All Forum Posts by: Nicole A.

Okay, thanks for the info. I was under the impression that the roughly $2,000 was in escrow because that is what the title company said (vs it already being spent with SDAT). And I'm fairly certain it's not on me to figure this out given the title company said they're doing it. Perhaps it's different for Caroline in Cali?

Being that I'm getting close to the one year point, I just expected more answers and communication from my title company attorney handling this, but he rarely communicates with me. I'm playing email/phone tag with the Ground Rent office in Baltimore now. I emailed them and they responded already saying to give them a call to discuss. The number provided seems to go to a specific person's line.

I'll post here again once I learn more and speak with them. 
Nothing is more frustrating than unfinished business that feels like is just falling through the cracks due to refusal to communicate.

Last February, I refinanced my rentals in order to buy-out my ex. One of the properties has ground rent on it which I've never paid since the owner is missing/not active. My lender required me to start the process to redeem the ground rent during this refi process. However, almost 10 months later, there has no been no progress in getting the redemption completed.

At closing, I paid $2,075 to SDAT and $100 to Director of Finance in regards to ground rent (redemption). This title company has been horrible when it comes to communication, but their last update to me was basically that they still haven't found (or had a reply from) the ground rent owner. I'm frustrated with the title company mostly because they ignore my emails and requests for corrections. For example, they had the wrong mailing address attached to my rentals' online records despite the correct info being on the paperwork. For months, no correction. I ended up correcting it all myself via a simple form I found online.

Today, I've emailed SDAT asking them the following:

1. 1. Is there a time limit that the ground rent owners have to reply?
2. 2. What do we do if we never can find and/or hear from the ground rent owners?
3. 3. Can I cancel the redemption process?

I got an auto-reply saying to expect a response within 10 business days. In the meantime, does anyone have insight? I don't even understand why my lender wanted me to start this process when it's clearly not that big of an issue still being incomplete 10 months later. If this is going nowhere, I'd like my escrow money back.

Did you ever get more clarity on this? I don't have an answer for you myself but curious as I'm currently dealing with a ground rent redemption issue.

Thank you to everyone for their help, and thank you to David for the great chat via phone. As usual, my brain over-complicates things. Why do I do this to myself? :-)

David, ok, got it... but let's say there isn't $25K liquid cash in the LLC. Any cash would come from the equity of the property. Treat the same way? That sounds like this example if I'm tracking you right:


$120K (property value) - $35K (mortgage) = $85K (equity) / 2 = $42,500 (half the equity) minus $25K = $17,500 cash to partner

Quote from @Greg Scott:

Normally you would pay off all debts ($35K mortgage) then return your paid-in-capital ($25K cash) and then divide the remaining profits accordingly.

I reread this and would like to clarify I understand. So from where do I return myself the paid-in capital of $25K? From the way I suggested in my first post like the following?:


$120K - $35K = $85K / 2 = $42,500 minus $25K = $17,500 cash to partner.

Thank you, Greg. This is the way I was thinking I should do it. I also wrote an attorney I know and hoping he can confirm.

David, doesn't considering my $25K as part of the LLC's debt actually benefit my partner more? And then also, I still wouldn't have my $25K in cash back if I treat it as debt. Right?

Let me get out of the way up front, that my partner is not disputing that I put $25K of my personal cash into the LLC. This is literally a MATH question. (Numbers changed for simplicity.)

(To those of you that know my story, yes, I'm still doing this. I didn't complete this buyout process in the past because I ended up buying my own home. Now I'm in a good spot to get this done and two-thirds of the way through the refi process.)

Our LLC owns property, let's say one property. I am buying out my partner and then dissolving the LLC. So I'm doing cash-out refi's and putting everything into my personal name. All good there.

**Property appraisal worth = $120K

**Current remaining mortgage payoff = $35K

So on a normal day, I would simply say $120K - $35K = $85K / 2 = $42,500 cash to partner.

BUT!...how do I factor my $25K? 

If I factor it like another mortgage, his payout would instead look like this:

$120K - $35K - $25K = $60K / 2 = $30K cash to partner.

And if I do not factor my cash like a debt, but want my cash back to me in original form, would it look like this?:

$120K - $35K = $85K / 2 = $42,500 minus $25K = $17,500 cash to partner.

**I do not want to inadvertently have my $25K benefit his payout. I want it to truly be 50/50 plus my $25K back.

**Again, he's not disputing that I put in $25K. But I need to be able to properly explain how I come up with the payout numbers. Thank you for your thoughts!

Hi all! I'm hoping some knowledgeable RE agents and similar can assist me. There are 3 properties I'm interested in hearing your educated guess at their value today.

• 7257 Holabird Ave, Dundalk MD. 21222
  1. This is a 2-unit property with a shared unfinished basement. Each unit is 2bed/2bath.

• 7279 Holabird Ave, Dundalk MD. 21222
  • Same details as the other Holabird property.

• 2235 Firethorn Rd, Middle River, MD. 21220
  • Rowhome. Fully remodeled in 2018. 3 bedrooms, 1 finished bathroom. Plumbing for 2nd bathroom in basement. Finished basement. Central HVAC.

Thank you!

@Theresa Harris While people are willing to pay asking and over, there are many cases where the house indeed isn't worth that much because it doesn't appraise. This is where these types of buyers are paying the gap with their own cash and mortgaging the rest.

Yeah, I think for $425K, my PITI mortgage would roughly be around $2300-$2700... depending if I put 20% or not.

Which leads to another question. Put a full 20% down to avoid PMI or keep my cash but pay a higher monthly mortgage?