Sometimes deals are too good to be true, and sometimes they are real.

This property was purchased for $20,000 on 2025-03-28 with a good renter who agreed to increase their rent from the $800 they were paying before closing. We factored in $20,000 as CapEx because there are some exterior repairs such as the roof that the house could benefit from. However, after half a year, we have not needed those repairs yet.

After closing, the rents were raised to $900. Pending property tax hikes following ownership change, the initial cash-on-cash returns have started at an astounding 33% based on the original purchase price alone. A purchase price of $20,000 to a valuation of $60,000 is 200% equity growth.

Zestimate is at $110,500 in September 2025; however, we did not do any work on the property after acquisition, so to compare it to nearby fully fixed-up homes would not be realistic.

It is also worth mentioning that this is our second acquisition on Prest Street.  See details on 16234 Prest Street.  16234 Prest is 10 minutes to the north from this property.

Property Overview

• Purchase Price: $20,000
• Estimated After Repair Value (ARV): $60,000
• Original CapEx (Capital Expenditure): $20,000
• Current Rent: $800/month
• Projected Rent: $1,000/month
• Square Footage: 898 sq ft
• Year Built: 1941
• Lot Size: 35 x 100 ft
• Property Taxes (2024): $2,157.62
• Zoning: R1 (Residential)

Neighborhood Analysis

• Location: Plymouth-Hubbell neighborhood
• A fantastic location increasingly popular due to the proximity to the affluent Dearborn
• 5 minutes’ drive to the Islamic Center of Detroit (ICD).
• Many popular independent local grocery stores nearby, such as the US Quality Foods (1 min), Austin Market (3 mins), and Seaway Market Place (5 mins).
• Sits on a quiet, mostly brick street.
• Many dining options off W Chicago and Joy.
• Market Insights: The Zillow Home Values Index shows the zip code’s average home price was close to $70,000, and the area appreciated over 4.1% YOY as of September 2025. The team believes this zip code is following 48227, its neighbor and our other favorite neighborhood.

Comparable Sales

1. 8249 Robson St, Detroit, MI 48228, sold for $83,500 on 9/9/2025
2. 9135 Prest St, Detroit, MI 48228, sold for $82,000 on 9/9/2025

Final Takeaways

Our acquisitions team is always good, but their ability to spot lucrative investment opportunities is such that it almost makes the underwriting process redundant.

The only thing to be mindful of in this deal is the fact that even though the renter is maintaining the property well, the property itself is in obvious need of repairs soon.

Firstly, we are likely to spend $20,000 during the tenure of this current tenant on the roof and the driveway.

Below is a bathroom photo of the Subject Property. We will defer from sharing more, but this will give our investors a fair idea of the state of the property as-is.  There are rentals that may have outdated but functional facilities such as this one, but they will not fetch the kind of rent or value that today’s renters and investors are looking for.

For that reason, we are conservatively evaluating this property’s current value at $60,000. Zillow’s Zestimate does not fully incorporate actual internal details of a given property, so even though it is pleasant to see that nearby sales activities are so robust that this one is given a very high Zestimate of $110,500, this case posits a good example of why professional property evaluation will often differ with machine algorithms.