All Forum Posts by: WAYNE G.

Welcome Joesph

I am also an engineer, (retired) in Baltimore MD.

I invest in rental property and tax liens.

The legal aspects of rentals in MD make it a challenging state.

Wayne

@Duncan Taylor stated that Maryland prohibits Section 8 discrimination. A law attempting was defeated in the 2013 legislative session, by one vote, in the Senate. Please see the following article:

http://wamu.org/news/13/03/27/maryland_housing_debate_centers_on_section_8

It will probably come up again this year, and hopefully also be defeated, provided enough people voice their opinions to their Delegates and Senators.

You can lose more than a month's rent waiting for Inspector's to pass your property. There was a news story recently about $20,000 in damages done to a property that had a Baltimore City Inspector as the tenant that left. http://www.wbaltv.com/news/maryland/i-team/landlord-section-8-housing-inspector-trashed-my-home/-/10640252/23350220/-/h1c5wm/-/index.html

I can manage the tenants; it is the agency I don't want to be required to have a contract with.

Maryland had a court of appeals ruling that that declared pit bulls and pit mixes “inherently dangerous” and imposed strict liability on owners and landlords. There were problems related to knowing what a "pit bull" is exactly. The ruling resulted in many landlords refusing to accept pets.

@David L. hope you know of this case.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/maryland-backs-off-pit-bull-ruling-but-not-enough.html#ixzz2m3pgUG9j

Based on your description of other properties, you need to determine if the fence is installed with the proper setback limits. It may even be on your property.

It is worse than checking each county. Some county's have multiple district courts. The court house only has current/recent evictions, and that stack of papers is huge and routinely tossed. Essex district court, somehow, always just put them in recycle bin and are not available. People use these "pink sheets" as leads to landlords that might want to sell. It is also a lead on someone who will buy and investment.

MD case search will show judgments. That is a big clue, especially if owed to a LL.

Montgomery county is supposedly testing electronic rent notice filings, as a first step to going state wide.

Hi Andrew

The rules for investing in liens vary from county to county. The Washington Post recently had several articles on DC tax liens, and it created quite an uproar. They are talking about reversing the sale of 142 liens.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/mayor-proposes-broad-reforms-to-tax-lien-sales/2013/09/13/a0933688-1cc0-11e3-8685-5021e0c41964_story.html?tid=auto_complete

Many counties can provide a list of liens on their website. Your criteria may differ from the screening site. I don't buy liens with out at least driving by the property.

This is a great thread on Baltimore City tax liens. Ned, as always, is doing a fine job. Glad to see all the people interested in tax liens.

An advantage of a vacant property over an occupied property is less chance of a lead paint lawsuit. See the Dackman case: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/md-court-of-appeals/1522965.html

Check the county records for other non-owner occupied homes on that street.

Contact those owners, as they are investors in that neighborhood.

George P. and Matt Hager can you provide an update? I've had a Baltimore City lien go 28 days past the date of redemption get redeemed. Judges apparently wait at least 30 days before issuing an order for that reason.

I looked into these, but have not participated (too far away). One Wyoming county had ~400 liens with 200 bidders. If you only have one bidder number for your money it will be tough to get more than 2 liens.