Caroline Chen, a real estate broker in Troy, Michigan, says she’s received “tons of calls” from people in mainland China.

It may seem like a small point, but Troy is not Detroit. It’s even in a different county. There are some very nice areas around Detroit, including Troy, north of the “8 Mile.” Michigan has some very nice, upscale cities (even though it is very flat and the weather is not great.) Although the heydey of the auto industry is gone, there is still lots of industry in Michigan.

The problems with Detroit are mostly in the city proper. Drive south from Troy to Detroit on I-75 and you can see it the neighborhoods get worse the further you go. By the time you reach downtown, the abandoned buildings and decay are quite obvious even from the highway.

I don’t see the city ever recovering. It seems to be past the point of no return. There are entire neighborhoods that would have to be razed. Maybe it will recover slowly, after many decades it could all be cleaned up, but I don’t think I will see the city of Detroit recover in my lifetime.