All Forum Posts by: Ian Barnes

Tons of California people are buying in Baltimore and losing tons of money.  Baltimore is not a city you can invest in from afar.  You have to have amazingly good boots on the ground.  If not, your screwed.

@Anthony Dooley in Baltimore, MD, the landlord is considered the devil in every case.  You kick in a door in Baltimore when someone is "occupying" the property, and they show whatever proof, the city will lock you up, and call you a criminal(especially if you don't have a criminal record). The Baltimore City jail from what I've been told is hell on earth.  A landlord in Baltimore city is just a revenue generator for the city through fines, court fees, etc. Of course all these fees that the city collects go to????well we don't know.  But either way, squatters definitely have rights and you have to file a wrongful detainer, lose 3 months of rent, and they can break right back in the next day and the process starts all over again as long as there is a document that's a lease, with the "down payment" always being in cash.  Having an alarm system is a must, most use simplisafe, which will then go off for at least an hour, cause that's how long it takes for cops to show up.

@Tom Gimer Totally agree, I just don't think out of state investors understand how incredibly hard it is to build and run low end properties in Baltimore City. 90%+ of out of state investors lose money or fail within the first few years with these kind of properties.

Whomever told you that gutting a property and rebuilding it for 30K in Baltimore City literally has no clue what they are talking about, guts are running 50-55 dollars a sq ft, so 1000 sq ft will cost you 50k-55K to rebuild correctly.

I'll give you 1k and pay closing.  I'll probably be saving you about 30K in loses.

@Robert Nelson, the last Baltimore City cop I spoke with was at a property on 22nd street that had been broken into a couple of hours before by junkies.  They were nice enough to smear human crap on the bathroom walls, so it wasn't my best day.  Anyways, the Baltimore cop, said we should invest in the county not the city, the city was getting way worse, and if he didn't have 4 years left till his pension, he would move his family.  He said they go to at least 10 investor break ins a week, sort of sad.

@Melba Chambers has nothing to do with being born and raised there, the gov't has made it harder and harder to make any money from investing.  Landlords are not appreciated in the city, they are just looked at as revenue.  So many rules and regulations have been put in place in the last 5 years, and costs have skyrocketed.

Water just went up another 15%, crime is at an all time high, welcome to Baltimore City, hope you have enough cash flow in your deal, and hope you got your Lead Cert, U and O, rental inspection, and registered the property w the city, otherwise, well your screwed, Baltimore City is the last place in this country I would buy in as a first time investor, good luck.

6,500-8,500, depending on the size, and tile selection

All properties that are not owner occupied must be registered with the city within 10 days of purchasing the property in Baltimore City. If i were you, I'd tell the city that you were ignorant of the law and see if they could cut you a break.  Also, stop using crappy contractors that don't know the laws in the city, gonna get you into a lot more trouble than just a $500 dollar fine.