All Forum Posts by: WAYNE G.

A major issue in Baltimore real estate is lead paint.  Any property older than 1950 (and 1978 effective Jan 2015) must register with MDE and test for lead paint at each occupancy, or make property pass as lead free.  

Lawyers are making quite a living, including buying national sports teams, by suing landlords of city properties.  You can be sued up to 21 years after an "exposure" to lead paint.  The lawyers are advertising in high schools for people exposed when <6.

Many properties are inexpensive because they contain lead paint and require extensive (50K) remediation to become lead free.  There is almost no insurance available now for lead paint.  

Lead contamination was a real and significant problem. Maryland has made good progress in reducing child exposure.  It still occurs today, often in owner occupied homes.

This legal problem doesn't seem to exist elsewhere in the US, yet.  Have an x-ray florescent spectrometer test run on your property to determine, then correct, your exposure.

Maryland charges a fee of $300 per LLC, per year.

They created the Statutory Trust which can provide protection similar to multiple LLC, under one entity. (similar to series LLC's) This is "new Law" with little case history, but it was written to provide strict isolation of assets to prevent collecting on house B from a problem with house A.

The appeal process takes a long time, and this is from experience in the County.  (The city will not be better.)  You may want to work with someone that does the appeal as their job.  They take a % of what you save, but their experience and access to proper data is worthwhile.  Also your should contact the assessor and request his worksheets so you know their side of the story, and can better argue against their position.

Interesting. The VA is rushing to sell properties before the foreclosure is completed. I'm involved with a property that completed foreclosure in 2010 to the VA. They have not recorded the deed and deny ownership of the property.

@Account Closed provided a great link. The part at the bottom on Protection from Retaliation should not be overlooked. An attempt to extend the covered period from 6 months to a year failed in the General Assembly this year. (It should be titled How to get a perpetual tenant.)

@Courtney French your property manager should handle this for you. Their job is to get the rent collected. @Lynn McGeein has a good solution, but the Prop. Manager should proceed with the court case until they are out the door.

I'm not sure if your property is in Oxon Hill, or Baltimore. Rentnotices.com handles rent cases at a reasonable cost. I don't know how far south they go.

Go to a session of rent court at the nearest district court. It will be an education. You may even find a frustrated landlord willing to unload a property cheaply.

@Steve Morris The Owings Mills group is the MAREIA (Maryland Real Estate Investors Assn.) The Landlord Meeting I mentioned is sponsored by the Baltimore Real Estate Investors Assn. Both are good groups.

http://www.baltimorereia.com/

A recent Baltimore REIA meeting was on the topic of rent court, and one of the things covered was Breach of Lease. There is a separate form for this process, and different procedures. The lawyer presenting the information basically said breach can be hard to prove. Here is copy of form:

http://www.courts.state.md.us/district/forms/civil/dccv085np.pdf

The Baltimore REIA will hold a Landlord Meeting on Monday, May 19. ($25 and includes dinner) Please check their website for details.

There is a lot of good information in this thread. I've picked up a few more bits of info. Now I have to find that saga from @Nicole A. for the county.

@Caleb Wang

Generally there is some small cost for each meeting, depending on which meeting you attend. Check out the web site for Baltimore REIA for details. The meeting this week might have a $10 fee for non-members (or it might be free), with the expectation that you order a meal/drink from the restaurant, Giovannis. New people are always welcome to attend.

Other REIA's in the Baltimore area are MAREIA and The REAL DEAL. All the groups focus on education, and networking, more than making money off you. there is lots of information on their websites, and each emails info about their meetings. Check out the websites.

Many areas have REIA's. Check your area to see what is available, or look at the national REIA website.

Hi Andrew

You are welcome to attend the Baltimore REIA Strategies meeting:

Thu, May 1, 6:30pm-9:00pm

Giovanni's Restaurant
2101 Pulaski's Highway, Edgwood MD 21040

The organization provides many opportunities to learn about investing.

Wayne

For those interested in paying the $100 registration fee:

Friday, May 9, 2014, 5:00 PM EDT: Last day to register as a bidder for May 19th Tax Sale and May 22th Assignment Sale.

You can view the website without paying the fee. The fee gets the bidder number.

This deadline is much closer to the sale that I recall from prior years.

If you are investing $5,000 the registration fee will eat a significant part of your profit. (I wish they'd charge $1 per lien instead.)