All Forum Posts by: Ian Barnes

@Tom Higgins, few things, first off there is no rhyme or reason in Baltimore.  Houses are all different shapes and sizes.  The same block could have updated and non updated houses.  I've seen a completely different neighborhood within a half block(If your ever in Baltimore drive down Federal Street, it changes like 4 times in a mile).  If your looking for no headaches and no appreciation, buy turnkey, otherwise you must have someone that knows what they are doing on the ground.  Otherwise you will be the next house I buy from a failed investor and there's a lot of them with out of state addresses.

Kevin, Baltimore is pretty easy to sum up.  If you want a 15%-20% net(25%-30% gross) deals, you will have to deal with a tremendous amount of headaches, and being out of state you will most likely get ripped off by contractors whether its materials or time, even if you have a good GC, then you first have to deal with city permits and inspectors who will fine you for anything including garbage, high grass, etc.  Then you have to deal with BGE.  If the house hasn't been lived in or is missing meters expect a 3-6 month process to get them in.  Once your rehab is done and you want a voucher candidate, expect to wait another 6-8 weeks to get you in the system and inspections.

Now if you want a conservative 10% net return, you'll be buying in a nicer area, most likely market tenant, house will be in good shape, taxes will be very high, but you will have very few headaches, and maybe a chance at appreciation if your in the right spot.

If you keep radiators in a flip, it looks old and cheap, expect to sell for about 10K-15K less and be on the market for a lot of days.  A whole system should be about 8K-9k for up to 1500 sq ft.  Have a GC oversee it, do not try to oversee on your own, as Seth said most are completely unreliable and will drive you crazy with frustration.

12K-14K not including ductwork?Are you serious?Should cost no more than 7K-8K for all ductwork and the furnace/HVAC   I have several rentals in the belair edison area.  The most I'm into one for a rental is 75K and that's brand new everything inside.  I'm buying most of my properties there for between 25k-40K and putting 30k-40k into the rehab.  You can do the rehab cheaper, but I like to put out a quality product.

sdat.dat.maryland.gov/RealProperty/Pages/default.aspx

.dat.maryland.gov/RealProperty/Pages/default.aspx

@Account ClosedBrooklyn isn't on the rise at all, Curtis Bay maybe if your trying to use the Port Covington trade, which by the way won't even be up and functional for at least 5 years. What will become ultra hot is the Riverside Park area directly north of Port Covington, but then again prices are much more expensive there right now compared to Curtis Bay.

Well Run company.  The two owners have a ton of experience, and are honest.  I've never used them for a loan, since I don't use hard money, but if I did, I would go to them.  Just my experiences based upon what I hear in MD.  They also run a meetup.com group in Baltimore.  I recently went to a presentation, and I was impressed with their knowledge.

Rehabbing/Buy and Holds are hard. Its twice as hard in Baltimore City. Almost all my rentals I've rehabbed and rented were bought by newbies who ran out of money.

@Joe Norman, I agree with you on the neighborhoods in Baltimore.  I live in Riverside, good luck trying to find inventory.  Everything that looks ugly get snapped up and rehabbed, especially with Port Covington coming, and all my neighbor say they won't sell till the 1st phase of Covington is done.