$100K House, $1,400 Section 8 Rent, Nice Area? Here’s Why That Deal Fails in Detroit
/Some people would rather be right than be taught—and in Detroit real estate, that can be a very expensive mistake.
I’m Monique Burns, and I sell real estate in Detroit. But I’m not your typical real estate agent. My husband and I have been buying Detroit houses since 2007. We own buy-and-hold rentals, we’ve fixed and flipped hundreds of homes, and for years we ran a property management company before selling it. Today, our main focus is fixing and flipping Detroit houses and working with investors who want realistic, sustainable deals.
This blog comes from a call I got recently that perfectly illustrates a mistake I see all the time.
When Someone Isn’t Looking for Advice—Only Confirmation
A man called me this week who found me on YouTube. He was confident. Very confident. He didn’t ask about my experience or my opinion. The call was more of a demand:
“This is what I want. Go find it.”
He wasn’t open to learning. And when that happens, there’s not much I can say in the moment. But I can tell you what I wanted to tell him—so you don’t make the same mistakes.
The Three Things He Wanted (And Why That’s a Problem)
Here was his wish list:
Purchase price: $100,000–$115,000
Rent: $1,400/month from a Section 8 tenant
Location: A good neighborhood
Each one of these by itself might be possible. All three together? That’s where deals fall apart.
Let’s walk through why.
The Underpay vs. Overpay Trap
The Underpay Problem
Most investors who call me want to underpay. They see houses listed under $80,000 and think they’ve found a deal. What they don’t see are the problems waiting underneath.
When you underpay in Detroit, you risk:
Hidden repair issues
Poor inspections
Bad property management
Bad tenant placement
Long, expensive evictions (Detroit’s 36th District Court can drag evictions out 4–6 months)
And surprise tax bills after purchase. See this video about figuring out taxes: https://youtu.be/XJcQlhjpnpI
Many buyers don’t believe this until they experience it themselves. And yes—many of them come back a year or two later saying, “I learned my lesson.”
There is a sweet spot.
For a fully renovated, three-bedroom house, that sweet spot is usually around $85,000–$90,000. That’s where problems drop dramatically. That’s also where most of the houses my husband and I renovate and sell.
The Overpay Problem
On the other side, this buyer was actually willing to overpay—by $10,000 to $15,000—to chase higher rent.
That raises red flags.
If a Detroit rental costs that much, it’s often:
A larger house (which means more maintenance)
More occupants (more wear and tear)
More tenant drama
From experience, three bedrooms are the sweet spot. Two bedrooms can work. Bigger than that? Problems multiply fast.
Overpaying can also come from bad advice:
Some lenders won’t do loans under $100,000. See this video about getting a better DSCR loan or construction loan for under $100,000 https://youtu.be/XJcQlhjpnpI
Some agents push higher prices because commissions scale with price
I don’t rely on commissions. I make my money on fix-and-flips. That changes how I look at value—and it’s why I care about the long-term reality of a deal.
Section 8: Not the Gold Mine It Used to Be
Is Section 8 bad? No.
Is it still the automatic answer it once was? Also no.
Here’s what’s changed:
Michigan hasn’t added meaningful new Section 8 funding in a long time
Waiting lists are long—or closed
There are fewer new voucher holders entering the system
Most calls now come from existing tenants who are moving
And moving is expensive.
When Section 8 tenants move, their portion of rent often increases sharply. Many aren’t prepared for that, which can create payment stress for landlords.
See this video of our local lobbyist talking about the changes to Section 8: https://youtu.be/1W6x1KcC0Tw
The Section 8 Rent Puzzle (That You Can’t Solve)
HUD publishes rent limits by zip code—but Detroit zip codes are meaningless. Every zip code contains multiple neighborhoods of wildly different quality.
To complicate things further:
Detroit is served by multiple housing commissions
Each commission pays different rent amounts
Those amounts change frequently
You can’t reliably “game” the system by choosing a zip code or refusing certain housing commissions. I’ve seen two identical tenants in the same house receive very different rent approvals from the same office.
The reality?
$1,400 Section 8 rents were a COVID-era anomaly
That ship has sailed
Today $1,200 is more realistic for a three-bedroom
Meanwhile, cash tenants are improving:
Better screening
More urgency
Fewer bureaucratic delays
Section 8 is no longer the automatic best option.
“Good Neighborhood” According to Whom?
This is one of the most misunderstood ideas in Detroit investing.
When buyers say “good neighborhood,” I ask:
Good for you?
Or good for your renter?
Your target market is renters—not your Instagram feed.
In Detroit:
Streets are improving everywhere
Construction is happening across the city
But taxes vary wildly from neighborhood to neighborhood
Ironically, the neighborhoods buyers like the most often have the highest taxes.
Choosing a less “pretty” street that renters still want can save you $1,000–$2,000 a year in taxes alone—and improve your cash flow dramatically.
Final Thoughts: Be Curious, Not Certain
The biggest takeaway here isn’t about price, rent, or Section 8.
It’s this:
Real estate rewards curiosity—not certainty.
Ask questions. Learn from people who are actively doing this in Detroit. Stay open. Subscribe to educational content. Read my blog. Watch updates—especially as we head toward potential Section 8 changes in 2026.
If you want to buy a Detroit rental, sell one, or just understand the market better, you can:
Email me (best way to reach me): Monique@greatdaypm.com
Or schedule a call through Calendly
I appreciate you being here—and I hope this saves you from an expensive lesson.