I have now spent so many hours researching Detroit property but I have to say the more I know the more I am put off.  For example, one area which I was told was a nice middle class area, Bagley, came up as having 63 sex offenders in the area when I hit upon an interesting site you get to if you just google the zip code.  Then another real estate agent I hadn't tried before brought up hundreds of houses ranging from less than $100 to the low thousands.  Another site in which Detroitans and ex-Detroitans shared views about the current plight of the city was also illuminating.  There are no less than 12,000 empty and derelict buildings in the heart (well it has no heart really it would seem)  of the city and as those buildings are gradually being demolished wild animals are literally moving into the vacant open tracts of inner Detroit.  Can a rustbelt come back?  It's cheap and there are some nice houses but you have to put this alongside the regular incendiary attacks on the Devil's Night (night before Halloween) each year and even though they are less than they used to be, they are still in the 100s.  So what a peculiar and fascinating place but a place to buy????

I am thinking about Detroit and Atlanta because that is what the English company I prefer seems to be offering but am totally in the dark.  I really thought I had missed the boat as regards American property but it seems not entirely.  Would welcome anyone else's comments about negotiating this minefield.  My conclusion is that the Australian property market is a bubble which will eventually burst.  I'd also love to know how other people manage to put together positively geared investment properties as I seem to make really hard work of this and don't think I have achieved much compared to other people in terms of property investing.