Buying row home in Baltimore

[Alan Frye]

Hey first post. I’m looking at a fully renovated 4/bd 2/ba asking price 129k in Baltimore city and looking to buy and hold but am worried about finding a suitable renter that’s can pay 2k a month. Was thinking section 8 for the guaranteed rent. But also should I use cash for down payment or heloc from my primary residence to get the conventional loan to Purchase this property? Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[David Fernandez]

Hi @Alan Frye, real estate is very location dependent and in Baltimore, location is everything. It is a city you need to know well, zip codes don’t mean much, they are too broad to know whether a property is a good deal, or not  you need to narrow it down to neighborhoods and then to blocks within the neighborhoods.

Having said that, if your property is not in Fells Point, Federall Hill, Canton, and few other pockets, I think $2k/month is a stretch. 

I think the sweet spot (where the 80% of tenants look for) in Baltimore is in the lower $1,000s for 1BR Apartments / small townhomes and around $1,200-$1,500/month for 2BR Apartments and bigger townhomes. You can adjust +/- $100 based on condition. I’m assuming location is not a a war zone.

Good luck!