand for housing among millennials, along with low interest rates, have tightened the market still further. Lumber prices are higher than normal, too, which has pushed up the price of new construction. With these factors and also the continuing exodus in many major cities in the US for more affordable housing in the suburbs has caught the eye of long term real estate investors. Flint, Michigan’s Real Estate is again starting to slowly move in the right direction and with prices so low and without the water issue hanging over its head the potential for capital appreciation in the coming 10 years could eclipse Detroit ! So what are the facts : Prices increased 0.39 percent from February to March in the Flint MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, according to the CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index, one of the leading trackers of the housing market. Prices are up 8.80 percent from March 2020. Forecasters are expecting increases for 2021 – 2022 to increase by at least a further 8% and possibly into double figures. Once confidence