[kach22i]

Growing up on the border of Detroit and living in SE Michigan most of my life it is hard for me to detach prior experiences and emotions.

However, you know who doesn't have such luggage?

Those so-call millennials, specifically the ones that grew up bored to death in the suburbs and want a little action and fun as adults, they see the city, any city - even Detroit as a playground.

The enormous amount of growth in the city of Detroit in recent years, corporate business, bars, restaurants, shopping, and multi-family housing has all been spurred by these millennials looking for a new experience.

Huge question remains, will they remain if and when they start families?

Public schools are I am told horrible, private schools are great and also greatly expensive. I did a little project on one of these private schools a little while back, the builder that got me in the door told me how much his brother spends there, I could not believe it.

Some references below citing similar information.

September 23, 2018
Opportunity abounds in Detroit — if you know where to invest
https://www.crainsdetroit.com/other-voices/opportunity-abounds-detroit-if-you-know-where-invest

All eyes are on Detroit.

It's the hip, new destination for millennials seeking out-of-the-box careers. It's a travel destination for curious adventure-seekers. And it's the perfect place for people to invest in residential real estate.

As city, state and federal governments sink funds into Detroit, people are looking for investment opportunities — single-family, multi-family and small apartment buildings. The city's recent announcement to ticket landlords for neglecting properties shows a major turnaround in the way we view Detroit's real estate potential.

December 28, 2018
Detroit's Big Comeback: Out Of Bankruptcy, A Rebirth
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/28/680629749/out-of-bankruptcy-detroit-reaches-financial-milestone

The lack of development in the long-moribund neighborhoods is one reason some experts still see Detroit as bit of an iffy financial proposition, even though officials have made significant inroads into repairing the money-management problems that led it into bankruptcy.

May 2017
The Verdict on Detroit—Is it a Good or Bad Market for Investing?
https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/detroit-real-estate-market/

According to BiggerPockets’ annual real-estate market review, Detroit has the second highest rent-to-value ratio in the country at just over 8.5%. This means that investment properties in Detroit have enormous potential to pay off the initial investment quickly and turn into profit streams.

I've talked to several potential clients on building multi-family in Detroit, so far it's just been talk.

I posted this several times before; as taught in grad school light frame construction (stick built) has an expected lifespan of 50-75 years (yes you can double that if you really take care of it well). When you go brick on block 100 years, steel frame with brick and block and taking it to university level quality construction up to 200 years.

Many of the old brick house in Detroit are actually brick veneer over wood frame, so consider them at the upper end of the 50-75 year range. And of course redo the brick joints (tuck-point) every 25 years, redo the electrical, mechanical and plumbing that all have shorter lifespans than the shell and most of the housing in Detroit is past it's go bad date.

Why this is so traumatic for Detroit is it was so rich and affluent in it's heyday that much of the city is single family or duplex, or even 4-faimly dwelling of stick built construction. Compare to Chicago, Pittsburgh or wherever in the Rust Belt and they have a much higher ratio of larger sized apartment buildings made of brick, block and steel - they last longer, and they had something to rebuild from. For some reason rebuilding cities happens quicker than building from scratch.

To get an image in your mind, there are many parts of Detroit where a single, a few or a row of triple brick wythe or brick on block buildings (old business, party stores....etc) are on the main road or just at the corners, but back in the neighborhood the houses are gone, taken by time and neglect.

In my opinion, Detroit as a viable city in the sense of it being balanced and family friendly is a long way off.

Detroit as an investment opportunity for commercial buildings, mixed-use buildings and multi-family especially, is phenomenal.

This rebuilding is all happening in clusters and spots, and I do not have a map of the future, but apparently some do and are making the most of it while they can.

EDIT:
Someone mentioned the weather sucking in Detroit, it sucked worse in the Sunbelt than the Rustbelt before air condition became common and affordable, so it's kind of relative to your situation. Coal to electricity.

Other changes include going from freight trains to trucks, from freight waterways to airports, and the near collapse of many heavy industries by oversea competition.