All Forum Posts by: Andrew Schlessinger

Interesting law; wonder what the intent behind that was, and if the intended effect was realized in the community. I suspect is was not.  I wonder, sometimes, what municipalities are thinking. 

@Dan Burstain Yes, we are aware of the out-of-state/in-state issue.  Luckily, we have established our in-state creds due to military affiliation and voting rights.  Not sure that's going to work out with my other kids as I am retiring this year...

Anyone know a couple of good wholesalers in the El Paso area?

Haha!  Thanks, @Ned Carey.  I say that...not living IN Baltimore City (21228).  But you give me a place in Fells Point or in Patterson Park...then I'm in!

@Adrian Silva Lots of good information in your post.  I'm concerned about Central El Paso zips due to the crime rates I'm seeing in my research (crime heat maps and news reports).  I take what I see with a grain of salt, as Baltimore has its zips that are "criminally challenged", but that I would rent in given the right neighborhood. 

So, are you saying that there are good neighborhoods in these zips?  There are lots of properties that we've seen that we'd be willing to entertain in these zips, given the right information.

Of course, this is all predicated upon our investment successes here in Md.  If all goes well, a purchase this fall or winter is in the cards.  If not, then perhaps renting is the direction we'll go until next year.

Any further information that can be given will be appreciated.

@Jesse Ramirez  Great! Exactly what I was looking for.  Is that last one supposed to be 79912 or perhaps 79921?  I'll be in touch.  Sent you a colleague request.  Thanks.

Thanks for getting back.  As I review the area, it looks like there are several zip codes I want to stay away from.  Can you give me any "no-go" areas, places I wouldn't want to have my son living?

Good Afternoon, my El Paso, Tx investors.  I'm a small investor in Baltimore, Md and my son will be starting at UTEP in the fall (4th Generation UT student!!!).  Instead of paying rent for a few years, I'd rather purchase an investment property and have him live there and rent out rooms.  I've been doing research on the different areas to invest, but thought I'd reach out to the professionals to get an understanding.  We may be in a position to purchase a turn-key investment, but am thinking more along the lines of a small fixer-upper for him...something habitable, but that he can put a bit of sweat-equity in over time. 

Any ideas?

Good Evening, All.  Good to see some activity in El Paso.  I, too, am from Austin, but I live in Baltimore (Army guy).  My son is going to UTEP next fall and instead of renting, I'm looking to buy an investment and have him manage/live in it while he's there.  Can anyone tell me about decent areas close to campus (no more than a 10 min drive)?

@Aaron Shehan Another six months have passed.  How'd the marketing go?  I'm in Baltimore and starting my marketing campaign in April  We are mailing to 7 counties, but based on some local mentorship, I may pair it down to 5.  We'll see.  In Md, I scrape the Register of Wills website, get my list, and then go to the courthouse to do my research.  I look at every inventory sheet to see if there's property involved.  If so, I copy down the number of heirs (kind of a data junkie...not sure if this really means anything - more heirs = tougher negotiations? maybe?), the tax sheet assessed value, and appraisal if there is one.  I used to take down the address, but with the amount of records I wanted to get through (2500), it was bogging me down.

@Sharon Vornholt  I'm not sure if I can do it any more efficiently, as I don't want to pay the fee for online searches.  $1 per viewing? EEK!  By going to the courthouse I can get through about 300 cases in just an hour.  The ones that don't yet have inventories I mark to use in a later mailing.

We are planning 7 mailings per campaign, but may change that if I hear better strategies.  Our goal is to do 1000 mailers per drip of "qualified" leads, meaning those that actually have properties.

Any advise would be appreciated.

Thanks!

All, thanks for the advise.  Great to have this resource for course of action development.

@Account Closed has said, it's tough to find a market with better overall offerings than Baltimore.  My partner and I are buy-and-hold investors, which means Baltimore is our bread and butter (we are both cash flowing well).  But we thought we'd focus on some flips this year to replenish the coffers.  

I'm going to try to attend the meetup in Gaithersburg next month to meet some investors and talk about the area a bit.

Where does the Gaithersburg meetup occur?  I'm looking to attend the April 4th meeting.  Are there any other meetups you'd recommend in the area (Rockville/Germantown corridor)?