Investment property loans in Detroit

The City of Detroit requires a Certificate of Compliance for residential rental property, except for a single-family home the owner lives in. Under the rental law the City Council passed in October 2024, registration and the certificate are now a single application, and the City’s page says an unregistered rental is treated as a blight violation. The certificate is valid for three years for residential property.

Two points matter to a buyer. The City says a property that is sold or transferred needs the new owner to register and apply for a new certificate, and that the prior owner still owes charges and fines from their own time. The steps also include an inspection, repairs from any correction order, a re-inspection and payment of whatever the City has assessed. Ask the seller for the certificate status early, because it is a process to finish, not a formality.

A flip is underwritten on the plan rather than on the rent: the purchase, the work, the value once the work is done, and how you exit, by selling or refinancing into a longer loan. On a Detroit rental exit, build the inspection and certificate steps above into the schedule, because they sit between finished repairs and a lease.

When a flip turns into a keeper, refinancing the finished property into a DSCR loan is the usual way out of short-term debt.