Recommended areas for first rental property in Maryland

[Erick Guajardo]

Hello everyone! My name is Erick Guajardo, I'm planning to start my REI adventure soon focusing on buy&hold properties and would love to get some advice on where to invest. See I'm fairly new to Maryland and since this is an expensive market I've been struggling on my search for areas with a good entry point that actually make sense as a buy&hold investment. I currently own my primary residence in Glen Burnie so due to distance I've been focusing my search mostly in Baltimore city/county, Anne Arundel Co., Howard Co. and PG Co. but I'm considering any area in MD an option, I just need more direction on where to look.

I would love to hear from locals or anyone with experience in MD what areas do you consider have a good entry point and a solid rental market for a first rental. 

Any additional tips welcome!

Thanks in advance!

PS. Sorry for any grammar mistakes since English is not my first language. 

[Ruth Lyons]

Hi Erick,

Baltimore county is definitely more investor friendly as far as getting started than Montgomery or Howard county. Harford, PG and Anne Arundel county are mixed. But it all depends on what you’re looking for and how much money you have to invest. Are you looking for class “B “properties, for example? Are you looking for cash flow, appreciation potential or a combination of both? Are you using hard money or traditional bank financing? How much cash do you have for down payment? I am an agent and also an investor… The answers to these questions are really crucial to knowing where to look. My rentals are all B class properties scattered throughout the county and across asset types (condos, towmhomes and single family) to achieve a level of location diversification and potential appreciation because that’s the investing strategy I chose. Many investors want lots of “doors” in C and D class properties rented to Section 8 tenants to get high monthly cash flow. I work with a few investor clients that don’t care about cash flow but are banking on long term appreciation by investing in only A class properties. So it all depends — choose a strategy and find the niches where your strategy will work...