All Forum Posts by: Jeffrey H.

you are going to come back up from North Carolina to deal with a Baltimore property/tenant? two things....1. pay a rent notice service to deal with your court stuff. how much do you burn on a plane ticket or gas to get here? how about your time, how much is that worth?  2. hire a property manager, I don't know any binoculars that can see Baltimore from North Carolina. 

the contractors contract is with you, As the owner of the house, your contract is with the city.

Sure, anyone will lend if the deal makes dollars and sense. However, if youre saying you cant make payments because youre strapped then what protection does a lender have from you? They have investors they have to pay. in my experience, if one isnt making payments to the person that has provided the money, they are actually seeking a partner, not a lender

See "Property registration" baltimore housing. Make some calls to baltimore housing if the website isnt helpful

@Daniel F. Harb in baltimore, in my possesion. Not easy to accomplish or find. One needs to understand locations on a house by house basis, all things construction, particularly where to get materials and labor for a song, the ability to do work yourself if need be, how to deal with the city gov. Lots of other stuff. I bought stuff when banks couldnt give it away, that helped too

@Chris Gordon slightly more complicated. To acheive this, one would need a time machine to tale advantage of bank giveaways and desperate contractors of 6-8 years ago. Maybe im underpriced now

300k could purchase 6 of the properties i currently own in baltimore. Owned for many years. Currently Rented, you would receive almost 6k a month pre expenses. After expenses youd be close to 5k per month. (Pre tax). 

Ive extensively done successfully what you are attempting to do in baltimore over a number of years, in the areas you are looking at. First, books are all well and good until reality smashes you in the face. I could give you endless examples. Heres a bunch for you: 

1. Small flips have minimal room for mistakes. A 20k potential profit means errors must be small. Also means keeping costs low. One miscalculation could put u in the red. 

2. You need to know construction intimately, labor/materials and how to minimize both. Do you? If not, hire someone who does, and pay that person x to teach u. 

3. Hard money does not want to deal with you because you have no experience/track record.(unless you want to put up a ton of money minimizing their risk) Partnering with someone that an hml knows will get you in and protect the hmls liability. 

4. See number 2.

5. See number 4. 

Overall, independent of area...understand the basic principle that if you buy something in an area that people will purchase a home, make it into something nice, and price it reasonably, then someone will buy it. 

I would suggest you not pull the trigger until you learn more, Specifically relating to construction and everything surrounding it. 

If you go in and its empty post you owning it, Change the locks and secure the house (windows/doors/ etc). Wait to see if anyone puts up a fight. If not, no problem