All Forum Posts by: Robert Fountain

@Austin Irwin.  I keep to the north end. Basically look at a map of Hagerstown and stick with everything North of the railroad tracks that run through the city.  

I stay out of the south end and city center.  Mainly lower quality tenants, higher vacancy rates and more run down properties.  

I have very good returns on my properties in the north end. 

@Account Closed. Luckily I haven't had any problems with the city.  I have great tenants and my units are certified lead free and/or built after 1978.

I agree with @Andrew Michael.  I have 2 rentals in Hagerstown and they do quite well but I'm very picky about where I buy.  I stick mainly to the North End which, for me, produces better tenants and better rent.

If you invest within the city limits, the city will get you on a yearly licensing fee, plus inspections. and they ALWAYS find something in the inspections that you'll have to fix before you can rent it. If your unit was built before 1978 it better be certified lead free before you buy or you'll be dealing with a lot of red tape from the city there as well.

In addition there are ordinances in the city that will penalize you (the owner) if your tenants have run-ins with the law.

A lot of really great comments.  Thanks everyone.  I'm going to use this as a big learning point for me.  

@Brent Coombs.  Thank for your input.  To answer  your question, no we would not have offered more.  What we would have done if we knew as soon as this happened would have been to stipulate that our offer expired at midnight. Our thoughts would be that it would put some pressure on the seller and agent so they couldn't just sit around and wait for better offers.  Would it have been the right decision? I have no idea. But since we didn't even know what was going on we had no chance to react.

@Patrice Boenzi yes you are correct the bank would have to approve the offer on the S.S. which we are aware of but what really bothers me is that my realtor waited almost 24 hours to tell us that our offer, which we thought was accepted, was not. 

I'm more looking for some advice on how to handle the situation with my realtor. 

My brother in law and I have been trying to purchase a rental for a few months now but we have been having trouble getting bids accepted.

A few days ago we put in a bid on a short sale house last Friday.  The sellers countered back yesterday at full price.  We countered again with our best and final and they accepted.  All is great, we're on our way to getting the house.  We signed the amended offer and that was it

Today I get an email from my realtor stating that the seller's agent called her yesterday afternoon and said there was another offer coming in and that they were going to wait for that.  At this point we're not happy.

1.  My realtor got this info yesterday afternoon and she didn't contact us until 1:30 PM today.  That's almost 24 hours later.  By this point, the sellers have had enough time get the other offer and then counter that and compare

2. This practice seems a bit unethical by the selling agent.  We had a verbal acceptance and we signed the contract.  I would think that's binding.  At the very least it's very unethical to verbally accept and offer while still entertaining others.

What would  you do in this situation?  I feel that MY realtor really dropped the ball here.  I think she should have called us the moment she got the call and told us as well as tried to work this out with the selling agent.  Should I be looking for a new agent here? 

Welcome to BiggerPockets @Heather Hartsock. The only REIA group Hagerstown is the one you found. I would definitely suggest attending. I won't be at the next meeting but I'll be there for the September one. Great place to network.

I also own rentals in Hagerstown and would love to talk JV

Just signed a contract on my first deal. It's a 2/1 bath SFR with a long term tenant. The house is part of an estate sale and the current owner doesn't want to be a landlord. It wasn't even listed for sale but a friend of mine knows the owner. The house just appraised for 120K in January of this year and he sold it to me for 65K! The current tenants are great and they have custody of their grand daughter who goes to school nearby. They don't want to leave because they want to keep their grand daughter in the same school system. Just wanted to share my excitement!

@Phil Earley thanks for the info.  I'll check with my attorney