Opportunity in Baltimore

[Samuel Goldberg]

My business partner and I are interested in investing in Baltimore. We've been reading a lot about opportunity in and around Baltimore (both with flips and multi-family rental properties). We're fortunate enough to have capital and credit capacity.

We have experience investing in student properties and thus started our search around the Johns Hopkins campus (mainly Charles Village, Old Goucher, Remington and Barclay) to see whether we could find promising opportunities. While there are some viable options, most of the distressed properties we've found in these areas seem to be price prohibitive (when combined with estimated rehab costs) relative to their potential post-rehab rental income.

We're wondering where to look in and around Baltimore for less conservative investments. Does anyone have any suggestions for promising areas where you project future rental increases and mid to long-term price growth? I realize this is likely a broad question, but we have very little knowledge of the area and could use all of the help we can get from seasoned veterans.

[Cassandra Ramirez]

Baltimore is a tough area to get to know from afar.  On one block you have a thriving community.  But walk 4-5 blocks away and you see board up after board up.  I would say, a good area of the city to start is Pig Town (outside of Orioles stadium).  It is a nice little area with rehabs going.  Since the homes are older, you can get a good one inexpensively and you can either fix and flip it or you can add to your rental portfolio.

Since you're not here, I'd call a few property managers to get their input as well.  And, of course, you should go down there and see for yourself.  Spending a week "getting to know the town" can be the best time spent.  

As a last note, I would say look at Baltimore County as well as the City of Baltimore (not in Baltimore County).  I know seasoned rehabbers in Baltimore who only do deals in Baltimore County citing the hard time they have dealing with the City.

Hope this helps.

Cas