Art Van House or 6,000+ homes in Detroit. Which was the better purchase and why?

**TTime** · October-29-14, 07:04 PM

There's an argument to be made for both. I'm very curious as to which investment provides a greater return.

**GP For Life** · October-29-14, 07:54 PM

It depends on what you're objective is. If it's an investment, and you have a long time horizon, then you're better off with 6,000 homes in Detroit. If you want to look like you're of poor breeding and have more money than common sense, then Art Van's house is the call.

Taking away the aesthetic offensiveness of the house, and re-weighting accordingly, I think Art Van's house is a better purchase in the short run. This assumes you're buying it just in hopes of the property value going up.

Basically, Detroit homes are being priced like out of the money options right now. You're buying the option to do something at a future date, in hopes that demand for homes in Detroit will increase. So, there's no intrinsic value, but there's time value. The longer you hold this option, the better chance of it getting to its strike price.

**Jimbo** · October-29-14, 07:59 PM

Why is it so hard to try and get a thread started? I AM JUst a novice but I find it very frustrating.

**Jimbo** · October-29-14, 08:20 PM

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Why is it so hard to try and get a thread started? I AM JUst a novice but I find it very frustrating.

You know there are a lot of things fucked up wif this website but I guess you have to be regular to figger out.

**TTime** · October-30-14, 06:58 AM

GPforlife, I agree with most of your points and yes it does come down to the investors time frame and risk appetite. I don't think the house is quite as ugly as you do but yeah it isn't going to win any awards for sure. Probably less headache and a quicker potential return with the Art Van House but bigger upside with the bundle of Detroit homes. I would like to say the bundler has spread out his risk but I'm not sure if that is true. Anyway, I'm still interested in other opinions concerning this topic and hopefully some will chime in.

**Smirnoff** · October-30-14, 08:28 AM

Art Van: Can enjoy it & then sell for a profit w/o additional renovation expense when the economy turns.....

**TTime** · October-30-14, 02:07 PM

Crazy how both auctions had such similar winning bids. Apparently the market thinks a big house on the lake is worth 500k more than thousands of houses in Detroit.

**boater4life** · October-30-14, 06:11 PM

Anyone know how much the big house on the lake auctioned for?

**TTime** · October-30-14, 09:40 PM

Originally Posted by boater4life

Anyone know how much the big house on the lake auctioned for?

Apparently there were 4 total participants with the winner bidding 3.7 million.

**Honky Tonk** · October-30-14, 10:52 PM

How about the 6000 abandoned houses in Detroit?

**TTime** · October-31-14, 04:02 AM

Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

How about the 6000 abandoned houses in Detroit?

3.2 million dollars

**Honky Tonk** · October-31-14, 07:42 AM

Originally Posted by TTime

3.2 million dollars

Great! Let's see which one gets paid first.

**Dan Wesson** · October-31-14, 06:32 PM

Hmmmm...

$3,200,000/ 6000= $533.33

Sounds good looking at the deal this way, but there be strings attached. Wonder where it will end up per parcel.

**Honky Tonk** · October-31-14, 09:00 PM

Originally Posted by Dan Wesson

Hmmmm...

$3,200,000/ 6000= $533.33

Sounds good looking at the deal this way, but there be strings attached. Wonder where it will end up per parcel.

Back in the hands of the City more than likely.