Baltimore: Looking to Invest

[Mario Ortner]

Hello Everyone, I am and architect from Los Angeles. The Real Estate market in LA is getting prohibitive for a small investor like me and so I have been researching out of state markets. I find Baltimore, MD interesting and would like to buy a single family house to flip in the coming months. Since I don't live there, I'd like to connect with a local real estate professional specializing in foreclosures and auctions, and also a small general contractor that works with investors. Any advice and or recommendation is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[Ray Slack]

I would have to agree with Charles.  I invest in baltimore but I spent a year driving around the city and figuring out areas that are good and bad and monitoring sales and rentals in different areas of the baltimore before buying anything.  I have been in real estate for 30 years in Florida and also another City in Maryland (Bowie) about 45 minutes outside of Baltimore and don't think I could have done it without physically being in the city.  Contractors in Baltimore are notorious for being the worst ever.  The take your money do sloppy work and then walk off the job 1/2 way through.   

If you REALLY have your heart set on doing this the only way I would suggest would be to get a Realtor in Baltimore (not me) that is familiar with the areas and the flipping business and bring you possible deals.   Then you would 100% need to move to Baltimore for the 1-2 months during the renovation and be there every day to manage the contractor and workers. 

I'm guessing that you read some Top 10 list that said baltimore flips sold for the highest increase in value over every other city in the US.  Am I correct?  This article was deceiving because yes the average Flip sold within a year of being purchased and resold for an average 91% over what they were purchased for?  This is GROSS profit.   The houses on average are cheap and 100 years old.. they need Total Gut rehabbed including total removal of Lead Paint from outside and inside.   To the articles numbers of houses in Baltimore were bought for $100,000 and Flipped for $200,000 in six months don't account for the $60,000 in renovations and $20,000 in buying and selling costs. Leaving a net profit of about $15,000-$20,000.