I wouldn't accuse people that write listings to be knowledgeable in insurance. 

Would appreciate any comment from people with experience. thanks. 

Plenty of people are happy they took those kinds of risks.

People doing crazy stuff lately.

You can get foot traffic and people driving by.

Starting with something near your market that you know the area, can drive by the property and meet people in person will get you more comfortable with the risk of owning property. 

Would love to connect with people who can give me advice on what to look for or where to study for starting out.

I'm also considering Halethorpe because it's a good commuter location.Some people really like supporting the city in which case , northeast Baltimore would seem to the best place to buy a single family, in my opinion given the taxes situation and given that none of those areas are walkable I’d rather just be in the county and pay Lower taxes, and it’s not like northeast Baltimore is much that much cheaper than Baltimore county, hathorpe is mixed, arbutus is nice, I hate the housing stock there, would rather be in Catonsville if I was considering western Baltimore county. 

And this is a biggee wading through the fake lenders or the Joker brokers that tell you what you want to hear  but cant get the deals funded and you lose the deal and a lot of money.3. with actual PML  private people  usually have very limited funds so cant scale with them.. they can have a life event and just stop doing loans all together..

I have warned countless people that the "new", "Cheapest", and "shaking up the insurance market" carriers typically come into the market under priced, have a wave of claims, then they either jack up premiums to survive or fire their staff to keep heads above water.