Past the flat roofs and basement water, here are four more things I check before writing an offer on a Baltimore rowhouse.

**Downspouts that dump at the foundation are a choice someone made.** If the downspout stops two feet from the wall and the sidewalk pitches toward the house, every storm feeds the footings. **Re-grading and extending downspouts runs a few hundred dollars — digging out a bowed basement wall runs $15K–$30K.**

**Rear additions are where rowhouses grow cancer.** Half the kitchens in 21229 used to be porches. Sight the addition's roof line against the main roof from the alley — if it sags or pulls away, it's settling on a shallow footer. **A separated DIY addition is a tear-off, not a repair — budget $8K–$20K.**

**A leaning chimney is a $10K brick job minimum.** Sight it against the sky from two angles — if it leans, the mortar below is shot and the party wall is next. Repointing starts around $5K–$8K; rebuilt wall sections push past $15K fast.

**Read the water service line like your carrier will.** Galvanized pipe overhead means pressure problems and pinhole leaks — and lead service lines to the street are still common here. Replacement runs $3K–$8K plus trenching, and some carriers ask before they quote.

**Comps.** Quick look at the numbers around it: Southwest Baltimore (21229).

As-is/distressed: 602 N Hilton St sold $56,500 (early 2026, short sale, "ready to be finished out"); 263 S Hilton St sold $70,000 (Sep 2024, sold "AS IS"); 212 S Monastery Ave sold $86,000 (Aug 2026; RealtyTrac carried it as a pre-foreclosure). That puts as-is value roughly $56–$86K, most likely around $70K.

Renovated: 272 S Loudon Ave sold $215,000 (Aug 2026, "beautifully updated," move-in ready); 602 N Hilton St resold ~$245K (Sep 2026 per deed records, "beautifully renovated" — same house, a real fixer-to-renovated flip); 202 S Athol Ave sold $350,000 (Aug 2026, upgraded finishes, drainage + sump). So a renovated range of $215–$350K.

Honesty gaps: 202 S Athol is detached on 1.17 acres, not a rowhouse; the 602 N Hilton resale is deed data with listing price cuts — "$245K-ish." Corridor-level, not block-matched.

Shells price in the risk; renos price the proof. Which of these four has surprised you most — the addition, the chimney, the grading, or the service line?

— Dawon | Baltimore, MD