CaptainObvious110 t1_j9d3qbr wrote
Reply to comment by HumanGyroscope in How much would it cost and what is the process to rehab a totally vacant home? by k032
Goodness, that sucks. No wonder people aren't buying them and fixing them up. My problem is the companies buying properties and not being forced to fix them up.
imperaman t1_j9dr4u9 wrote
This would be helped immensely by the city charging a vacancy tax on property owners. DC charges a 5% tax rate for vacant buildings, and a whopping 10% tax on blighted buildings.
Baltimore charges the exact same rate to property owners regardless of the status or condition of the building. If Baltimore adopted a similar policy to DC, it would force these loser property owners (many of them out of state) sitting on vacant blighted buildings to sell to people who are willing to do something with them.
CaptainObvious110 t1_j9dszw4 wrote
Yep.
EthanSayfo t1_j9dj0h7 wrote
Honestly, if you compare the price of what you're getting (not looking at the location for a second) to the prices for places in DC, Boston, Philly, NYC, or other 1st and 2nd-tier cities around the country? $200K all in is not really too bad at all. The same physical setup would easily be a million plus in NYC (maybe closer to 2), as a frame of reference, and that's BK or Queens or the Bronx.
Baltimore punches above its weight in many ways, in terms of what you get access to. You're in the NE sprawl, one of the most vibrant economic hubs on the planet. You're a cheap MARC ride to DC, and on the Amtrak NE corridor. You're on 95. Baltimore metro region is not small in the scheme of things, plenty of local opportunities.
Is a $200K investment in a small home in a pretty significant metro area a better option than in some other places, from an economic perspective? Absolutely, in some circumstances, IMHO. Just know what your schools are like if you have kids, and add private school to the bill if you don't want to tolerate what may be a really challenging learning environment in the public system.
SewerRanger t1_j9f36j6 wrote
> You're in the NE sprawl, one of the most vibrant economic hubs on the planet
The mid-atlantic region of the US (from DC -> NY) has a GDP of 5.2 trillion making it the third largest economy in the world. 200K to live in one of the richest parts of the entire world sounds like a great deal to me.
fre_d_dy t1_j9davhm wrote
In theory, in areas where ARVs approach/exceed $150k it starts to be worthwhile to fix them up for resale. That’s while you’ll sometimes see developers redoing an entire block of vacant houses.
Xanny t1_j9fez6b wrote
The average sale price of a house with modern amenities on my street is like 200-225k but there are still vacants. I think the problem is those are 2 story and the ones that sell are 3, so I guess adding a third floor is cost prohibitive?
fre_d_dy t1_j9fhc80 wrote
The vacants could be remaining vacant for a bunch of reasons. They could be owned by a speculator type, who bought the house with no intention to fix it and is just timing the market. They could be in bad enough shape due to structural issues that even at a $200k selling price it’s not worth it to fix and flip.
The houses being 2 story just means they wouldn’t sell for as much. I expect adding a third floor would be very expense and not worth it from a ROI standpoint.
The 150k number I mentioned earlier, is location/size specific. It seemed to be the price point around me when a lot of 3bd, 2 story houses started getting fixed up.
CaptainObvious110 t1_j9dh15l wrote
That addressed was posted doesn't seem like one of those areas
fre_d_dy t1_j9erxd2 wrote
It is not. A couple blocks closer to the park maybe are into that $150k range
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