There is a TON of opportunity in Detroit. A lot of smart money has already started pouring into the city.
Just because 'some' money is coming in doesn't mean it will come out of the slump that _IS_ Detroit. Between scandals (do i really need to cite?), poor getting even poorer (which is insane), the violence[1][2], and people leaving [3], it makes it a hard choice for anyone to want and stay. The real unemployment rate is hovering around 50%[4] for goodness sake!
It will take years and hundreds of times more money that is coming in to get that city back. Until that happens the city is not going anywhere but down.
Though houses are being given away for $1000[4], and stats that show it is really cheap to live in Detroit (really, i wonder why) doesn't mean it's a good deal!
If your a hacker, debug your situation. Get out before you get caught in a segfault or infinite loop.
A good place to start investigating: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2011/06/29/the-b...
[1] http://www.freep.com/article/20110727/NEWS01/107270448/Despi...
[2] http://www.detnews.com/article/20110808/METRO01/108080359/De...
[3] http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/03/24/vanishing-city-the-story... I haven't even seen the 2011 stats yet, but 2000-2009 clearly showed a huge decline. I wouldn't be surprised if 2011's numbers are accelerated.
[4] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/16/detroits-unemployme...
[5] http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/08/detroit-mayor-dave-bing-of...
The opportunity that I mentioned is not in residential (yet) although I would be a buyer of raw land near downtown.
There are some truly awful areas, but there are also some really great areas of Detroit -- especially Midtown -- where there are very low vacancy rates and an influx of college grads who want to live in a vibrant urban environment.
Billionaires are buying (with both hands) commercial buildings for pennies on the dollar. I'm going to bet they know a bit more about "opportunity" than the authors of your articles.
And so with that, I say the odds aren't so good in Detroit. The market is constantly shrinking. That is fact (see the wiki link). This spills over to exports as well. The last saving grace are the auto manufacturers, but as most economists say the reliance on them for exports must end[5].
For all you know the 'billionaires' will frack[1] all the entire land and what will you have then? Or maybe foreign nationals are buying the land to level it for agriculture, and not high tech or manufacturing which keeps jobs [2][3][4]. That would be nice, to see a farm land back on Detroit soil.
Yes maybe selling that $1k piece of land for $2k would be a good deal. You just made 2x or maybe even 10x (if you could) there. But who are you going to sell it to?
I've seen plenty of people and huge think tank laden corps (investment firms, banks, etc...) with massive amount of money blow it all for stupid decisions. Including during the 2008 CDO mess. Or just look at the current Euro zone situation, they're STILL bleeding.
Yes what is happening to Detroit is also happening to the rest of the USA. The only thing is Detroit was ground zero.
Rather than 'follow billionaires' I choose to forge my own path with my fellow entrepreneurs learning from all of this horrible mess.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing
[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/world/americas/27brazil.ht...
[3] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-10/grantham-says-farml...
[4] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-10/being-like-soros-in...
[5] http://wallstcheatsheet.com/breaking-news/what-put-the-brake...
How about those who built more successful (at least from a financial perspective) than 99.99999% of the world and have the power and resources to enact real change?
Haven't you heard, a recent article [1] gives 13 reasons there is a comeback, and it has some interesting nuggets:
- unemployment is 11.3% (not 50%) - high tech jobs growing over 100% yoy - ranked 46/150 for growth (opposed to 146 previously)
[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/detroit-comeback-2011-3
Rents, land, & costs of living are super low -- these are all significant advantages in any competitive business landscape.
Will you agree to come back to HN in 10 years (assuming HN will be around), and we shall gauge whether Detroit's growth is explosive or slow? Enough to reverse the population and poverty statistic trends?