Advice on home purchasing in Baltimore City.

Submitted by Patient-Conclusion30 t3_ykqeze in baltimore

My family and I are currently looking to buy a home in the city for us to live in until I finish law school. Problem is we have a max budget of 125k with our single income. I'm in my first year of law school and not working. I hate renting and actually feel like we wont be able to afford that too much longer. We have a young child that attends daycare in the county. I am not expecting perfect by any means. I am mostly concerned about drive by type violence where we may be able to purchase. Theft and stuff like that I feel is inevitable wherever you live. We are not from here at so the only thing I've been able to do is look up crime statistics. We have been living here since this summer and I actually enjoy the city and would like to stay and contribute. Any advice on if it is even possible to find a home at that price point in an area that isn't extremely prone to random violence here? Any stellar real estate agents who may be able to guide us?

I'm hoping to be able to sell or rent out the property in a couple years. I absolutely hate being a renter myself and feel like I'm wasting money.

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waker94 t1_iuur0g3 wrote

Keep renting. You’re not throwing away money, you’re allowing yourself the ability to live somewhere nice without the associated costs of home purchasing and inevitable repairs and renovations. With that budget you won’t be able to find anything that will meet requests to avoid high crime areas. Considering you’ve been here since summer and are in law school, rent a while longer and then see what you want and what you can afford.

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PleaseBmoreCharming t1_iuut0qu wrote

If you are really concerned about crime (as anyone should be), but still can't budge on the max price, have you tried looking a condominiums as an option? You're gonna be able to own a home, but I will be honest that the condo market is not as great of a return on investment as rowhomes/single family homes in the metro area. While you didn't give us much to go on in terms of size and other features, here's a couple options to get you started on considering a condo as an option. (I am assuming you have one child in addition to your partner.)

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Baltimore/501-W-University-Pkwy-21210/unit-G3/home/22014157

https://www.redfin.com/MD/BALTIMORE/7121-PARK-HEIGHTS-AVE-21215/unit-608/home/11175221

Again, you may not be able to find anything because your criteria is severely constrained. That's not you're fault, but an unfortunate byproduct of the society we have created for ourselves. Safety, affordability, and availability are all mutually exclusive criteria for housing. That's a national trend.

EDIT:

OMG, I can't believe I didn't even get into the biggest red flag you should be considering when making any type of property purchases right now: interest rates. They are constantly being increased by the Fed and that's gonna make loans much much harder to come by as I assume you don't have the case lying around to purchase the home. You honestly are 99% better off renting, especially in a city that doesn't get the best return on investment for cheaper properties.

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wwwdotdogsdotcom t1_iuuqlqu wrote

$125K is going to be tough. This is probably the best I found in that range. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1004-W-Lombard-St-Baltimore-MD-21223/36517416_zpid/

Hollins Market neighborhood. Not the best neighborhood but also not the worst by a long shot.

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jabbadarth t1_iuvst19 wrote

Thats honestly way nicer than I expected for $125k. I wouldn't have expected anything newly renovated for that low.

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BackJurden t1_iuvsj2u wrote

I've lived in the Hollins Market neighborhood as an owner for almost 9 years if you have any questions.

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rockybalBOHa t1_iuvuph3 wrote

Houses like this are why Baltimore is still the best real estate bargain on the east coast.

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B0skonovitch t1_iuw5moe wrote

Not a bad looking house. But I hate that step inside the front door. That's gonna. Bring you down atleast once, and guests everytime 😅

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iamnotaprettygrl t1_iuv57u4 wrote

don’t buy a house until you have income. Also prices have shot up here and are NOT worth it.

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Aekhan t1_iuvmgr6 wrote

Keep renting, especially given that you only plan to live in it for a few years. At that price point you are looking at houses that will almost certainly need major repairs, and if your budget is only 125k then you most certainly do not have the ability to afford a roof replacement or deal with a pipe leak that causes water damage.

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dcdave3605 t1_iuvmqxb wrote

Go to https://livebaltimore.com/ For grants and programs for down payment, closing cost help, counseling programs.

Fyi that city employees get additional benefits.

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S-Kunst t1_iuvcchm wrote

There are places which fit your needs and budget, what you don't have is time to hunt them down. It may be worth investigating the edge of the county, like Arbutus or Landsdowne.

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sit_down_man t1_iuw2hrh wrote

So $125k is a littttle tough but you can def find some around the $150-200k range in the following neighborhoods: Harwood, Barclay, waverly, better waverly, coldsteam-homestead-montebello (stay to the north side), new northwood, that entire stretch north of 33rd and east of york/greenmount and west of perring pkway/Hillen, garwyn oaks, forest park, Windsor hills, portions of the Hollins Market pigtown Union square areas.

I’m sure there are more, but my knowledge may be limited. Also you def can get cheaper than that 150-200k I mentioned above if you keep your eye out, just know that those under $150k are much more likely to have repair/reno needs that will prob push your “true” purchase costs higher.

Best of luck, and enjoy the remaining years/decades where it’s possible to buy a home in the northeast megapolis for such comically low prices!!

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BoysenberryNo4959 t1_iuyjxa6 wrote

Continue renting and but consider Maryland’s Down Payment Assistance Program which gives money to first-time homebuyers. The inventory in your budget is really limited. But talk to a lender to see what you can actually afford.

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Mikel32 t1_iuuutom wrote

Buy. I bought in Union Square for $150k. I am very well off but picture Baltimore more as a liability then an investment. You will be able to find plenty of homes in SoWeBo for that price. They may need some TLC if not more but in the long run, if this part of the city takes off, your ROI will be substantially higher then if you buy elsewhere or keep renting.

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