New Investor in DC looking in Baltimore

[Andy O'Neal]

First: Thank you to every single one of you who have posted to BP. This site is incredible!! I'm D.C.-based for now and looking to buy my first investment property in Charm City. I spent yesterday - rainy as it was - walking Ridgley's Delight and Pigtown. (These neighborhood names are amazing!) I'm probably more interested in the former, but certain corners of the latter have me thinking as well. I'm interested in using this first property as training wheels for finding and executing a purchase and am looking for something closer to move in ready than raw material for a flip or BRRRR. As my girlfriend is quite the AirBnB host, we will likely try it as a short term rental first, but view long term rental as a possibility as well. I will make at least two trips back up to Baltimore next week and would love to pick anyone's brain who will let me pick up the tab for a cup of joe or lunch. I'll be in DC whenever I'm not in Baltimore. I'm most interested in finding an investor-oriented RE agent who is free during the days to arrange showings in the area and field my novice questions. Also interested in Baltimore-focused meetups. I want to buy one property, either a SF row house or two-unit, this fall and a total of three or four by this time next year. I'm interested in making investments that do right by the surrounding community. (I'm a former low/mid-level diplomat, big bank suit and chicken plant middle manager from Georgia who has picked up an aversion to W-2's. Until such time as I have real estate experience to share, I will contribute jokes and good cheer.)

[Mark Moyer]

@Ian Barnes the neighborhood was heavily invested in by speculators before the last recession.  A lot of the false "growth" fueled by investors leading up to the last housing bust made for a spectacular fall when the market collapsed.    Other speculative markets around the country saw the same collapse.  I'm hoping now that the growth we're seeing in the Pigtown neighborhood and other similar neighborhoods is more sustainable as housing prices have risen slowly and mortgages are harder to obtain.

Hopefully irresponsible investors stay away.  Get some landlords who actually care about screening their tenants and making the world better for their neighbors.  

As a person who was an owner occupant in the neighborhood, living there was a good experience.  But everyone has a different level of comfort.  I personally choose to live where we do in the city because of the downtown amenities.