8200 Mack Ave Detroit...

[AUSSIE]

Likely issues with this building- Regardless of the interior, it will need major new upgrades to meet current building codes and required City of Detroit inspections. Things like new sprinkler systems which the building never originally had. Also to meet current codes- enough egress doors. It likely needs more from the main level, new stairs to those. Those will not only be expensive, they’ll be challenging to incorporate with the existing architecture. They would change the exterior too. Indian Village has historic designation so it might not be allowed to change the exterior. If it was allowed it would have to match the character of the building in stone, detailing. The multiple challenges to complete a large, complex project like this form a positive feedback loop. Each challenge added together makes the whole exponentially more complicated & challenging. These, plus repair issues for a project this size make for a big commitment. After purchase, the buyer will need to invest many hundreds of thousands of dollars. It’s tricky… is there a business on Mack Ave. in this location that could support that kind of investment? I say all this with experience on complex projects 1/30^th the scale. They were challenging and expensive. Maybe this thread of various comments will help someone plan a big but great project.

Your ruining the dream

Carry on!

Cheers

[villagejack]

Sorry Aussie! Maybe someone will have a different perspective than I do. Good luck in your investment adventures.

[AUSSIE]

Some new photos:

http://thedetroitsanctuaryproject.co...aptist-church/

Also on F/B with others:

https://www.facebook.com/DetroitSanctuary

Cheers

[AUSSIE]

And keep in mind that things have gotten worse since the onset of the recession in 2008.

I have heard that the population of BigD is now under 700,000 and still falling

Cheers

[davewindsor]

I have heard that the population of BigD is now under 700,000 and still falling

Cheers

So when are you coming down here with your Big Bag o' Ca$h??

[AUSSIE]

So when are you coming down here with your Big Bag o' Ca$h??

Same time as they are ready to *genuine* sell it, stop playing games, meet the market, and reply to my emails.

That would be a good start

Gut feeling they DONT want to sell it

Cheers

[old guy]

Good luck. Any photos of your area?

[marshamusic]

Same time as they are ready to *genuine* sell it, stop playing games, meet the market, and reply to my emails.

That would be a good start

Gut feeling they DONT want to sell it

Cheers

Perhaps they don't want to sell it to someone who refers to a church building as a "that [my] joint".

[AUSSIE]

Good luck. Any photos of your area?

U want photos of Melbourne Australia?

Can do if you want, in particular what u want to see?

Cheers

[AUSSIE]

Perhaps they don't want to sell it to someone who refers to a church building as a "that [my] joint".

They are not ready to sell, or waiting for a miracle/sucker etc

Cheers

[old guy]

U want photos of Melbourne Australia?

Can do if you want, in particular what u want to see?

Cheers

From looking at it on google maps it looks like an incredibly modern, clean city. It even looks like everyone has a brand new car.

[Richard]

They are not ready to sell, or waiting for a miracle/sucker etc

Cheers

It seems as though the trick to circumvent so of the rules in the city regarding vacant property is as long as it is listed for sale it stays under the radar to an extent,you do not have to sell it just put the price way up to discourage potential buyers.

But in fairness it is a trick used all across the US not just Detroit.

[davewindsor]

Same time as they are ready to *genuine* sell it, stop playing games, meet the market, and reply to my emails.

That would be a good start

Gut feeling they DONT want to sell it

Cheers

A "Gut feeling"?? Playing games??

Did you at least put down a conditional offer for what you think it's worth? If you think it's worth $100K less, put a due diligence conditional offer down and see what happens. If you don't get the info, you pull the offer. If you get the info, you do your assessment of whether you want to pull the offer anyway.

I used to be a real estate agent and advertised bargain properties and there were a lot of lookie loos that I would screen out just like before I was a real estate agent and flipped properties I would have tonnes of agents who wouldn't respond to my e-mails or interview me briefly and screen me out as wasting their time until I figured out how to sound like a serious prospect. They even teach it over and over again in real estate college to prequalify prospects so you're not wasting your own and your broker's time when you could be doing something else.

Contrary to what you may believe, I'd say almost all realtors out there don't stalk every prospect that calls in like a beggar harassing people walking down the street because a lot of people can't buy and rehab million dollar buildings like this and time is money for the agent who has bills to pay if he doesn't sell anything or find new listings. With all the realtor fees like association dues, franchise fees, liability insurance, credit card debt from living expenses while waiting several months for their commission cheque, advertising costs and other costs associated with having a straight commission [[no salary) job, why should they waste their time with a prospect who sounds like they're going to waste their time?

From your thread, I don't take you seriously after you mentioned you're looking for partners, so why should an agent who has 30 other listings they're trying to sell waste their time with you when they could be spending it trying to sell something to a serious prospect or find new listings so they can pay their bills?

If you want an agent to take you seriously, tell them you already own property and you want to set up an appointment to view this place instead of e-mailing them for more information and saying you can't set up an appointment to view it because you're in another country. Or, fax in a conditional offer. Then, they're going to take you seriously.

Or sign on with a buyer's agent who will do the footwork for you in getting information, but then again unless business has been really slow because they're clueless about marketing themself they're going to disqualify you also because they have bills to pay before even being able to put bread on their table.

I can't even fathom how you can do a multi million dollar rehab on a vacant commercial building when you can't even convince a real estate agent to want to talk to you for longer than a few minutes.

If you're going to respond that you really are serious about doing something with this property, prove it instead of making excuses. Saying you wrote an e-mail asking for more info is just wishy washy unserious bs. Tell us you signed and faxed in a conditional offer that was rejected. At least that's something.

[EastsideAl]

It seems as though the trick to circumvent so of the rules in the city regarding vacant property is as long as it is listed for sale it stays under the radar to an extent,you do not have to sell it just put the price way up to discourage potential buyers.

But in fairness it is a trick used all across the US not just Detroit.

Bingo. As long as the building is "for sale" it's exempt from the nuisance abatement ordinance.

[davewindsor]

Bingo. As long as the building is "for sale" it's exempt from the nuisance abatement ordinance.

How do you arrive at that conclusion?

Under the NAP, if they don't sell it or clean up their blighted building, an NAP team from Wayne County will file a legal claim for title and sell it at auction. http://www.co.wayne.mi.us/nap.htm

If it's forcibly sold at auction, they'll get a lot less for it than they are asking for it now so what's the incentive to raise the price? Maybe someone should click on "File a complaint" with the NAP if the owners are actively doing things to continue blight in the area. While they're at it, someone should "File a complaint" over the Wurlitzer with its falling brick.

[AUSSIE]

Games continue!

PRICE DROP , back down to $149,900 again, WTF???? , slashed $100k just like that!

http://www.trulia.com/property/30546...troit-MI-48214

Gut feeling, under <$100k for *somebody* to bite

Cheers

PS/ *SOMEBODY*ANYBODY* Please take some recent photos, as in snow covered, thanks

[AUSSIE]

Speaking of churches, this one also dropped $5k to $74k

No love for God so-to-speak

http://www.trulia.com/property/31050...troit-MI-48211

Cheers

[p69rrh51]

Speaking of churches, this one also dropped $5k to $74k

No love for God so-to-speak

http://www.trulia.com/property/31050...troit-MI-48211

Cheers

The church sits a couple blocks from the trash incinerator. The price will probably to drop to give away to sell it.

[p69rrh51]

Games continue!

PRICE DROP , back down to $149,900 again, WTF???? , slashed $100k just like that!

http://www.trulia.com/property/30546...troit-MI-48214

Gut feeling, under <$100k for *somebody* to bite

Cheers

PS/ *SOMEBODY*ANYBODY* Please take some recent photos, as in snow covered, thanks

An image taken 3-3-13

[EastsideAl]

Speaking of churches, this one also dropped $5k to $74k

No love for God so-to-speak

http://www.trulia.com/property/31050...troit-MI-48211

Cheers

That's old St. Stanislaus. A truly beautiful building inside and out. But, like p69 said, it sits near a very large trash incinerator. And most of the neighborhood it once served was torn down to build a General Motors plant many years ago, and the remainder of the neighborhood has largely disappeared. Compared to that building, the Greater Macedonia/Deutsches Haus building is in a garden spot.

[EastsideAl]

How do you arrive at that conclusion?

Under the NAP, if they don't sell it or clean up their blighted building, an NAP team from Wayne County will file a legal claim for title and sell it at auction. http://www.co.wayne.mi.us/nap.htmIf it's forcibly sold at auction, they'll get a lot less for it than they are asking for it now so what's the incentive to raise the price? Maybe someone should click on "File a complaint" with the NAP if the owners are actively doing things to continue blight in the area. While they're at it, someone should "File a complaint" over the Wurlitzer with its falling brick.

What you're talking about was a program by Wayne County to deal with a glut of vacant properties. That program ended in 2010. And the program mostly affected houses and residences, not primarily commercial or institutional buildings.

I was on the City Council research staff back when Detroit wrote its Nuisance Abatement ordinance. One of the concerns we raised at the time was about the vague definition of abandoned properties and abentee owners. However, we were told that there was nothing we could do about it under state law. So, most often when the city would go to court to try to abate a "nuisance" situation with a non-residential building, or to collect fines, or try to initiate the taking of a property, the fact that a building was actively listed for sale - no matter how unrealistic the price - was often given by the owner, and taken by the court, as evidence that the property is not abandoned and the owner is still actively managing it. Which means that the city almost never bothers to bring such suits.

[jenniekay]

Hi Guys! Jennie Kay here, and I am the one behind The Detroit Sanctuary Project. Thanks for the site mention. This is a project for the public to help inventory the city and capture a photo of every house of worship.

Anyone with a digital camera or smart phone can get involved! For more info go to www.detroitsanctuary.com or contact info@detroitsanctuary.com

Some new photos:

http://thedetroitsanctuaryproject.co...aptist-church/

Also on F/B with others:

https://www.facebook.com/DetroitSanctuary

Cheers

[davewindsor]

What you're talking about was a program by Wayne County to deal with a glut of vacant properties. That program ended in 2010.

If the program ended a few years ago, why is the website still up and why is the website still accepting complaints?

[AUSSIE]

An image taken 3-3-13

wow!

thanks for that, i see snow!

cheers and thanks

[AUSSIE]

Hi Guys! Jennie Kay here, and I am the one behind The Detroit Sanctuary Project. Thanks for the site mention. This is a project for the public to help inventory the city and capture a photo of every house of worship.

Anyone with a digital camera or smart phone can get involved! For more info go to www.detroitsanctuary.com or contact info@detroitsanctuary.com

No problem!

Feel free to take more of 8200 Mack

cheers