North Muskegon · Investment Property
Investment Property in North Muskegon
Numbers before emotion, and an honest read of the property. When it does not work, I say so.
Supply Is the Whole Thesis Here
A peninsula has a fixed amount of ground on it. Nothing is being added, and short of something unusual, nothing will be.
That is why a good deal of what gets bought here is bought to be owned rather than immediately worked. The buyer is not solving for what it does next year. They wanted this specific ground and were willing to hold it.
It also means the ordinary advice about waiting for the right deal behaves differently. In a market where more supply arrives every year, patience costs little. Where it does not, the thing you passed on may not have a close equivalent next season.
None of that is a reason to overpay, and I will tell you when I think something is overpriced. It is a reason to know which kind of market you are standing in before you set a strategy.
Where would you like to start?
Close to Everything Changes What a Property Can Become
The practical advantage here is position. The peninsula sits near the water on both sides and close to the things people actually drive to.
That matters for a purchase meant to do more than one job over time. A property that suits you now and could also be let later is a different proposition from one that can only ever be one of those, and the difference is usually location rather than the building.
So if a purchase might change jobs in five years, that belongs in the conversation at the start. The questions I would check are not the same ones, and a property that fails the second test is much cheaper to rule out now.
What I Read Before You Commit
I go and read the property, and I tell you what I find including when it means walking away.
Which shore it is on and what a boat can do from it, usable frontage against the recorded figure, the bottom and depth where a dock would sit and whether one is permitted, what the building will need over the next several years rather than the next twelve months, and access in every season along with who maintains it.
Where a short-term rental is part of the plan, what a township permits is the first question rather than the last, and that sits on its own page.
More than $4 million in closed sales over my last twelve months, up from under a million the year before.
This describes the property questions I check. It is not investment, tax or legal advice, and nothing here is a projection of returns. Those are for your own lender, accountant and attorney.
Before You Commit
Tell me how long you intend to own it and what you want it doing in year one against year ten. That answer changes which properties are even worth looking at.
More about the town is on the North Muskegon area page, the wider approach is at investment property, and the land side is at lakeshore land in North Muskegon.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does an investment here have to be rented straight away?
Not at all, and a fair amount of what gets bought on this peninsula is held rather than immediately worked, because the ground itself is finite. What matters is being clear about which you are doing, since a property meant to be held and one meant to earn from month one are judged on different things.
Can I use it myself for a few years and rent it later?
That is a common shape and it is worth saying at the start, because the questions change. A property that suits you now but could never be let later is a different proposition, and the difference is usually position rather than the building. It is much cheaper to rule that out before you buy.
Will you tell me if you think something is a bad buy?
Yes, including when you have already decided you want it. What I will not do is produce a projection of what it will be worth or earn, because that is not my work and anyone who hands you one without knowing your finances is guessing. The property questions are mine; the numbers are yours and your accountant's.
North Muskegon
What investment property looks like in North Muskegon
A peninsula with water on both sides: Bear Lake to the north, Muskegon Lake and the route to Lake Michigan to the south.
The two shores are not the same purchase. Muskegon Lake to the south is the larger, more open water and it connects through to Lake Michigan, so a boat there has a route out to the big lake. Bear Lake to the north is smaller and quieter in the evening.
A peninsula is also finite. There is a fixed amount of it and no way to make more, which is why being ready before you need to be matters more here than it does further inland.
Investment Property: keep exploring
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