All Forum Posts by: Tim Jacob

Its typical for them to withhold some money for ground rent.  Not all of it.  They want to make sure if it stays unpaid they can pay it for you.  Its close to the redemption amount bc that's what it would cost to pay the holder after legal fee add ons though it only started at less than 100 dollars

in a place like Baltimore someone will take you up your offer.  You should offer to do some court work.  Its not that hard in MD.  You will quickly learn a lot about what to avoid.  Baltimore is not very short term friendly btw.  You can only have 1 these days if you are starting up.  Look into MTR or LTR.  

Its sad.  I hate hearing bad stories bc they make people who would invest in Baltimore not want to even though with the right plan meeting the right people to help them up front they could do well.  Instead their is a "runaway from Baltimore the whole city is bad" stigma.

Future of the rough parts is bleak.  Only thing that will save it is enhanced transportation to DC like the Maglev being built or autonomous vehicles eliminating speed limits on a BW parkway lane or 95.  That will be atleast 2040 if any of that actually happens.  They are talking Cherry Hill right now for the Maglev.  The nice parts are not bad.  I would in the east there if any where and not be someone that buys in the ghetto and prays dealing with managing d grade in the meantime bc you are buying a job with that and wont get a decent pm.  If that is your cup of tea great.  There are people on here that do well with that but as has been said they are hands on and realisitic about property management.  

The eastern part is not bad.  As you go west it gets worse and worse.  Parts of west of washington blvd are war zones.  Parts closer to M&T where the Ravens play are fairly safe.    

If your going to go near the main hospital Canton, Fells, Harbor East or other inner harbor neighborhoods would be good.  There are other good neighborhoods like Butchers Hill or Upper Fells.  A lot of the rest of the east south of Cold Spring is fairly rough.  From Bayview you could go to Dundalk as it is so close.  Also keep in mind there are a lot of safe good areas of the city for instance along St Paul and Calvert that have close by but smaller hospitals Mercy and Union are the size of Bayview and they have free shuttle service for Hopkins employees to get to the much larger main hospital.  The main hospital charges for parking so the shuttles are popular.  They are for students and staff only so fairly safe. 

@Christian M. Conroy the neighborhoods you noted along with a few bordering them all have multi family and you usually can find 1 or 2 available.  Some of those neighborhoods fluctuate from good to bad blocks and hence things can go from A to D grade fairly quick.  Beyond that many of the buildings are old and might have older infrastructure like a boiler.  I own and manage buildings in all of those neighborhoods and additionally have renovated a few multi families within the area.  They are all close to Penn Station where the MARC train is and many walking distance to it.  Let me know if you want to discuss things.  

Considering you are willing to go an hour outside DC I would consider Baltimore.  It will have the most inventory.  For the price point you are looking for you should be able to get something in an A grade part of the city.  I see a lot of renter applicants that have remote jobs based in DC living in Baltimore. They make the commute maybe once a week a lot of times by MARC train.  Its a growing trend with the surge in remote work.

I've seen an A grade 4 unit go for low 400s recently.    It wasnt totally turnkey but pretty sure add another 100k you are there.  

for pet fees their is  good chance their is no recourse.  If you were the owner before the tent increases which the tenant signed the lease with the rent increases with suffice notice per the local standards you can collect it.  Keep in mind during covid rent increases were voided in places like Baltimore and Montgomery county.  You also would need to prove your rental was licensed during the time the rent was due.  If you can prove all that you should be good on just the past due rent portion. If they are delinquent it could be grounds for eviction.  Keep in mind the lease would need to state something like if there is no rent increase options given for the end of the lease the lease will default to a certain price at the end of it.   

If you are outside the building footprint it can be covered by homesite or an equivalent insurance.  I used it for water but can also be used for sewer.  I think there is a maximum they will cover so if your line is really deep and needs trench box or another form of SOE you could still get slammed pretty hard.  Sounds like its within the footprint.  I would really recommend the plastic liner.  Hopefully it doesn't get too crazy.