All Forum Posts by: David Johnson

Hey everyone,

I'm a brand new property owner in Baltimore, MD and am curious about what everyone's checklist is for important documentation related to your rentals (i.e. business licenses, lead certifications, etc.). I just wanted to make sure that I'm not missing anything.

Also, I'm always in the market for property manager and contractor recommendations, so if anyone here has any of those, please don't hesitate to chime in.

Thanks!

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to invest in a SFH in the Barclay neighborhood in Baltimore and am curious what you guys think.

It seems like a decent prospect for appreciation and cashflow since it's situated between JHU and Penn Station and is the site of a fairly substantial development project (Telesis), but I understand the strength of the deal will be determined by what price and condition I acquire the property at. 

I'm looking at the southern part of the neighborhood, specifically. Just wanted to know what everyone's thoughts are.

Thanks in advance!

@Ned Carey That's good to know. Are you familiar with any gut reno projects of some of the older properties in this area and do you know of a ballpark estimate of their budgets?

Hey everyone,

I'm a real estate investor from NYC looking to purchase a single family home in Baltimore to force appreciation through renovation and establish solid cash flow through renting. 

I've been looking at the neighborhoods around Charles Village (Barclay, Harwood) and it seems like I'd be able to acquire a property for less than $60K and fix it up for less than $30K. I'm ineligible for financing (I currently have two mortgages on properties in DC), so I'd have to go the all-cash route and possibly work out financing down the road. I'd be using contractors to do the renovation and already have some contacts (but would love to get some additional recommendations)/

A realtor I've consulted with has told me that a good perimeter to work in is bounded by St. Paul St. to the west, Greenmount Ave. to the east, 29th St. to the north, and 20th St. to the south. I'm curious what everyone's thoughts are on this area (i.e. any experience living/investing there, what the typical renter is like, what is the market rent for a 3BD SFH, prospects for the future of the neighborhood, etc.) and if that seems like a decent strategy.

From an outsider's perspective, it seems like Baltimore is on the upswing and that it's a wise medium-term investment, but I'm willing to concede that my experience is limited to DC which is a fairly unique case. Let me know what you guys think when you get a chance. Thanks in advance!

I'm a relatively new real estate investor (under 5 years) and own two single family homes in the Washington, DC area. I'm currently looking for next steps to grow my portfolio, but my inexperience is limiting my vision. I feel like there are probably basic things I can do to move forward, but I'm ignorant of what they could be.

A little about my current situation:

Both properties I own are currently rented to section 8 tenants and have a combined cash flow of $1764 a month. Each property was acquired at approximately $250K and $270K, respectively, and they have experienced a substantial amount of appreciation over the last 4 years or so due to major development in the neighborhood. One was recently appraised at $400K, although I feel like they could both sell for at least $450K. Long story short, I have a pretty good amount of equity in both properties, since the outstanding loans on each of them stand at about $185K and $210K, respectively. 

I also have about $250K in stocks that I could liquidate, but the catch is that I'm unable to get financing because my debt to income ratio is too high. 

So, what can I do? I feel like my ability to maneuver is limited because of the financing issue, but I also feel like I should be aggressive and pursue more opportunities. Let me know what you think.

Hey everyone,

I'm currently in the market for another investment property, but it seems as if I have maxed out on my ability to acquire conventional financing. It seems like a strange problem to me, since I have a lot of capital available (approx. $275K) and it seems like people are able to build out pretty huge portfolios using financing. 

Part of the issue is that I'm looking to buy a new investment property in the market in which the two others I own are located (Washington, DC), but the minimum price for property acquisition in that market without having to do a substantial amount of work is in the $300K range.

Some background:

I currently have two conventional, 30-year, fixed rate mortgages (one on my own, one with a co-borrower [my father]) on two single family homes and when I looked into getting pre-approved for another loan around this time last year, the lender I was going to use told me that my debt to income ratio was too high. So you know, one loan is worth about $213K and the other is worth about $185K, giving me a debt load of about $398K total.

At the time, I was earning about $57,500 a year from a job, in addition to a modest income from my two rental properties (about $600 a month in cash flow after covering the expenses of the mortgages and property management).

I have since quit my job to focus on real estate investment full-time (so essentially no income from another job) and re-financed one mortgage and am getting new Section 8 tenants at both properties, so the cash flow will now be about $2100 a month total. I know that's not that much income, but that's why I want to add another property to the portfolio to increase that number.

I'm not sure if this is helpful information or not, but I have a pretty substantial amount of equity in both properties through appreciation. One was purchased for $250K and the other was purchased for $270K and the latter was recently appraised at $400K.

What are my options as far as financing goes? I'm trying to avoid the approach of putting all cash in and then financing after the purchase, but I'm not sure how else to proceed. I'll admit I'm a novice when it comes to financing strategies, so any insight you could provide would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance for your help!