Real Estate Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2009 · 5 posts · 0 votes
Hi all- REI newbie here. I have done a ton of thinking/reading/researching REI over the last year. I am now ready to jump in and actively search for property. I am currently living in Bucks County, PA but I'm looking for income producing property in Baltimore.
I work as a market researcher/consultant in financial services so the science of analyzing investment possibilities comes naturally to me. I am working on the art part, i.e., market nuances, property types, etc. I am sticking to Baltimore for now as this is where I have the most knowledge about neighborhoods, local markets, etc.
I am hoping to start by buying rental properties and my target is to buy 3 -5 properties over the next five years. I know very little about pricing repairs and rehab so I hope to start with properties that are fairly move-in ready or rehabbed.
I am here to network with others and increase my knowledge of marketing, acquisition techniques, financing, pricing repairs, and evaluating deals and markets.
Hey and welcome to BiggerPockets, Jon! It sounds like you've got your plan all together, but I didn't hear anything about a few areas. Are you looking at low or mid-income areas? Do you have a plan of attack as far as management is concerned?
I, for one, believe that starting out by investing at long distance in low income properties is a bad idea. There is way too much risk involved, and relying on management to handle such properties is often an experiment in futility.
Welcome to the group. Sounds like you have a very reasonable goal. If you have questions about rehabbing, pricing ect..., read thru the different rehabbing threads and feel free to jump right in. You'll find the members more than willing to help.
Joshua, thanks for the advice. I want to start small and looking to make an investment in the $20K - $30K range - a property in the $100-150K ballpark. So, yes, I am likely sticking to "transitional" areas of the city. I plan to be moving back to Baltimore sometime in the next couple of years. I know that the long distance landlord could be a challenge especially in these areas (I'm 2.5 hrs. away from Baltimore) and your comments lead me to think about it a lot more seriously. My hope is to buy in areas that are borderline but have a higher socio-economic cohort starting to move into the area. Thanks again for your thoughts...