Tenants Abandoning Detroit…
We’ve seen a sharp increase in the number of tenants calling on our rentals that are moving from Detroit!
It’s our corporate policy to ask every prospective tenant where they live now and why they’re moving. We do it to better understand what type of home they’re looking for and what we have that might be suitable.
An increasing number of callers are telling us they’re currently living in Detroit and want to move to a safer neighborhood and/or better schools for their children.
This does not bode well for the city of Detroit in the short-term. If a high percentage of those that have the means to leave, keep leaving, the city will end up in a vicious cycle where it has to keep cutting services to keep up with falling tax revenues.
That aside, the biggest issue we experience with callers looking to move from Detroit into the suburbs is “sticker shock.” It seems 3 bedroom homes with basement, garage and bedrooms that will hold a king-size bed are pretty common and relatively affordable in Detroit. That’s not the case in most of the suburbs surrounding Detroit. Similar homes will usually either cost at least $100 more per month, or be in rough shape.
So, keep all this in mind if you happen to be one of the seemingly many that is looking to move out of Detroit.