Investing in the Baltimore area

[Kevin Drouillard]

Hello all, I'm just doing my preliminary research on real estate markets. Looking on sites like Zillow and Realtor.com, I see that Baltimore looks to be a possibly profitable place, especially the area codes 21229, 21207, 21217, 21218, and 21206. What do you think of these areas and are there any more to consider?

How much would you say a 4bed 2bath house would rent for in this area? What about land rent, how much does that generally "set you back"?

I couldn't help but notice lots of abandoned homes at the $5,000-$10,000 price. Does that say anything about the economy and investing there?

Overall, what is it like to be a landlord there?

[Ned Carey]

@Kevin Drouillard areas are not profitable, deals are profitable. A lousy deal in a great area is still a lousy deal. On the other hand if you could buy a building with no money down and it generated 50K in net, net ,net profits each year, would you care where it is?

Ola Dantis said it well. It depends on your investing philosophy, also your risk tolerance and your resources. I have friends that only rent in nicer neighborhoods. I also have friends that focus on a poor neighborhood and make very good money. 

I see you are from New York. 21217 for example, would be a very hard zip to understand from afar. Baltimore can literally be block by block in some areas. It would still be a generalization but I would focus on row houses in 21239, 21234, 21214 in areas that are 100-150K. (I wouldn't pay that much, that is just a guideline to identify the areas.) These are very stable areas.