All Forum Posts by: Gayle Melnick

@Brad Fallon

How are you running your analysis? If you're house hacking, you might not get positive cash flow. It's a win if you get the majority of your mortgage covered. Then, when you move out and find a tenant to replace you, that's when you should cash flow.

Hampden, Charles Village, Canton, Fells Point, Fed Hill, Locust Point. All desirable neighborhoods that people want to live in. These areas are more expensive than other parts of Baltimore but if you’re house hacking the numbers can work at a higher price point. 

@Gage Ealey

I found a great contractor through a friend of mine, consistent with Sam's point that you're more likely to find better quality professionals through your own personal network and friends. 

I will mention that I also found a good carpenter and electrician on the nextdoor app. People in the neighborhood can make recommendations. Even though you may not personally know the people doing the referring, I think it's still better than doing a random google search. 

@Tyrone Marson

Sorry, I completely missed that sentence in your OP! Must be that I was still in the middle of my first cup of coffee...

Maybe some other people will have better insight. My first thought is that it’s hard to make a judgment without more variables though. I’m interested to see what others have to say that have more experience in the Baltimore county area.

@Tyrone Marson

Are these numbers the rent you're looking to charge or the cashflow you're expecting? Not sure what the unit of measurement is.

I'd be interested to see the details of your first deal. I think most people probably don't hit a home run on the first deal. If you share what you've learned, we can all benefit from your experience. 

@Kelly M.

I don't trust the tenants to pay water on their own. What I do is pay the bill myself, then charge them for the water on the same platform that I collect their rent. I set it up in the lease like that. I would be nervous to try to factor in water to the rent. You have no idea if a tenant is going to take 20 showers a day or do 10 loads of laundry a day if they don't have to pay for their own water. I'd like to think that most people wouldn't take advantage of a situation like that, but I don't want to be wrong about it and then be stuck with paying a ridiculous water bill.

@Abby Weinstock

This is true... but even if you don’t go through the process of redeeming it, the amount is negligible. One of my properties has ground rent. It’s $84/year which figures to $7/month. This is consistent with other properties that have ground rent.

It should figure into your deal analysis but if $7/month is making or breaking your deal.. the deal probably isn’t good enough.

@Amanda Brezina

Welcome to BP. It sounds like you've gotten a good start doing your research!

If you're looking to invest in Baltimore city, I'd say definitely make sure you know the neighborhood. This has been said many times, but Baltimore is really block by block. This goes not just for when you're buying, but also when running comps for your ARV. You sometimes can't even look at one or two blocks over because it'll be a completely different ARV than the block your property is on.

Good luck on your journey. I'm excited to hear about your progress. 

In my lease, I have it that if they lock themselves out during normal business hours they can call me and I’ll let them in for a fee. If it’s not normal business hours (nights, weekends) they have to call a locksmith and cover the cost themselves. 

@Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil

If you can’t power wash it if there’s no drain, you should be able to get someone that can vacuum and mop it enough to be able to paint over it. 

I’ll ask my contractor for the specific brand, but here are pics. After he did that, I passed the dust sample no problem.