All Forum Posts by: Ian Barnes

@Aqeelah M. There is an opportunity to make a lot of money, if you buy at the right price and have the right team on the ground.  For instance, I run a business that is a boots on the ground for out of state investors.  Our in house GCs know exactly how to build to code in Baltimore City/County and we only use skilled labor, so our prices are a little higher, but investors understand cause the quality and reliability are there.  Most investors get killed by using the wrong GC.  The trick alot of GCs do is they know your out of state and not going to be at the site everyday, so they take your money and say I'll get around to that job when I can, in the meantime they are spending your money on a boat they just bought.  In my business, I oversee the GCs doing the work, and I don't get paid until the work is done, so I'm aligned with the investor.

everything is off market in Baltimore, otherwise you will pay a premium.  You must be ready to offer immediately and be able to guesstimate give or take a couple of thousand dollars, and understand that you can't see what you can't see, and to just put a contingency in for that reason for every job.  I typically put a contingency in for about 10% of the job.  Think about it, contractors buy 15% more material cause they never know the exact amount they need.  Think of the same thing for your contingency money.

Don't think its going to be easy.  The city is giving permits to anyone they can, so South Baltimore gets built up so they can get tax revenue.  The city is broke, services suck, and there is no accountability if something goes wrong.  Water price is up over 100% since 2012, and going up another 30% in the next couple of years.  Oh and if your investing in 30K-50K properties, expect to spend a lot of time in rent court, cause the tenants know that judges will throw out most cases if the tenant shows up to court. Anyone that tells you its easy is a con artist, or just know you are the out of state sucker, that thinks its easy.

If they sue all they can get is a judgement, it can't stop you from practicing if its legal, and the chances of them winning is minimal. Just show a judge that police came out there and said it was ok, and represent yourself, case closed.

I'm not sure if anybody that has reponded has worked in Baltimore more than I have from a construction perspective, but it is not an easy city to work in. 80% of contractors are looking to rip you off.  The city is looking to fine you for everything and anything, and you need permits for pretty much everything.  Any good contractor is going to want to get paid to do an estimate do to new investors calling 5 or 6 contractors cause they don't know their numbers.  Most newbie will always take the cheapest quote and 9 out of 10 times spending much more than what the quote is.  If you don't live in Baltimore, you must have a person with boots on the ground managing for you, otherwise your contractor will take advantage.  I've been using the same contractors for years, and I still show up on sites 3 times a week to make sure everything is going right.

Go to the Baltimore Investors Network Facebook page, a lot of good info there, also use licensed general contractors and tradespeople for everything.  Don't ever take the cheapest bid, if you need suggestions on the construction side, dm me.

@Account Closed runs a tribe network for health, wealth and knowledge.  I think there are 6 or 7 tribes.  We have 6 people in our tribe and meet every month.  I also have an accountability partner that I speak to twice a week to stay on top of me.  Best thing ever, I do business with every member of that group.

Turnkey=sucking all the built in equity out of a property.

What are you charging per month? Brewers Hill rents are going down, they keep building huge multi units.  Another two 200+ unit buildings are going up on South Haven Street.

I'm finding tons of stuff to BRRR in Harford County. Very easy way to do it, marketing, sending out letters and cold calling. I've found some of the best deals ever in the last couple of months. They were probably insane 3 or 4 years ago. But you have to put the work in. The days of being a lazy investor are over, until the crash, when 95% of all investors in Harford County won't have enough money to invest.