In the 1950s, the auto industry started to decline and companies started moving out of Detroit. By the 1960s, people were leaving Detroit in droves. In 2013, the city filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. Now, more than five years later, more and more programs are being put into place to help improve the city.
Wealthy entrepreneurs are investing in the city, too. Just consider billionaire Dan Gilbert, who founded Quicken Loans. As Business Insider previously reported, after Gilbert moved his company to downtown Detroit in 2010, he started the real-estate firm Bedrock. Not only is Quicken Loans one of Detroit's largest employers and taxpayers, but as of 2018, Bedrock has invested or allocated $5.6 billion in roughly 100 properties in downtown Detroit and nearby neighborhoods.
Orr is a native Detroiter. He grew up in the same zip code where he purchased the home, which is located in the northwest Detroit neighborhood of Fitzgerald.
Orr graduated from Wayne State University with a degree in media arts and is currently a production supervisor.
"My family roots in this neighborhood run pretty deep," he told Business Insider. "I wanted to stay around and bring it back to the level that I remember it at when I was a child."
According to the neighbors, the home had been vacant for around ten years, Orr told Business Insider.
Orr told Business Insider that the porch was torn up, the windows were missing, and the roof was caving in.
The hardest part of the process was finding contractors, Orr explained to Business Insider. Though he did most of the work himself, steps like finding a roofing company turned out to be more difficult than he expected.
"For the final inspection, they didn't have to come out because I documented everything with photographs and sent it to them. They had been following the process along the way," Orr told Business Insider. "You have to show them evidence of the house being occupied, so you show them furniture in the living room, furniture in the bedrooms, and appliances in the kitchen."
The DLBA joins a host of other organizations and individuals working to revitalize Detroit.
A weak housing market and low-valued homes have made it difficult for Detroiters to obtain mortgages. The Detroit Home Mortgage program (DMH), which was put into place in 2016, is working to increase homeownership in the city by lending qualified buyers the money needed to both purchase and renovate homes in the city.
Through the program, Detroiters can receive two loans. The first mortgage is for the appraised value of the home; the second mortgage, which has a limit of $75,000, closes the gap between the home's sale price and its appraised value, while also covering the cost of renovations.
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