Every Baltimore turnover I touch gets the same 20-minute photo routine — before the trash-out starts, and again after the unit is rent-ready. Contractors get paid with progress photos, deposit disputes with condition photos. Here's the exact checklist.

[b]1. Before anything moves: shoot the "as-left" set.[/b]

Same day you get the keys back. Every room, wide-angle, four corners. [b]The money shot is what the tenant left behind — every hole, burn mark, and busted door, timestamped before you touch anything.[/b] Open every closet, cabinet, fridge, and oven. Dated, geo-tagged photos are your evidence packet.

[b]2. Mid-rehab: the contractor progress set.[/b]

If a crew is inside, I photograph the panel, plumbing, and flooring stages — not for the portfolio, for the paper trail. [b]Progress photos are how you settle "that wasn't in the bid" without a shouting match.[/b] Before drywall closes, shoot every wall with visible wiring, plumbing, and framing. That set has ended more disputes than any contract clause.

[b]3. After rent-ready: the move-in set, stored off your phone.[/b]

Clean unit, same four-corners routine, plus close-ups of every appliance serial plate and every window latch. [b]Photos that live only on your phone vanish with your phone — back them to cloud storage the same day, lease dates in the folder name.[/b] Two leases later, the folder remembers what the bathroom looked like.

[b]Comps.[/b] Quick look at the numbers around it: Belair-Edison (21213).

As-is/distressed: 3140 Ravenwood Ave sold $80,000 (Jan 2025, strictly as-is); 3235 Lyndale Ave sold $80,000 (~Jan 2025, auction); 3122 Cliftmont Ave sold $85,000 (Feb 2026, REO). That puts as-is value roughly $80–$85K, most likely around $80K.

Renovated: 2901 Edison Hwy sold $275,000 (Feb 2026, $80K flip in ~7 months); 3505 Erdman Ave sold $260,000 (Sep 2025, documented reno); 2307 Belair Rd sold $185,000 (~Feb 2025, MLS "excellent") — so a renovated range of $185–$275K.

Caveats: two comps are ~20 months old; the Edison Hwy reno is inferred from the flip pattern; Lyndale's date rests on one source; corridor-level, not block-matched. Nothing invented — all cross-checked against MLS and deed records this week.

At $80K in and $185–$275K out, you're documenting six figures of value creation. Protect the back end with the as-left photos as hard as the rehab protects the front.

What photo has saved you the most money in a turnover or a rehab — the one you almost didn't take?

— Dawon | Baltimore, MD