Zipcodes to stay away from
Hello everyone,
I started looking around some properties to wholesale in Baltimore MD and I live in Toronto, Canada. I would appreciate if you guys could tell me the zipcodes that I should stay away/dangerous neighborhoods. The ones I know so far are: 21225, 21230, 21202, 21226, 21205 and 21226. I got them from the internet, don't know if they are accurate.
Thanks
Most Popular Reply
@Gustavo R. Forget that list. It is very misleading. 21230 contains Federal Hill one of the best and trendy neighborhoods in the city. 21202 is the heart of downtown. In adition to commercial buildings it contains Mt Vernon - an old money neighborhood of expensive homes buiit in the 1800s.
All the other neightborhoods you mentioned I have made a lot o money in. But they all also have some real crap. In Baltimore loacation is not the most important factor, condition is. A 75-100+ year old home can vary from $50k to 300k depending on the condition.
@Gustavo R. Forget that list. It is very misleading. 21230 contains Federal Hill one of the best and trendy neighborhoods in the city. 21202 is the heart of downtown. In adition to commercial buildings it contains Mt Vernon - an old money neighborhood of expensive homes buiit in the 1800s.
All the other neightborhoods you mentioned I have made a lot o money in. But they all also have some real crap. In Baltimore loacation is not the most important factor, condition is. A 75-100+ year old home can vary from $50k to 300k depending on the condition.
As Ned points out, filtering Baltimore by zip code is too macro. Drill down to specific neighborhoods you want to target and then go from there. Yes, it takes more work, but no one said REI is easy (except the gurus who want you to buy their $10k weekend course).
Great question @Gustavo R., @Ned Carey is right. Baltimore is a special city and blanketing zip codes doesn't work there. Baltimore is often block by block not zip code by zip code. If you are looking to invest there it's very important to have great boots on the ground including a solid RE agent, property manager/leasing team, and contractor. Without those trustworthy local players Baltimore's great lower entry cost can turn great capital returns into a nightmare. Hope that helps. Let me know if I can help with any other questions as we actively invest in Baltimore City in both section 8 and market properties
Your best option is to reach out to one of the investor/agent guys here. Myself included, there are multiple of them here.
Checking Baltimore on zillow and trying to decide an investment could end up badly. It is not a zip code city.
- Ozzy Sirimsi
Zip codes are useless in Baltimore, things can change so quickly from block to block. Drill down on a few neighborhoods and then work with a realtor, contractor, really anyone with boots on the ground who knows the area and can help you develop margins to those neighborhoods that you feel comfortable with.
deals are not zip code driven, they are numbers driven. meaning if the numbers of your deal makes sense, then do the deal.
This is true upto a point. But if I buy something in a C neighborhood and get no income for three to nine months, how can you make the numbers. Tenants can stay in your apartments upto two years or more without paying a single penny in some area in New York. So area definitely make a difference
true. but that can happen in any place. thats why you hedge everything in real estate VIA numbers.
Peter, I think what Jose is implying in Baltimore it's hard to determine what the vacancy rate and tenant turnover will be to understand the numbers completely. In the tougher neighborhoods C,D,F it can be relatively high and is hard to strictly invest by the numbers without knowing tenant turnover will be super high due to a bad block ie (active crime and or drug activety). You can always hopefully avoid these areas be working with an A player agent
@Jose Jacob wrote
" But if I buy something in a C neighborhood and get no income for three to nine months, how can you make the numbers. Tenants can stay in your apartments upto two years or more without paying a single penny in some area in New York. So area definitely make a difference"
True I agree. People need to consider this when you figure the numbers. The risk and additional costs of a poor neighborhood are part of the numbers. This is something many people ignore.