All Forum Posts by: Mark Franklin

I'm very fortunate that my only tenant is active duty military. For those who don't know, in addition to their salary, military personnel also get a tax free stipend for housing expenses. The amount varies depending on rank and marital status.

When I was stationed at Fort Meade, MD, (where my tenant is) I was receiving just over $2,400 per month for housing expenses, tax free.

Having a strong math and science background, and working as a cyber analyst, I would confidently say I'm an integrator.

I'm a new investor with only 1 property, but one thing I've been studying in my area (Baltimore) are the City Master Plans. They can usually be found on the city governments websites and are pretty detailed. The plans can tell you where the city plans on investing and improving in schools, where they plan to invest in local business, where they will provide incentives for real estate development, and even things like creating farmers markets. While this doesn't really help you get to know the market NOW, it does give you a glimpse into the potential future market.

Check out this Saint Charles County 2025 Master Plan Appendix A on Housing

I've been a cyber analyst going on 10 years now, so my daily activity involves collecting data, analyzing it, and extracting the most important parts to make an assessment. I believe this will help me in analyzing properties to get the most $$$ out of them.

Not necessarily. Resourses also need to be reallocated effectively. The cities need to invest in education, employment, and health care in high risk communities. I like to look at City Master Plans which can usually be found on city's websites to see what neighborhoods they are investing in. For example in Baltimore, you can see the plan for improving the Historic Upton Neighborhood. I believe city's investment in their communities is key to reducing crime. Some of the police budget can be reallocated to these efforts.

Correct. Study after study shows policing doesn't always reduce crime. Access to education, employment, and social services does. 

Reducing police budgets is a long term strategy to reduce crime. The immediate impact is expected to be negative, but those funds are being diverted to fund public health, education, and community improvement, which is at the root of crime problems. 

Money!

For the last two years I've been a stay at home father. I've recently landed a job with great pay and hours which I will be starting in a month or two depending on this COVID situation. My next investment will be a house hack.

Hello Bigger Pockets family!

My name is Mark, I'm 41 years old and brand new to real estate investing. When the COVID quarntine started, I decided to pick up some books to read since I had some spare time, and one of those books was Rich Dad Poor Dad which was an eye opener. Since then I've been reading, listening to podcasts, joining facebook groups and online forums, watching YouTube videos and everything else real estate investment related. I start a new job in Aug-Sep and will be relocating to the Baltimore area where I will start investing. I'm excited, and very thankful for the knowledge and experience shared here in the BP community! I can't wait to gain some knowledge and experience myself and start giving back.

Cheers!

Mark

Would it be possible (legal) to ask for bank statements for proof of income? Tax returns?