Guidance on Baltimore Area

[Emily Segal]

Hello, Everyone!

I'm new to the BP community and looking to start investing in rental properties and eventually make my way up to commercial real estate. Ideally, I would like to get to the point where I can be involved in real estate full time. I have been reading the books, listening to the BP podcast, and have started going on showings of single family units in my area.  

I've been living in Baltimore, MD since 2017 so I have started looking at properties here. However, experienced investors always talk about the importance of location and I'm wondering if Baltimore is the right place to get started in. Overall, the city does not have the best reputation for crime rates and has been experiencing some political turmoil. Does anyone have thoughts/advice on this area that they could share?  

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for your time.

Emily

[Stephanie P.]

Originally posted by @Emily Segal:

Hello, Everyone!

I'm new to the BP community and looking to start investing in rental properties and eventually make my way up to commercial real estate. Ideally, I would like to get to the point where I can be involved in real estate full time. I have been reading the books, listening to the BP podcast, and have started going on showings of single family units in my area.  

I've been living in Baltimore, MD since 2017 so I have started looking at properties here. However, experienced investors always talk about the importance of location and I'm wondering if Baltimore is the right place to get started in. Overall, the city does not have the best reputation for crime rates and has been experiencing some political turmoil. Does anyone have thoughts/advice on this area that they could share?  

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for your time.

Emily

Emily

You win for the most under stated post ever.

"not the best reputation for crime rates".  Baltimore has been in the top 5 of most violent cities for the past several decades and is routinely top 3 for most homicides.

"some political turmoil".  The mayor before last left office because she was convicted of stealing gift cards that were supposed to go to little children and the last mayor left office in disgrace because she wrote a children's book and then used the book as a fund raising arm (more like money laundering arm) for entities that contributed to her campaign or to entities where she served on a board like the University of Maryland hospital system.  

Now that I have that out of my system, try to find multi family properties.  There are a bunch of them up in Baltimore. They will help your cash flow stay steady when one tenant moves out.  Best of luck

Stephanie