Investment Summary:
We purchased this property with a great tenant. Some of the internals show the tenant keeps a great house. This acquisition is by the playbook. Purchase a great undervalued property in a good neighborhood, make sure the tenant is thoroughly vetted before the purchase, check the internals carefully including appliances such as the furnace and the hot water tank, do very little except to make sure the property is managed well, and sit down and collect rent.
Zillow is not showing a Zestimate for this property, but shows the home listing was removed at $80,000 last. The number featured, $83,000, is the last sold price in 2022, not its Zestimate.
Property Overview
- Purchase Price: $65,000
- Original Capital Expenditure Planned: $5,000
- Original Rent: $895/month
- Projected Rent: $1,000/month
- Final Rent: $950/month
- Square Footage: 1,353 sq ft
- Property Taxes (2024): $2,799.80
- Zoning: R1 (Residential)
Neighborhood Analysis
- Location: Bethune neighborhood
- A good location close to John C. Lodge Freeway
- Close to good amenities such as the DMC Sinai Hospital (3 mins), the City’s Northwest Activities Center (5 mins) and Greenfield Market (5 mins)
- This is a brick house in a mostly-brick quiet neighborhood.
- Market Insights: The zip code, 48227, shows an increase of 5.3% YOY sales price to $71,158 on Zillow as of November 2025. Redfin data on this same zip code data shows median sales price to be at $85,000, with over 7% YOY sales price growth at the same time. Numbers often differ according to sources, but we see these trends to be generally positive for the area.
Comparable Sales
Our own realtors’ comparable sales list shows
- 15817 Cheyenne Street, sold on August 18, 2025 for $76,000.
- 15866 Littlefield Street Detroit, MI 48227-3622, sold on Sep 4, 2025 for $155,000.
- 15835 Ward Avenue Detroit, MI 48227 sold on Jul 17, 2025 for $150,000.
The property is in great condition: however, there will always be the need to consider the differences in the work that was done internally. Comps 2 and 3 internal photos show great rental grade finishes, and we are likely able to match much of the work easily.
Final Takeaways
This property’s taxes are already somewhat high, but our first year’s estimate shows the COC return will start at a highly respectable 9%. Given our own comparable sales numbers, we have confidently underwritten this property at right around its last sales price of $83,000, which means the value creation after all costs was about 15%.
This immediate value creation might not look large in this particular case, but the nearby comps above $100,000 show that a reasonable renovation budget on this property will easily allow the $100,000 threshold to be unlocked for more capital gain than is shown here.