Detroit Market Continues to Shine

We discuss the city of Detroit real estate market and why it continues to be among the top 5 cities in the country for price growth.  We also share the up-and-coming areas of opportunity and advice for buyers in this market.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Remax real Estate Insights show
where you get real talk by real agents, brought to
you by Remax of Southeastern Michigan. Welcome to another episode
of Remax real Estate Insights. I am so happy that
you hit play on our podcast today.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
It is our goal to share information about the local housing.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Market so you can be informed and aware of what's
happening right here in southeastern Michigan. My name is Janete Schneider.
I'm your host, and today we're going to focus a
bit on the city of Detroit, then starting to wide
in the conversation a little bit to what this spring
and summer market may hold for all of us throughout
metro Detroit. But back to the city. The city of

(00:40):
Detroit has been a bit of a media darling of late,
with many positive stories coming out of Detroit. Certainly helps
that some of our Detroit sports teams have been doing
a lot of winning that brings some positive attention to our.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Area as well.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
But beyond the sports and the headlines, what does all
this mean for homeowners and the city of Detroit and
what does the future hold Well. Joining me today is
a great expert to talk about it Sammy Abdallah. He
is the broker owner of Remax City Center. He has
significant experience owning property himself in the city of Detroit
and working in the city, so he can bring a

(01:15):
really unique perspective to our conversation today.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
So welcome Sammy. We're happy to have you here.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Thank you so much for having me. It's always a
good time here on this podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Oh it is, well, especially when you're in studio with us.
So I've been asking all the guests this year kind
of what is your background? What got you into this
industry we call real estate.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well, it's a it's a fun story. I'll keep it short,
but basically, I had family that were in the mortgage
business back pre recession. Okay, everybody was at that time.
It was booming, and I kind of got a front
row seat to that all and I and I was
lucky enough to have help purchasing a hud home in

(01:57):
that in that era, so that was kind of the
was the thing to do. Yeah, that was the thing
to do, exactly, and funny enough, it was in the
city Detroit, and uh, and I had a successful flip
the first one. Let's forget about the next six that
were that were not successful, but that was.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Really the success story.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
Yeah, well we'll stick to that. You know, that's the
that's why you need you need to need to have
some perseverance to make it in this business. But yeah,
I I flipped the property and the real estate bug
bit me at that time, and then I kind of
dabbled in the investment side early on. But I'm I'm
a salesman at heart. I love to sell, I love
to help people. And I ended up getting licensed not

(02:33):
long after that, and I I caught that foreclosure wave.
You know, a lot of people were leaving the business
right and I just happened to be coming in at
that time, and I found my nature was successful. So
luck of timing.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Right place, right.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
Place, right time, right.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
But I think you're right.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
I mean, coming into an industry at a time when
there was a lot of change, what some would have
said at that time chaos. You didn't know any better,
You didn't have a less to people that bought sold
homes traditionally, so to speak. So you came in and
there was an opportunity and you said, okay, well if
this is where the business is.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
And that's where I'm going, and I didn't have any
preconceived notions I did. I did start at an office
that that was very stereotypical, where you know, people would
hang around the water cooler over a coffee and complain
a lot about why you should or shouldn't do things.
I was just a young punk, so I just blazed
my own trail and you know, a little bit of ego,

(03:29):
a little bit of bravado at the time, right, But
it worked. And I think that's I've kind of kept
that with me over the years, that you got to
ignore everybody and just kind of do your own thing.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
And sometimes, you know, that's that trusting of your gut, right,
Like it's like, I, you know, this is what I
just know I need to have success, and this is
the path to get there.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
So that's what I'm going to do. And you just
trusted yourself.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, I did. And let's be real, also, in the
absence of a second choice, a better option, right, you know,
you figure it out, you gotta figure it out. And
I didn't have a choice, and I stuck with it.
And I'm so you know, almost twenty years later now,
I'm so grateful.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
That I did, and so are we. We're glad to
have you with us. So let's talk a little bit
about the city of Detroit. In late March, a case
Schuller report came out that said Detroit was one of
the top five cities nationally for price growth. I had
a Detroit where New York, Chicago, Boston, and Cleveland. So

(04:28):
I mean the you know, cities that we know clearly
all know and can in our mind, you know, pretty
well envisioned most of us. I think, I'm sure maybe
you're not surprised by this because you've been part of
the Detroit real estate landscape. Like you said, your first
you're the bug bit you know, with with a house
in Detroit back you know how many years ago. But
what do you think is driving you know, kind of
this dynamic that Detroit seeing right now?

Speaker 3 (04:51):
Well, I think, right in this moment, in this precise moment,
a lot of it has to do with affordability. And
this is still one of the few places that you
can get into a home, a single family name right
at a reasonable cost, a reasonable price. So I think
right now, that's that's probably driving most of our growth.
But the fact that people are even looking this way

(05:11):
has a lot to do with the fact that we're
a cool city. We've got a lot of cool stuff
going on. I mean, right now we're in the middle
Eastern market. Yeah, in this, in this beautiful studio. So
Eastern market used to be associated just with the loading docks.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
And right right, and you know it came down like
you know, once a week, you know there was a
farmer's market or yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
And now we now we've got all this cool stuff
going on. So I think though, that's also a huge
factor here. And and I think people love to be
part of a comeback story and they want to it.
I don't want to say this in a negative way
because you know there's the concept of bandwagon fans, right,

(05:50):
but in this, in this circumstance, come on, jump on
this bandwagon because we're all benefiting. But definitely people want
to be part of that.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
And I think you hit on a couple of really
key things. I think of affordability is a huge factor
because if you look nationally, depending on what report you know,
you take a look at, it's in the mid to
upper four hundred thousands, is the media and sales price
you know for a home. And you know there's been
story after story lately where you know, you have to
earn over one hundred thousand to even you know, be
able to attempt to afford a house like that. And

(06:19):
while affordability is going to be something that all of
us face, as you know, cost rise and you know,
things of that nature, Metro Detroit and certainly Detroit, the
city of Detroit specifically, as you said, does offer affordability
that you just can't find, you know, everywhere.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
I mean, it really does offer some of that.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
It's it's truly remarkable how we've remained affordable in this
in this crazy time that we're in. But when you
talk about the average price being four hundred thousand, it
also doesn't pain a full picture because for four hundred thousand,
once you can get here and right is probably one
point two or one point three and so much and.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
A lot of places.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yeah, so four hundred or five hundred grand, we'll get
you in the Boston Edison. Right in Detroit. The average
Joe who's just looking for a three bedroom home, maybe
a starter home, can find that home for like one
hundred grand somewhere in the city.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
Absolutely absolutely, And when you put it in perspective, you
know that way, it does make makes this an attractive area.
And it's interesting to me that you know that Detroit
gets mentioned with Chicago, New York, you know, Boston and
what I think have traditionally been seen as you know,
really to your point, fun places to live. You know,
where there is that the cities offer cultural, sports, entertainment,

(07:32):
you know, all of these different things.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
We just have a couple of missing pieces, and I
think I think that you know, with with some of them,
with some of this rebirth of the city, they couldn't
get it all right at once. When they get these
last couple of pieces in place, it's going to be
an absolute explosion of buyers coming into the city because

(07:55):
right now we are in a great spot. It's cool,
it's fun. You know, we talked about Cleveland, we talk
about New York, we talk about all these other places.
I think we have better amenities. I think we have
better I mean, no doubt, we've got better sports teams
and you know, uh, you know we have international crossings
and waterways and right the Great Lakes. I can go

(08:15):
on and on. So there's really just it's really just
a matter of time before uh, demand outstrips something five.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, like like it's happening. So many places, so you're
you're kind of you kind of hinted at something. So
I'm going to jump ahead to a question that I
had a little later, but I'm going to jump on
it now. Obviously, you know, we know that Marin Duggan
has announced that he's running for governor, which means that,
you know, Detroit is going to be electing a new
mayor for the first time in many years. What would
you like to see a new mayor do that would

(08:44):
help the housing market in Detroit?

Speaker 2 (08:46):
He said, there's a couple of missing pieces.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
So I'm going to say, Okay, if you had an
ear you know, I don't know who it's going to be,
that's the you know that ends up winning. But if
you could get to them and say here's what you
need to do.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
Well, I think there's three key points that need to
be addressed. Uh And fortunately one of them is kind
of outside the mayor's control. It's the school system. So
we have seen some positive developments on that front. I
hope that we can continue to see that trend and
and but it's kind of outside the mayor's purview, right.
The second thing is public safety always, and that's something

(09:20):
that is always going to be a popular topic in
a big city. I'm not an expert on that. I
just hope to see some continued improvement there. And the
third thing is property taxes. We need to we need
a solution once and for all for these crazy high
property taxes. I recently had a property reassessed. It almost
knocked me off of my chair in midtown. And the

(09:44):
taxes went up tens of thousands of them.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
And that's more than most people can can.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
Bear, right, I mean, I emailed the assessor's office and
I'm like, what are you? Yeah? I like, is this real?
Is this being pranked here? You know? So property taxes
continue to be a forty issue and definitely an obstacle.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
And let's go down that the property tax road for
just a second, because I think that this has be
kind of it has become maybe the silent issue for
a lot of folks as property values over the last
several years have continued to rise. And I was bit
by this, the same dynamic. We just moved last year.
We got our new assessment and it was for forty

(10:24):
percent more and I'm like, my house did not go
out forty percent in one year? And I can I mean,
in the house that I bought had sold in twenty
twenty two, so it's not like there was this big
leg you know, of the house sitting there and then
now they're trying to recoup many, many years of it.
So I'm in the midst of fighting that. So I
can feel your pain a little bit. What do you
think is there a solution that you see that would

(10:45):
work me? Because what I hate to see somebody buy house,
They save and save and save, they get in, they're
so happy, and then this comes and they're like, well,
I can't afford that.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
I can no longer afford my home.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
Yeah, that's that's definitely happening. It's also killing some deal has,
especially because we have a lot of flip activity in
the city Detroit, and investors will put something on the market.
As it's on the market, the property the taxes will
get reassessed and it throws the potential buyers that to
income ratio out of As far as the solution, there

(11:16):
really is not a solution that's on the table right
now that isn't radical because the issues are are systemic
and there and they and the and the issue has
started a long time ago. So you know, I I
the mayor put out that land value land use, and
I don't think that was a solution. Then there let's

(11:37):
I know I'm jumping around here, But there's also the
the people that were wrongly or not wrongly, but that
were for closed on due to the the high assessments.
Some of those assessments were wrong. So I don't I
don't think there's an easy answer here. I think the
answer involves Lansing, the county and the city. It's not yes,

(11:59):
because a lot of this stuff is beginning of a.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
Joke exactly the state of the county in the local municipality.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
They walk into a bar to solve a problem, and it's.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
A problem that's kind of like, it's where's the political
will in Lansing to help on an issue that only
affects let's say Detroiter's right. So definitely needs a radical
solution here.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
But that kind of seems like that's the world we're
living in, right, I mean, you know, if taking it
out of real estate for a second, and I won't
go to the big national when everybody's talking about that
starts with the tea because that's a radical situation too.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
But let's talk about like roads.

Speaker 1 (12:37):
I mean, if you read anything about you know, how
we fund road you know, road improvement, you know, what
do we need to do? People are tired of, you know,
saying they need more money. We're giving you a ton
of money, doesn't really seem to get used effectively. And
everybody says, well, this is a system that's been in
place for decades. To do something different is going to
require kind of a radical approach. And so it's like
it just seems that that's kind of where we're add
on a lot of things right now.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
Unfortunately, Yes, and that's just a part of being in
a community that's a couple of hundred years old now, right,
we need we need new ways of doing things. And
not to get political on you guys, but just to
consider Mike Duggan's position, if he actually wins this race,
he's going to be in a tough spot because he's
going to have to answer for some of the He's
now going to be in a position right to address

(13:19):
some of these things. So definitely an interesting time to
be around.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
That would be different.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yea different You wake up on you know, whatever morning,
you've switched your hat, you know, so to speak, and
now you're looking at everything with a different, different lens
a little bit.

Speaker 2 (13:29):
That would be very interesting to see how that would
work out.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
He's made a career out of being in the opposition,
so when he takes if he takes that spot, he's
gonna have to deliver.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
So yeah, that would be Yeah, stay tuned, is exactly
we're talking with Sammy Abdullah. He is the broker owner
of Remax City Center. You had mentioned recently, and we
were just you know, talking a little bit about you know,
tax assessments and the revaluing of homes and you know
what that does if you have investors coming in. And
we know that there's been a lot of investor purchases
over the years in Detroit in part because it is

(13:59):
a community where they can buy. You know, again affordability.
Homes are affordable for investors to go in do what
they need to do. What are you seeing in terms
of investor purchases versus owner occupied or you know, a
single family you know buying homes.

Speaker 2 (14:13):
What are you seeing right now as a trend?

Speaker 3 (14:15):
Well, we always have a high level of investor activity
in the city, right and that's just because the opportunities there.
Right now, I have seen a bit of an increase
in investor activity just because of the environment that we're
in with the rate increase and some affordability affordability issues,
But the core of the city is single is I'm sorry,

(14:37):
it's owner occupant buyers, and that's continuing to be a
constant in our market. And and I really don't I
really don't fear for the market in the city at all. Okay,
good because they kind of it's a symbiotic relationship. Without
the owner of the investors aren't here and vice versa.
The owner occupants don't have the capabilities to rehab these properties.

(15:00):
So I think this will be the way it's going
to stay for maybe another couple of years.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
And so I mean, and I think that's something to
point out, is investor because I think sometimes they get
kind of painted in different stories. Is the guys in
the black hats right, that investor activity is not welcome
and this isn't what we want. But like you said,
right now, they likely if they've been doing this a while,
have the funds to go in and buy homes and
do the renovations so then they can turn around they

(15:27):
make their money. But now an owner occupied you know,
can come in there. So investor activity is not a
bad thing.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
Oh, absolutely not. Are there bad actors? Of course, there's
always going to be people that are doing things the
wrong way. But without the investor activity, it would be
a heavy lift for anybody to turn the city around.
It's too big. There's too many homes and too many
homes in disrepair. Every investor that comes in the city

(15:56):
and commits six figures to renovate a property and get
it back on the tax rules and get the tax
and get the water bills paid, create a new comp
for that neighborhood is really doing an amazing service for
the city as a whole. It's one of those rare
American capitalists, right stories. That's just like it works, and

(16:18):
it's working for everybody. Let's not try to pick it
apart or find things wrong with it.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
Right, I mean yeah, because, like you said, ultimately it's
one of those everybody wins scenarios, because, like you said,
you're taking a house that you know maybe has been
ununoccupied and you know whether it's heading towards blight, but
it's certainly not being taken care of. Somebody comes in
and loves it and brings it back and now somebody
can live there, which helps the city. And it's it
and it really is, you know, kind of this dynamic

(16:44):
that keeps things moving forward.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
Well, and if we I could, I could probably sit
here all day and go down a list of all
the people that get paid. Sure, when an investor.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
Is successful, why do you why don't you listen to
few that you think people may not think about.

Speaker 3 (16:58):
Well, we can start with the city to try, right,
collecting taxes when they buy it, collecting taxes when they
sell it. The state's collecting transfer taxes on both sides
when they buy it and when they sell it. The
local contractors and people that they put to work at
the property, the local home improvement store that's that's selling
the material, mails, the lumber, whatever, everything from A to Z.

(17:22):
The neighbor next door that no longer has that I'm sorry,
the neighbor next door that has an increase in value. Now,
so that helps create that equity that we keep. That's
been a hot topic right now. That the appraiser makes money,
the loan officer makes money, the realtor makes money, the
title company makes.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
Money, inspector makes makes money.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
The water department usually has a big fat pass d bill,
they get paid, the county gets paid when you know,
pass do taxes. That's just a small sample of and that's.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
Really kind of almost I would say, for the most part,
front end, you know, I mean, then you have somebody
living in there, and I mean, and I can it's
not like this is my first house, but having just
bought one, I'm employing a lot of people right now
because we had some stuff on this house that you know,
people hadn't owned it, that lived in it. And I
think at times, not all the time, there's a difference,

(18:17):
and there were some things that needed to be taken
care of. So we've had you know, plumbers h back,
put a new roof on today. I've got out there
as I'm speaking right now, new hot water heater is
getting put in, and you know, just life happens, and
those are big things, I mean, and it doesn't have
to be big things. It can be running to the
local box store because you need curtains or a shower,
you know, rugs in the shower, towels, you know, just

(18:37):
how stuff that needs to get purchased.

Speaker 3 (18:39):
Even going to have a mule nearby, you know, just
living there ats to the tax space and I think
everybody wins. I think we need now can we make
it a smoother process? Can we improve some things along
the way, of course, of course, but it's no longer
the wild West and a free for all that it
used to be. And I would love to encourage additional

(19:01):
investor activity in the city because that's the quickest route
towards completing this recovery.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
Well, I mean, and that would be I mean, I
think we all want to see that, right, I mean,
I think we're seeing fruits of those labors certainly, but
it would be nice to even you know, take it
to you know, take it to the next next level now,
you know, in the past, I think for those of
us that may not live in the city, you know,
there's certain neighborhoods that we're familiar with by name. You know,
we may not know a lot about them, but we're

(19:27):
you mentioned one of I think Boston Edison is one
that's fairly commonly known, and you know, maybe those are
the types that have gotten a little more pressed, you know,
people like Okay, I I've heard of that. I kind
of know what that's about. Are we seeing impact, you know,
beyond those neighborhoods and where would you say, are kind
of the secret the secret up and comers where there's
starting to be some real positive activity.

Speaker 3 (19:47):
You're asking me to put out some of the you're
asking me to give up some of my secrets.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
Here only what only what you're comfortable.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
You know there's it's it's an excellent question, but U,
the equation is kind of flipped now. It used to
be the pockets were where you wanted to invest, and
that was the exception, while the rule was don't invest
in most of the city. Now it's it's flipped where
really there's only one or two areas that I wouldn't

(20:16):
invest in. But that's probably going to change by the
end of this year because opportunity is becoming harder to find.
Finding a cheap home a good deal is becoming much
much harder. For instance, the area around City Airport. For
so long over there on the east side that was
considered an og zone. It was rife with crime and

(20:39):
issues and vacancies and all kinds of issues over there.
Now with the recent developments at City Airport, everything's flying
off the shelf. So that's an area that's really up
and coming.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
I know, you can't necessarily see what we're talking about.

Speaker 1 (20:56):
We had a big smile out a space when he
said that, you know that it was that's a is
he something that, like you said, had been a no go,
you know, something that was really probably not the best
place to take a look for an investor.

Speaker 2 (21:06):
Now it's like, hey, now it's game on.

Speaker 3 (21:08):
Well, I feel little bit like most trounamis because I've
been saying these things for years. So I love to
see I love to be right. So who does exactly
you know? And I and I tell all my buddies,
I told you so, I told you to me, Well
listen to me. You could have been rich. There's also
let's talk about on the west side a little bit.
We can talk about the area of telegraphing Grand River. Okay,

(21:30):
that whole area. There's a couple of different neighborhoods and
there Bright Moore being one of the more well known
neighborhoods that used to be a really rough area again
has seen a tremendous influx of investor activity and on
occupant buyers. Over there. Morning Side, that's east Side. That's
another area that's really gotten. I mean it's transformed. So
I don't think there's a bad place.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
But that's hey, that's fantastic.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
It's it's great to be able to say that and say, well,
you know, yeah here you know, like you said, it's
kind of a mixed bag. Now you're saying, it's almost
like everything is on the tape, you know. I mean,
if if there's an area town you like, there's an
opportunity there.

Speaker 3 (22:04):
Absolutely, Detroit period is a great place to invest, and
even some of the more well known neighborhoods, the prices
are getting to the point where it might be a
little cost prohibitive for a lot of investors to get
into Indian Village being one of them. That comes to mind.
That place has sales north of five hundred grand regularly.

(22:25):
So you know, we talk about Rosedale Park again, a
beautiful neighborhood. So I could, I could dare to say
the recovery in those pockets is complete. Yeah, so it's
time to move on.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
And where's the next area that we can Yeah, we
can positively positively impact, if you will. When we think
of downtown, I mean there for a while, I think
a lot of the stories and I mean stories are great,
but you know, what really happens, maybe a different a
different thing is there was kind of the thought of
the young professionals are gonna you know, you've got some

(22:58):
of the big employers that are downtown and that's going
to draw the young professionals and stuff like that, whether
they were going to live in a condo or a house.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
Are you seeing it.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
Or are you seeing its families or is it just
a blend in the mix of you know, kind of
everybody and anybody, all age groups, all demographics that are
interested in living in Detroit.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
What are you seeing?

Speaker 3 (23:15):
Well, definitely, I'm seeing all all. It's all across the board,
but it's depending on where we're talking about, right. If
we talk about downtown, we talk about the apartments, I'm
seeing mainly young professionals. Okay, I'm also seeing retirees who
want a cool place to live.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
I've some friends that have been considering too.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I mean, I mean people love to
be close to the casino and the restaurants and the
water and all that. So I've yet to really see
any meaningful amount of families or people with young children moving.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
Into these But that probably goes back to I think
one of your things that needs to.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
Get fixed, you said, which is school system.

Speaker 3 (23:55):
Right, right, Well, there's also there's dual pressure on that
part of things because if I'm moving to the city
with a family, and I'm comparing some of the newer stuff,
the high rise stuff, compared to the single family homes,
there's a lot of there's way better deals to be
found on single family and I can have a backyard, right, So, uh,
it's definitely a nice mix. I think recently you sent

(24:18):
me a piece of data where I was looking at
the size of apartments, right, yes, and we're down to
like eight hundred square feet on average for the apartment sizes,
and I think that reflects perfectly what it is that
we're talking about here, because ultimately eight hundred square feet
is enough for a young professional, right, and that says

(24:39):
a lot about who's moving down there.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
But they're building for yeah, yeah, because I went yeah
when I saw that, I'm like, when all the matia
in my first house was like nine hundred you know
some square feet and you know, it worked, it got us,
you know, like you said, and it had a backyard,
so that was better than the apartment.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
So I was excited about that. Back in the day.

Speaker 3 (24:56):
I'm assuming maybe a basement in a garage and the.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
First house, no, it was in Lavonia and it was
on a crawl and it had the one card detached garage,
which was still a blessing because you know, wife gets
the grudge.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
That's how that worked. That's how that works, all right.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
So maybe winding our conversation just a bit, I mean,
we know there's many people out there that would like
to be a homeowner, maybe a little anxious about getting
in the market right now. While even before everything having
to do with what's going on with tariffs and all
of that, the interest rates weren't really expected to move
a lot this year. They were going to stay in

(25:32):
the sixes a little bit. With the tariff they bounced
a little bit. They've kind of come back down. But
maybe there's a little anxiety about all of this. What
advice do you have for folks that are sitting there saying,
is I want to do this?

Speaker 2 (25:44):
Is now the right time?

Speaker 3 (25:45):
You know?

Speaker 2 (25:45):
Kind of what advice do you have for buyers as
a whole.

Speaker 3 (25:48):
Well, it's simple advice. If you can, you're able, you
should Because for most people to become a homeowner, the
stars have to align right. And if those stars have
aligned in your life. You need to pull the trigger
and get out there because rates will change, You'll build equity,

(26:09):
you can REFI I can give you every cliche in
the book, Okay, And ultimately, for most of us, a
home purchase is a long term investment, and long term
it's hard to lose in that equation.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
Right.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
If you look at the housing market in the United
States since they've started tracking this stuff, it's never lost.
Yes we've had moments, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:31):
We've had months or a year.

Speaker 3 (26:33):
In time, but overall, you know, if I had owned
a house pre recession and I still own that same house,
I made out like a bandit so.

Speaker 1 (26:44):
Because I was one that bought right before the recession,
and I rode the roller coaster ride all the way
down with that house, but lived there long enough to
your point that you know, I was fine.

Speaker 2 (26:55):
I sold it and made money.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
You probably hated that house in eight and nine and
twenty ten, probably around and were salty.

Speaker 1 (27:01):
I just kept thinking, well, I know I was one
of the more expensive sales in here because I was
one of the last ones before the market tank.

Speaker 2 (27:06):
That was exactly what I was thinking when I walked around.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
But I think if the stars of a line in
your life, and you're ready to buy a house, and
you're able to buy that home, you need to jump
into the market and pull the trigger. There's no reason
to wait. You're only hurting yourself, I mean.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
And I think that, I mean in statistics will prove
this time and time again that folks that own homes
have a higher net worth, you know. And like you said,
sometimes home ownership isn't for everybody for a variety of reasons.
But if it's something you've safe for, you've got the
money for the down payment, you've got you know, you know,
you've got a job and reasonable job security, you know,
and you can afford the monthly payment. You jump in

(27:41):
because if you wait for that perfect time, that will
never happen. It'll be in the rearview mirror. And so
if you just jump in, it is amazing. Because I
remember the first time when we were buying our first house,
my husband was in school. I was very nervous because
we were really going to be buying this pretty much
on what I made, because you know, his job was
to get his degree. He had come out of the service,
and so it's like, it's your job, this is mine,

(28:01):
And I was nervous what if you know, what if?
And the gentleman I worked with at the time says, Okay,
let's play the worst case scenario. You get into the
house and you do lose the job and you can't
afford the payment.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
What's the worst that's going to happen?

Speaker 1 (28:14):
And it's it been amazing to me that you jump
in And it's amazing how life accommodates what you've done,
isn't it amazing?

Speaker 3 (28:21):
Well, God bless America. The best. One of the things
that America does really well is settle us with payments
and debt.

Speaker 2 (28:28):
Right, we're very used to that.

Speaker 3 (28:30):
Yeah, So you know, I find that that is like
and this is this is it's gonna sound insane what
I'm going to say, but that is kind of like
riding a bike. Once you're rolling, it's easy to stay
in the right. It's a getting going that's a little difficult.

Speaker 1 (28:46):
But once you start stop wabbling, yeah, and you got
the bike going, yeah, you'll be Okay.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
A terrible take. It's not it's not financial.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
Advice, okay, And we're not attorneys, we're not a financial planners.

Speaker 3 (28:59):
But but ALTI, uh, you're going to be paying to
live somewhere regardless.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
And I think that's what it comes back to.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
You're either either in essence, you're either paying yourself or
you're paying somebody else. And I think there's a time
when maybe we've all paid somebody else, be that your
parents to live in their basement, a landlord, you know,
something like that.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
You know, or you know, or take the leap.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
And like you said, it really is amazing how I
think ultimately, and like you said, is it because it
happens to all of us. You pay off a car,
you pay off something, it's amazing how you go right
back in debt to buy the next car, the next
thing because you can't. I guess you can, right, I mean,
and you're kind of used to that. Avoid gets filled.

Speaker 3 (29:35):
Absolutely, that's just the name of the game. Also in
our office, and historically I've always dealt with lower unproperty,
well it's lower end meeting on the lower end of
the price range, and we're blessed in our office to
deal with a lot of first time home wuires. So
it never ceases to amaze me the pure joy at

(29:56):
seeing somebody go from being a renter to a homeowner
and then how that changes not only their lives, but
the trajectory of their family period. Yeah, I don't, and
I think that's probably something that isn't celebrated enough and
talked about enough. But if you can, you should because
it will not only change your life, it will change
your kids' lives, and it could probably ensure that maybe

(30:16):
your kids will not be renters.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
Right.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
It really does set a course. I mean it more
than I think people might realize. And like, like you said,
and you came into the market when the industry wasn't great,
and in a lot of times those were foreclosure sales,
and those weren't necessarily happy closings. I mean, it might
have been a financial relief closing, but it wasn't happy smiles.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Let's take a picture closing.

Speaker 1 (30:37):
And like you said, first time buyers in today's market,
it is a celebration and it should be. It's a
huge goal that they've accomplished and that they've achieved every
and it is fun when you're dealing with that.

Speaker 3 (30:47):
It's a lot of fun. It's it's one of the
moments in this business where you can really say you've
done something positive and you've affected real change in somebody's life.
And I I just never get tired of it. You know,
my favorite thing is we put their picture up on
the screen with they're welcome and their congratulations, and the
pictures get taken and you could see, you know, not

(31:10):
to get tooth philosophical honors, but you could see certain
traumas being broken, like the cycle being broken. I and
I I just know in ten years they're going to
have a ton of.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
Equity, right, No, I mean, and you also know that,
like you said, you're part of a big moment for them,
and they may not even realize themselves how big it
really is. I mean, they're excited that day, but it
might take a while for that to really, you know,
kind of sit and realize what occurred.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
So let's talk a little bit about spring.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
Market, because historically spring is the time of the year
that we start to see a little bit more homes
come on the market. If buyers have been kind of waiting,
they kind of come off the fence a little bit.
To be fully transparent, the February and March housing reports didn't.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
Necessarily show a lot of that.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
They showed that we didn't have as many home sales
as the year before, which was already down from the
year before that. But we are now as we're recording
this at the tale end of a brol What are
you saying has business picked up? I mean, do you
think I'm starting to hear May is going to be better?
But I'm curious what you're saying.

Speaker 3 (32:07):
All the indicators are positive right now. Our office has
seen a huge increase in activity. I personally put two
properties on the market. One in Center Line. It was
a two bedroom that sold very quickly within a few days,
which is bucking the trend right The average d is
on Marketer fifty right now. And then I put a
Shock and Warren on the market for like twenty five grand.

(32:28):
I mean this house was the size of a garage
and it was wrecked and I sold it so within
a few days. So that's two ends of the spectrum,
owner occupant and an investor, right, Both went very quickly.
Most of the listenings in the office are moving much quicker,
showing activities up. The buyers are really coming out right now.
It's going to be an awesome spring in summer. And

(32:52):
above all, you know, having been around long enough, you
start to notice trends. Earlier this year we were hit
with shock after shock lines were crazy, right. The American
people are resilient people, but oftentimes what we do is
we take a breather.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
Yeah, we kind of said, oh, hang on a second, Yeah,
I kind of hit pause.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
Yeah. So I feel like we've gotten into a rhythm
now and people are people have adjusted and they've accepted
the new reality, so they're back to their day to
day lives.

Speaker 2 (33:22):
That's interesting because I heard it. I didn't coin this.

Speaker 1 (33:25):
I heard it on a podcast I was listening to
and I laughed out loud when they said it, and
I tried to commit it to memory. Headlines are meant
to terrify, not to clarify, and I thought, ain't that
the truth? And I think that's where we have been,
you know, for the last couple of months for sure.
And there's I mean a lot of what's happening nationally
none of us can control.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
And I think you're right.

Speaker 1 (33:47):
There was a little bit of like, you know, negative news,
you know, economic market reactions to it that can scare people,
you know, when your money's involved and you see maybe
investment going in a negative direction and wild swings, people
I think do tend to kind of say, well, you
know what, I'm just going to kind of see where
this is going to go. The wild swings have calmed,

(34:11):
I mean one days up, next days down, but I
mean they're they're not as wild right now. So it's
good to see that you're seeing, you know, positive indicators
that you're seeing activity showings are up because from our perspective,
if people are out viewing homes, that means, you know,
deals in the future are going to be inc because
we've got the activity of people going through and seeing them.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
I'd guarantee, I'd guarantee that you're going to see an
increase in pendings year over year, month over month, and
that was always the number one indicator of what's to
come in the next month. So we're going to be okay.
And just like with any the presidential elections are very disruptive,
regardless of who's running and what the circumstances are. So

(34:49):
in anytime we have a change in that in that office,
people always take a breather. Let alone, with the amount
of headlines we've been seeing so and and it's not
only a national thing, it's an international thing. I mean,
the world is in flux a little bit. Yeah, but
people are We're okay. Everybody's okay, and they're coming back
to the market. I think the more interesting question is

(35:12):
going to be what is what do things look like
in like November December.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
Yeah, and and and the crystal ball is kind of
fuzzy enough that you don't want to necessarily because if
I had people ask, I go, my crystal ball right
now is more like a magic eight ball.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
You know, ask again later. You know, I do not know.

Speaker 3 (35:29):
I used to. I'm a I'm really big on projections
and planning and all that. But I used to plan
per quarter and I moved it a month. Now it's
kind of like a week to week thing.

Speaker 2 (35:41):
So no, I tolt you. I totally totally get it
on that end.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
Well, let's go back just a little bit to where
putting your hat on where you do invest in properties
in Detroit and you know you you are, you know,
in the mix of you know, doing rehab to homes
and putting them back on the market, and and let's
let's dive into the thing that we've been dancing around
a little bit, which is tariffs, because they are going
to have an impact potentially depending on how on how
the dust truly settles, which I think is very unclear

(36:07):
at this point. But obviously, if you know, Canada supplies lumber,
and Mexico supplies drywall, and China provides the chips that
goes into the appliances. I mean, you can see where
this would have an impact when you're rehabbing a house.
I mean, are you you said you do forecasting.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Are you anticipating a rise in your cost on that?
Have you seen anything yet?

Speaker 3 (36:29):
Well? Yeah, so I'm obviously I'm no economists here. I'm
just going to give you a real world take on this.
When the tariffs were announced, there's a lot of people
who are opportunistic and immediately moved to raise prices. So
I feel like we've we've survived that part of it.
Funny story at a recent office meeting that we had

(36:50):
our second quarter sales rally, I had prepared a slide
where the slide said, uh it was it was a
headline about tariffs and how the housing industry had been
spared because lumber was off the list. I woke up
the next day and you know, exactly literally psych So
I had to change the slide and and and I
think I myself, the markets, all the professionals, the economists, everybody,

(37:16):
what we cannot deal with is the uncertainty we can.
We can absorb anything else, but the way things are
being executed right now is what's really most disruptive. So, Uh,
do I anticipate costs rising? Absolutely? I think I think
it's going to happen. It happened during the COVID era

(37:38):
and we were able to absorb that, but then inflation came.
I'm just grateful I'm in a business that is providing housing,
like the most basic necessary, Right. Uh do I anticipate
Do I anticipate further disruptions? I don't think it's going
to be too bad because something's got to give at

(37:59):
some point. Either rates are gonna come down if prices
continue to go up, or the opposite will happen, right, So,
so I don't think long term it's it's too much concern.
That's why I can't. I can't forecast be on a
week right now.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
No, I mean, and I get it, And I'm not
trying to put you on the on the spot. It's
just it's one of those things that you know, we
saw a lot of stories with that, you know, and
and you know, like I said, interest rates they popped
up there a little bit when you know, you kind
of had the beginning of all of the discussions, but
they've kind of you know, settled in again. And like
I said, experts thought that that they were going to
probably be.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
In the sixes this year. It seems as though.

Speaker 1 (38:33):
That's where we're gonna We're gonna be barring something else,
you know, coming down down down the pike, if you will.

Speaker 3 (38:40):
I'm optimistic. I'm definitely optimistic. And I think that I
think that and I hope that this is just negotiating tactics,
and I pray that it is, because if there's a
couple of major milestones we're expecting this year between tariffs
and international agreements that are being played out right now,
that if, if, if all are some of these initiatives

(39:01):
are successful, we could see an amazing twenty twenty six.
But if they aren't, then is it going to be
probably just more of the same.

Speaker 1 (39:11):
Probably probably, you know, I mean, and I think and
the other thing we want to touch on just real
quick is like you said, you were talking about buyers,
you know, get in, you know, if you can make
the payments, you know, and then you're going to build
equity and it's going to set you and your family up.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
And I think the other thing we want.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
To just I want to ask you about quick is,
you know, for the folks that are saying, well, you know,
maybe I want to kind of see where things settle.
You know, will prices come down on houses if you
if there's fewer buyers out there, you know, will prices
come down? And I have a very solid answer on
what I think that's going to be, but I want
you to answer that question.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
I don't think our supply issues are going to be
any better anytime soon, So trying to time the market
is really just an exercising futility. I mean, it's just
a silly thing to try to do. We we still,
even especially in Michigan, the housing stocks still under built.
We never fully recovered from the recession era, so things

(40:05):
are still selling right now. Arguably you could probably get
a better deal than you ever have been able to get,
just because you're able to get a little bit of
closing costs assistance. You can get some concessions, a.

Speaker 2 (40:15):
Little bit of a sweet spot right now.

Speaker 3 (40:17):
Yeah, you know, sellers are willing to wheel and deal
within reason, but it won't take much for that to
change again, and us to go right back into where
we were. There's nothing indicating that we could go off
a cliff, right, nothing at all. There's zero indicators that
things could crash as people, right, they.

Speaker 1 (40:35):
Love to throw that word out there, Yeah, a lot
when it comes to our industry, and I agree, and
I think we are seeing a little bit like you said,
seller's willing to do a little here, willing to do.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
A little there.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
But if even more buyers come into the market, is
going to go more solidly back into the sellers, you know,
market where they may not maybe there's multiple offers again
and now you know those that little window to get
a little something extra closes relatively quickly.

Speaker 3 (40:59):
There's been an interesting stat in the recent MLS update
we saw about the statistics, and that is a sales
sales price to this price right now, we're a ninety
eight percent so and Layman's terms. Basically, all that means
is if I listened a house for one hundred grand
right now, on average, it's selling for ninety eight It
used to be like a one hundred, one hundred and
one percent, right it would out for over asking, So

(41:23):
that two thousand per one hundred thousand right now, that
two percent is could mean, it could mean the difference
between owning a home and not for a lot of people.
So that we're talking about just two percent three percent here,
we're not talking about ten and fifteen, right, so you know,
calm down and if you can buy a house, you

(41:43):
need to buy one.

Speaker 2 (41:44):
Well, and we've been talking to Sammy Abdalla, the broker
owner of Remax City Center. If there's somebody listening who.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
Wants to talk to you about buying a house, or
wants to talk to you about investing, or you know
anything that we've discussed today, where's a good where's a
good way for them to get in touch with you?

Speaker 3 (41:58):
Well, you can reach me either through Instagram at Samy Abdallah, Facebook,
Sammy Abdallah, you can call me at the office three
one three five two eight three zero zero two. You're
welcome to visit us. We're right on the corner of
nine mile and Northwestern.

Speaker 1 (42:15):
In a beautiful in a beautiful sweet if I do
say so, they've got a great view. They're not not
for floor, so they've got a really nice view.

Speaker 3 (42:22):
Thank you, thank you so much for that. Yeah, and
were welcome you. We got the cafe, come hang out,
have a drink.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
I folks on the view, but I'm sorry. The office
is fantastic glass conference room. Yes, they have it is
a really cool stay.

Speaker 3 (42:32):
Thank you. Yeah, and we welcome you know. It's open
door policy. So if you ever need anything, reach out
and I'll help you or I'll connect you with us
somebody in the office.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
Well, we've covered a lot of ground today, but kind
of closing thoughts, is there anything that we you know,
what would be your partying words to anybody listening?

Speaker 2 (42:48):
You know, let's take it.

Speaker 1 (42:49):
I guess first, you know, for those that might have
an interest in being a homeowner in the city of Detroit,
you know, any any advice on whether it's the buying,
the selling, you know, whatever side of the equation when
it relates to the city of Detroit.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
Clone up. Final advice do you have?

Speaker 3 (43:02):
Well, well, I think it continues to be present a
historic opportunity for all buyer types. So if you're considering it,
I encourage you to pull the trigger. The agent that
you work with will make all the difference in the world.
So make sure you're going to choose the most trusted agents,
which are Remax agents, and they'll take you across the
finish line in a way that others cannot. So that's

(43:23):
that's the city of Detroit for me. You got to
jump on it.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
Yeah, you gotta take advantage.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
And then kind of why do you get out to
metro Detroit because you do work, you know, outside of
the city limits. Same advice or would there be anything
different you know for folks that are outside the city proper?

Speaker 3 (43:37):
Absolutely, the same advice I think above all, if you're
in the market, the agent that you work with makes
all the difference, and you need to be You need
to choose wisely. So if you're able to buy, go out,
get in the market. You need to buy, You need
to get active. I'm sorry. We talked about uncertainty a lot,
and we talked about the economic situation right now and
tariffs and whatnot. It'd be a lot better for you

(43:58):
to ride this storm out in your home and the
home that you own, right. That is a good one.

Speaker 2 (44:05):
No, I love that. And to your point about who
you work with matters.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
And you know, obviously this is a podcast put on
by people that you know are part of Remax, So
we're going to have a bit of a slanted view
on that, a biased view.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
If you will.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
But stripping that away for a second, is it it
does matter who you work with, and you want to
work with somebody that knows the local market that you're
going to be buying in. If you if you're an
agent and you're working with an agent, yes, they are
licensed to work within the state of Michigan. They can
help you anywhere within the state. But that's not necessarily
the right thing you should be looking at. You need

(44:38):
to look at who understands your local market. And by
local market, sometimes that can be just a handful of
streets and neighborhood you know, I mean, I mean, correct
me if I'm wrong, Sammy. But it's like, you really
want to know somebody that understands what's going on locally,
can answer the questions that you may have about things
like values and tax assessments and you know, different things
like that. And there's a lot of people that have

(45:00):
a real estate license, there's a lot of them that
don't do any business in a given year, and you
don't want to put what for again We've said time
and again is often your largest single investment into the
hands of somebody who hasn't done a deal in twelve
months or has done two in their lifetime. You you
really want to be with somebody that knows what they're doing,

(45:21):
and even more so, somebody that.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
This is their sole career. Because timing is so important.

Speaker 1 (45:27):
I mean, like you said, you know, we do see
multiple offers on some deals. Even in you know, today's market,
we're still seeing that. And if you have an agent
who also has another job and they can't respond between
nine and five because they're on the other job, you
might have missed out on the opportunity to get a house.
So it's just incredibly important who you work with.

Speaker 3 (45:44):
I wish I could peel back the curtain a little
bit for the average person out there to see that
what you just described, how it looks on our end,
and how important it is to work with a full
time professional agent. I've had listenings where buyers represented by
part time agents have missed out because of communication issues.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
Because communication is so critical in a real estate transaction.
I mean, and there's got to be a level of trust.
And we keep using that word, but we're using it
for a reason. Is there has to be trust between you,
whether you're buying or selling with the agent that's representing you.

Speaker 2 (46:16):
That when you're not in the room. They are there
for you, and they are representing.

Speaker 1 (46:20):
And that you they can get a hold of you
and you can get a hold of them, and that
there's this open channel of honesty in communication. And I've heard,
you know, story after story of deals falling apart or
deals having challenges getting put together because you've got somebody
that really isn't you know, doing their job.

Speaker 3 (46:37):
Oh, be careful, Yeah, I'll be careful out there.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
So one last time, Sammy, if somebody was looking for
an agent to talk to and they're they're listening to
this and like, this is the guy I need to
talk to one more time, where can they reach you?

Speaker 3 (46:48):
You can reach me at three one three five two
eight three zero zero two. You can check out our
website at Citycentermi dot com, Instagram Sami Abdallah, Facebook Sami Abdullah,
and visit us at nine Mile in.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
Northwestern all righty, well, thanks so much for being a
guest here today, Sammy.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
It was a pleasure to have you in the studio.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
Thank you so much. It's always a lot of fun.

Speaker 1 (47:09):
And for those listening, we are so glad that you
came along for the listen today and hopefully that you
got some great tips out of this. We will be back,
of course, in a couple of weeks with another episode,
and just kind of doing a little bit of a
tease as we start looking into June, I am talking
with the Michigan Homebuilders Association. That is always their Parade
of Home month, and we are looking to have them

(47:29):
come in to talk about what this year's parade is
going to feature, as long as their economic outlook, so
that will be an upcoming topic in the near future.
Take care, have a great day and we'll talk to
you soon. We hope you enjoy today's episode. Don't forget
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