All Forum Posts by: Tariq B.

Hello All, 

Recently relocated to the area and looking to expand, I find meeting with other investors cuts the learning curve of learning a new area drastically. So looking to connect, please let me know of the local meet ups! Thank you.

Tariq 

Hey all,

I think the title pretty much sums it up.

I have this property I want to unload as I am getting ready to move. However I'm unsure what route to go. Should I do some marketing and sale it to another investor or just use an auction house to do the sale.

What do you like to do and why...aka pro's/con's?

Thanks!

Tariq

Welcome, Baltimore is fun.

@Jerry Poon I guess I have reached that realm of financial independence. I still have my full time job but i take home more from rentals then I do my full time job. I'm only 25 so I don't feel old enough to have earned that title, It just doesn't quite feel like I am there yet as I still work but as mentioned by another person, I'm not sure that I would ever completely quit working as I don't mind it. It's nice going to work knowing you make more than everyone.

Lifestyle changed quite a bit. I drive a Mercedes and my wife and I go on at least 2 international vacations a year, with out having to worry about it. 

It took about 3 years of hard hard work to achieve that. 

Wow! I did not expect such the response! I am glad that this post has had such a positive impact on people. That's awesome! Thank you everyone for the kind words. I know there are a lot of questions. I will try my best to get to all of them answered.

@Sebastian Taylor What exactly to you mean by hook up the electrical. I had a property where the line to the house was cut in which case BGE came out and hooked it up for free. Unless you are talking about cut at the panel?

@Tim Yousem This is in the Pimlico neighborhood, right by the horse track. 3 bed 1 bath room finished basement.

@Jason Dale The prices of houses varies in Baltimore depending on the area. Some go for 5k all the way up to you name it. I couldn't give you a legit valuation but some where between 35k to 50k. 

@Wendell De Guzman Probably close to a 25k +/- rehab. Generally what a lot of investors out here will do is buy a place rehab it and after it is rehab actually have more money in the house than it is worth. When dealing with Baltimore in some areas appreciation should never be something you expect to see. If anything else, it will probably go down in value. But it is amazing as far as ROI and cash flow go, so what you lose in one area you make up in another. Everyone's market is different, I like appreciation, but I have to work with what my market will give me so I have to adjust or quit. I have one property that I have owned for almost 2 years that in March will now have made me more in rent than purchase price and rehab.

@Fred Helm this is Aged Grey Oak by Style Selections from Lowes for .99 SQ/FT. It's not bad, I like it, first time messing with the stuff but it was very easy to get a hang of and cut to size with a miter saw and jig saw.

@Tom Chen The best way to do it is how you do it with real estate, just jump in and go for it. I spend a lot of time on the internet/youtube looking up the issues I need to tackle and I keep the local library open with my late fees. ;-)

I know there are more questions and I will get to them later tonight. Thanks again everyone for the kind words. Glad I could add value to the site.

@Steve Babiak Thanks for the advice! I was actually going to just put a bigger cabinet in there. but was on the fence of running duct work right there to the bedrooms but decided against it. At which point I had run out of extra counter top after I decided against it. =(

@Michael Evans Thank you! lol Not at this time.

@Mark Gallagher It's a 3 bed 1 bath, it is located in Baltimore City, this was actually a home path property that in hindsight I actually probably paid to much for. But lesson learned. 

@Laura Sulak I have a soft spot for single mothers so my hat goes off to you, that you are able to work full time handle two teens and then have real estate on the side. That's awesome! You could always use those teens to help you DIY wink wink. hehe 

@Jay Helms I am relocating to your neck of the woods in May. I would love to meet up and talk about the area. I have definitely taken that into consideration. There is a massive opportunity cost when you do the work yourself as oppose to contracting. To do what I did to this house would have cost way more than what I missed in rent. Also, I do it because I find joy in it. Seeing an issue and finding a way to fix it myself gives me a sense of pride and satisfaction. A buddy of mine said to me a few years ago, "If the world started over how would you provide, you can trade stocks (I was really into the stock market at the time this was before RE) but that's useless, you wouldn't make it." That really hit home to me for some reason and burned a fire in me to become "handy" from that point forward.

But if I could get a bid of that price ($1,200) then I would definitely reconsider. Up and till now I was doing it with limited funds. Fortunately I have got to the point where the cash flow is really starting to take off making contracting more practical.

@Account Closed If you can afford it I would look into getting that boiler converted to gas. Oil is a pain in the butt and the tenants will complain of high heating bills. 

What are you interpretations of successful? By my standards I would say I am successful investing with C class properties and in the same area as you @Wave Taylor

So if you don't follow me then you probably don't know how I get numbers like these. 

To be short, I am able to do it because I do all of the renovation myself. I'm writing this tonight to show people it can be done. That is if you like it. What I do is not for everyone, I do what I do because I enjoy it a lot. I love fixing up the places I hate dealing with the tenants but I still do it anyways. 

I wasn't always able to do this scope of work. I started small and got the confidence which is 80% of the battle. If you can find the confidence to believe in yourself you can easily tackle most DIY projects. It takes a lot of dedication and research, but it can be done, I am living proof! I couldn't lay a piece of tile 3 years ago, holes in dry wall scared me, and bugs...don't get me started. Fast forward 3 years and I'm laying hundreds of SqFt of tile, replacing ceilings, and now I eat bugs for lunch (not really). I had no idea what I was doing at first but my mind set was this house is completely screwed up if I SCREW UP is it really going to be any worse and if it is I just can retry. The beauty is you are not being scrutinized but anyone but yourself, now I am a perfectionist...so I'm probably harder on myself than someone else would be. But you get the point. It's OK to make mistakes when you are learning. 

I work a full time job, change into my construction clothes at work (some days I'm come home first) then I head to the property to get to work. I have long days, but it does pay off. 

Some people will say "screw that, I could be finding other deals while you are fixing that place up, my time is worth more then that. I would rather hire someone to do it." And that's fine, but this is something I enjoy, as mentioned earlier if you don't then this strategy is not for you. The beauty of real estate is there are many ways to be successful. 

This is the 3rd property that I finished, that has numbers stated in the subject. I will post some before and after pictures of the lower level, I have more but I need to dig them up. But this will give you all an idea. 

The purchase price was $10,000 I spent a little over 4k in materials and about $1500 in closing costs.

* I will note I did contract out one thing and that was carpet upstairs. It made absolutely no sense to do it myself with how cheap I got it contracted from Lowes for about $550 labor/materials.  

As always I am here to help so ask away if you have any questions. 

sdc