New Member and Investor From Baltimore, MD

[Carl Simon]

Hi All,
My name is Carl Simon and I am a new investor starting out here in the real and vibrant city of Baltimore, Maryland. Just a few months ago this past June I closed on my first buy-and-hold property and it is going really well with great tenants in and the property cash flowing. I found BP through the podcasts as I have listened to each one on my long 1 hour commute to Annapolis each day for my full-time job. They are awesome! My goals are 1.) to have closed on another buy and hold property and fully renovated my primary residence within 2 years 2.) to have enough passive income to fully offset my wife's salaried income within 5 years, and 3.) to have enough passive income to fully offset my salaried income as well within 10 years.

I grew up around housing as my dad is a general contractor turned energy auditor, my mom worked in low-income housing, and my uncles and grandfather are developers and landlords as well. My main support and encouragement came from my grandfather who had been encouraging me to invest since 2008. Finally, after several care-free years in my 20s, my wife and I closed on our primary residence in the Upper Fells Point neighborhood last June and really enjoyed the process as crazy as this sounds. The neighborhood seems great to invest as it is close to Johns Hopkins Hospital, a huge top ranked hospital, the touristy waterfront, a huge park, yet it still has enough city edge to keep prices affordable. This past June we decided to get the band back together (realtor, lender) and pursue our first investment property. The deal was fairly unique as we ended up getting it substantially under market price mainly because we agreed to coordinate the sale of the elderly seller's furniture. It was extra work and headache, but well worth it! We also got lucky in that we found out during closing that the property had a CHAP historic tax credit on it for several more years, lowering our closing costs by several thousand dollars and our monthly payment by $300. Often in the BP podcasts experts suggest the "just go for it… responsibly" attitude and I can attest to this. Yes we had some experience and basic knowledge, however we did not know where it end up, and did not let ourselves get analysis paralysis setting up LLCs etc. The result was an awesome first deal!

Anyway, I wanted to put myself out there for anyone coordinating meet ups in the Baltimore area. Also, if anyone could suggest a good local tax accountant that would be great too.

Best to all of you,
Carl