New to Howard County, Maryland

[Jorge Rojas]

Hello BP!! Jorge here ready to share and learn all I can about real estate investing and my experience thus far. I've been a member on BP since June and entered into this world after reading Rich Dad Poor Dad (as many of you may have guessed). Since then I've been digging myself into the site, reading the forums, articles, guides, recommend books, and analyzing properties as I come across them. This site has really helped me take action. My fiancé and I are currently managing 2 units for my folks in Montgomery County, MD. This site has really helped us fix and systemize the process for managing these 2 units. It's fair to say that if things continued the way they were going, it would have caused some big problems for my parents. Luckily, that is no longer the case. This entire process has and continues to help us figure out what works and what doesn't. This has been and continues to be a great opportunity for us to get our feet wet before we venture into the real estate investing game 100% on our own. My fiancé and I are currently less than a year out from our wedding! :) and see a house and rental property in our near future. We recently moved to Howard County, MD (1 County over from Montgomery County) and feel that this may be were we purchase our first home and rental property. Any areas you recommend we should be looking at? I know it's a pretty open question but I'm more than happy to be as specific as I can be if that helps. Just let me know. Thanks!

[Nicole A.]

It's hard to say... I'm not terribly familiar, but perhaps Laurel area has something more affordable. I currently invest in Baltimore County (not City), and there are some nice pockets of that area. There are plenty of $100K and less properties there too that can cash flow, however, you really need to know how to find good tenants. Places like Dundalk tend to be a bit rougher of a crowd, but there are also lots of good tenants if you take the time to find them. Too many landlords in Dundalk just let anyone with a heartbeat move in.