All Forum Posts by: Tim Youse

Do not forfeit your deposit... If you can't fund these projects then you should be able to assign them, and only if you cannot do either of those should you consider losing that deposit so hastily.

Now, get on to facebook and join the Baltimore Investors Network, and you'll find all the help you need - people to look at the properties for you, contractor recommendations, and should you need it - BUYERS and lots of them - should you decide to sell. All the local people responding to you here on BP are also members of that facebook group.

I'm in Baltimore, and I will schedule an XRF lead test as soon as the house is under contract. Once I have the results I can add any lead remediation/encapsulation into the budget. 

I had a similar issue and posted about it here a year or so ago. Most likely part of that 10% is pre-payment for escrows like taxes and insurance. The settlement fees, title work and loan origination are probably closer to that 2% to 4%. Taxes are quite high in Baltimore (around 2% of assessed value), so that adds to it.

Speaking of taxes, have you checked the assessed value? If they are more than what you paid, you might consider appealing them.  

Congrats!

Care to share how much were you able to get for rent for the property? I live close to Ednor Gardens and have noticed rents going up quite a bit there. 

If you are on facebook, I'd recommend joining the Baltimore Investors Network group. Its VERY active and you should have no problems finding vendors in the future or help with any facet of investing in the area.

take your repair list, remove the dollar figures and send it out to 2 or 3 other contractors / handymen and see what other prices you get and go from there. You can't really go off one quote. My last rehab, I had #s from $35k up to $55k for the same work. Also, I think someone else mentioned it - you might get a better price if you ask a paint crew for a whole house quote and then see if that same crew will take care of the minor stuff like smokes and light plumbing.

Where is the property - what city or state?

Homes in Baltimore City built AFTER 1950 have significantly less lead paint present than those built before - but that is not to say they are lead free as you will still typically find it in window and doors and trim. If the windows are replacement vinyl windows then your good there, but you still might need to budget for wrapping the trim. Cost to do an XRF lead test will run around $300. Houses built before 1950 have the potential of lead in the walls... you can frame over that though to encapsulate it.

how many lenders have you contacted?

I agree. Bigger vanity and I think instead of trying to match the tile that is in there, I'll just replace the vanity with one that is the same size.

Are you investing for appreciation? Because the location doesn't matter as much as the deal.  IMO, Woodberry is overrated and doesn't have much room to expand, still a decent area if the deal is right. Medfield seems stable and you shouldn't have problems finding long term tenants there and Hampden is solid and will only continue to rise in demand. Tuscany-Canterbury is mostly high dollar homeowners and high rises MF - not really an area I would look into for investing. Charles Village will always have a steady stream of JHU renters, but that also means a steady stream of turnover. You could add Remington to that list. Similar pool of JHU renters as Charles village.

Looking for some advice on a bathroom remodel. Trying to decide if I should spend extra on the bath or go cheap. 

Link to pics: https://imgur.com/a/coVMEqK

For the cheap route, the GC suggested this:

• Remove wall mounted medicine cabinet
• Match tile where the cabinet was removed
• new vanity, faucet, toilet and mirror
• new door
• laminate sheet floor
• epoxy paint the surround, tub and all wall tile to white
• new light, exhaust fan and HVAC register
• relocate light switch and add GFCI outlet

I'm a little worried that the cheap makeover wont fly if I ever decide to sell the property in the future. So I'm wondering if it's worth it to spend the extra now to knock out all the old tile and just tiling around the tub and drywalling the rest of the room.

Thoughts?