Section 8 Baltimore zone selection: specific neighborhoods

[Genny Li]

I’m looking to buy and hold with a cash flow emphasis but a long term outlook. Section 8 looks like the best deal on mid to low end attached and semiattached units in Baltimore. Rents are the same for section 8 as for much nicer homes—to beat section 8 rates, you either need 1.5+ bathrooms or a really good neighborhood, whereas with section 8, only bedrooms matters. 

To be competitive, I would want to have tenants see moving into the home as a step up in security from where they’re coming from. I also don’t want to be shot. :) While I haven’t been a landlord before myself, I know a decent amount about university markets, having grown up in a college town, and I researched rents and property values and crime over the past 10 years in various Baltimore neighborhoods.  I also looked into the private schools in the area. That’s important for getting a decent eventual sale price for homes larger than 2/1.5. 

So I think I would like to work in the triangle formed by Greenmount, Loch Raven, and Northern Parkway—with the train tracks forming the southern border. This area has some crime, but most is concentrated on the businesses along Greenmount and just a few other spots. 

Section 8 won’t pay me a cent more for interior improvements, so I think I will keep those to a minimum (clean, unstained, pest-free, good repair, everything works, harden the usual ways against damage) as long as I’m targeting section 8 primarily but make sure that the exterior is on point—starting with roof and gutters if they need attention.  That will help my pocketbook the most in the long run, I think—prevent damage and incrementally improve curb appeal. 

[Ian Barnes]

First off, with the amount of Landlords in Baltimore, they chance of you getting shot/hurt is much less than you getting hit by lightening.  So if your scared, don't go outside. Second off, to limit yourself to a very small area because of crime is not very smart.  There is crime everywhere and neighborhoods change all the time in Baltimore.  Also, in order to attract ok Section 8 tenants, you will have to have a nice place and spend money on it, otherwise you will get terrible tenants that will rip your place apart.  You sound extremely naive, and with your thought process will probably lose quite a bit of money, but don't worry, when the market crashes, I will be right there ready to pick up your property for 50% less than you bought it for, if you don't take Baltimore real estate seriously.