All Forum Posts by: Matt Schelberg

Hi @Tom Gimer, yes as @Russell Brazil mentioned most of my inspection business is in Baltimore City & the County. My lead inspector is dual-hatted as my project manager for our Baltimore renos. So we have a lot of experience with draw inspections. Also very familiar with the due diligence items lenders care about:

-checking on building permits 

-obtaining use & occupancy permits

-property registration

-rental licensing

I'll PM you my contact info.

My hat is off to you @Troy Martin. I will join in any complaint with the California attorney general if this is not resolved. Or in any civil action. @Adrien C. also has an experience worth sharing. I personally observed YL actively seeking to take new orders from people they believed to be new customers, after the supposed "shutdown".

YellowLetters.com has now re-branded and they are answering phones again. When I called today, a phone representative stated that "new ownership is involved". I received no apology and was informed that they would need several days to "pull my file" and review my unfulfilled order. 

Despite my being a customer for years and years, @Michael Quarles has yet to respond to me. My messages to him on FB have been ignored and deleted, though he is an active FB user.

I also see that he no longer has a BP pro account. If BP took this away, kudos to them. They should go further and put a big disclaimer on both of Michael's episodes on the BP Podcast. Many BP users have lost money to this person. This will happen to more people without a disclaimer.

@Sebastian E. I hope you are right but seems like there is an equally strong argument for continued decline and negative population growth in Baltimore City. Post-corona there are already signs of a new push to move to the suburbs. The things that make city life fun -- bars, restaurants, etc will not be as fun with face masks and social distancing over the next couple years. Move to the suburbs and you get lower taxes, lower crime, and higher quality of life.

If population continues to decline we'll lose our tax base and the politicians will need to raise taxes even more. But like @Joe Norman said, Baltimore City was never an appreciation play. It was about cash-flowing rentals.

Yes some lenders are still lending on investment properties in Maryland. I think the best move here is to join a local FB group and ask for names of active lenders. The FB groups have fewer restrictions on self-promotion there, so you will get a bunch of replies, and then you can start contacting the lenders directly to see about the feasibility for your particular project.

@Account Closed has a good FB group called Maryland Investors Network.

A few months ago I paid for a multi-month direct mail campaign with former BP sponsor Michael Quarles' YellowLetters.com but now my calls and emails are going unanswered. I am concerned that I've lost thousands of dollars. Ordinarily I'd attribute this to the pandemic shutdowns, but the strange thing is that when I contacted his office from a new email address asking to place an order, they responded to me promptly. They seemed eager to make a sale to what they believed was a new customer.

1. What do you think could explain this?

2. If yellowletters.com eventually offers to process the order, how would you confirm that they mailed ALL the letters? 

3. Any ideas on the best move here? I realize that the shutdowns certainly could have affected the printing business, but why no communication with customers?

Background on Michael Quarles: He was once a sponsor of BP and was the BP Podcast guest on episodes #77 and #81. His Facebook page is still actively posting. It describes him as a coach at something called Require Wealth Academy. I've attempted to reach him multiple times on multiple platforms with no response.

I realize it's been a crazy business environment for everyone this year, so hopefully this is a big misunderstanding and Michael can clear it up.

In what part of Baltimore is this located @Daria B.? In most parts of the Baltimore metro area the water bill must remain in the name of the owner.

It is common for tenants to pay the water bill, but is the owner's responsibility to collect water reimbursements. If tenants don't pay water charges required by the lease, you can take them to small claims court in the City. Most Baltimore County rent court judges still allow water to be included in rent court judgments, I believe.

In Baltimore County (not Balt city) water and sewer charges are billed separately, which is a pain. Water costs SEEM low, but only because sewer charges are invoiced a year later on the property tax bill. Sewer charges are 2-3x higher than water consumption. They average about $400-600/year.

Actually that's an interesting topic. All stereotypes aside, I'd be curious to see the numbers on weed smoking re: voucher vs. non-voucher. Might be correlated with disposable income. Lots of weed smoking going on in Canton and Fed Hill, and not many complaints about it. 

And if I read this thread correctly, it was actually the sublet tenant that smoked the weed, not the voucher tenant. :)  Seems like Ruth's main complaint about her voucher tenant was that the lady was a bad neighbor. 

On education: I recommend reaching out to a Baltimore tax sale attorney. Some have slide decks available with really good info on the tax sale process for Maryland. They do this because they want your business for the legal work on the tax sale foreclosures.

Budget: With $5,000 you could definitely buy some liens. The great thing about the City tax lien auctioneer is that their software automatically withdraws your bids once you reach your budget. So you could place lowball bids on dozens of liens, and hope to get lucky with a couple. And after your budget is exhausted your remaining bids would automatically be withdrawn.

The tax lien jedi @Ned Carey once taught me that there are generally two types of tax lien investors:  people who want properties and people who want interest. It sounds like you want interest. So keep in mind that property owners can redeem at any time. It's very possible you could buy $5k in liens and not even make enough interest to make up for the $100 bidder registration fee.

Finally: tax lien investing is NOT risk free. You are buying the right to foreclose on a property 1-2 years in the future, regardless of its condition. Last year I got a killer deal on a lien...looked great...then it burned up in a fire. 

And earlier this month I had another owned property burn up in West Baltimore..see photo below. (@Russell Brazil is going to laugh because 3 years ago when I marketed it for sale, I wrote "some components still salvageable"...well, not anymore Russell.) So tax lien investing is anything but risk free! 

I love that you're renting out the garage for $150 @Alex Kukich. Is the garage tenant one of your renters?

@Amy Zhang I would agree with @Russell Brazil about investing in Baltimore City from out-of-state. It is possible to succeed, but not likely.  Unless you have a partner on the ground, stay away. Too many things can go wrong. Your management has to be perfect to succeed there. A high water bill or vandalism can crush you.

In addition to the others mentioned above, Baltimore County is a good option. Baltimore County surrounds Baltimore City and includes many working-class neighborhoods. Strong employment, steady population numbers. Lower property taxes, better tenants, and less crime. And easier to BRRRR. The price:rent ratios are still attractive.