good morning Baltimore - Intro

[Nate P.]

Guten morgen Baltimore,

This is my inaugural post to the forum here and maybe even BP, although I've been consuming content for the past few years. The rest of this post is a little introduction about myself as I plan on getting involved in Baltimore real estate this upcoming year, and hopefully collaborate with some of you along the way!

Background:
Grew up in Ellicott City, graduated from UMD, and spent the next 5 years working in San Diego. I closed on a fix and flip SFH property in San Diego in February this year. It was basically a house hack until I accepted a job offer in Germany, so now I'm an expatriate and a California landlord. I work a civilian government job which is alright (get paid to live in Europe) but it still feels like work so I'd like to stop doing that. Lots of family and friends in the DMV area, I normally visit 1-2 times each year.

Short-Term Goals - as of 3:30pm CEST on Sunday, November 8, 2020:
Obtain net $500/mo. passive income stream by 2022.
- When looking for deals cash flow is going to be my top priority. Appreciation is swell but that's not what I'm focused on right now, especially since San Diego already offers some diversity and opportunity there. The immediate need is securing quit my job money. BRRRR concept is appealing but I consider it riskier due to my inexperience. Maybe this changes in a year.
- Targeting Class B, maybe C, SFH or MFH rental property for buy-and-hold at a sub-$300k price point.
Do one deal per year while I'm overseas (3-5 more years).

Strategy & Risk Mentality:

I'm very comfortable with taking on debt and the long-term prognosis of real estate as an investment. I'm not comfortable financially committing to situations that I'm uneducated about with people I don't know. I plan to take the next 6-12 months while I rebuild capital to educate myself about the local market and develop relationships in the city. My general attitude is that knowledge is the best form of risk mitigation, so if I've done the research, the numbers meet my goals, and I've surrounded myself with smart and experienced people then risk goes way down. 

Regarding Baltimore and my personal circumstances, I'm aware that there will be significant challenges e.g. the block-by-block nature of the city, tenant-friendly laws, finding reliable agents/property managers/contractors/lenders as an out of state investor. While I don't intend to make any bad deals, I look at these first few deals just as much as an investment in my real estate education as they are in my portfolio. I don't expect deals to be perfect or easy and I welcome that, even look forward to taking some hard knocks. Maybe I'll regret saying that. 

The End:

So that's all! What is your top one resource for a new-to-Baltimore, out-of-state, buy-and-hold investor? 

Thanks in advance for welcoming me and I look forward to engaging with the community here! Comments/questions/connections are all appreciated, tell me how dumb my plan is, anything goes. 

If anybody wants to have a zoombeer and talk about how good the ravens are that is something I always have time for. 

Prost, 

Nate