Brits trying to cash in on US forclosures

Baltimore? Is that the US version of Liverpool. (ouch)

Declining northern port city with a somewhat incomprehensible accent descended from a mishmash of British/Irish accents?

Bawlmer or Liverpool?  You decide.

Don't knock Baltimore till you've explored it properly. The Wire is not representative of most of the city...

Dennis, I've got a great BTL place located in the inner suburbs of Baltimore for ya. At the current listed price, you're looking at just over £140k for 4bd/2ba, with a full renovation over the last 7 years. It would rent out for about $1400/mo at the moment, which is what I'll be doing if it isn't gone by the end of May.

Surely Baltimore accents are easier to understand than Liverpudlian ones!

Minemapper, whereabouts is your BTL place?

Gwynn Oak, over on the west side, just inside the Beltway. Not sure if that means anything to you or not. 

It's here.

My brother lives in Catonsville so just a bit south of Gwynn Oak.  I'm not familiar with the area, I'm from northeast of the city myself.
Have you noticed prices dropping in the area or around Baltimore?  Has there been pressure to lower the price much?

Well, it's been on the market since mid-August '07, I'm at $40k below my initial asking, and have yet to receive an offer. That should give you a pretty good idea.....

Have you noticed prices dropping in the area or around Baltimore?  Has there been pressure to lower the price much?

Yes they have been dropping in and around Baltimore. We are considering a great house (circa 1900), very nice with central A/C in lovely Roland Park. The price was $399,000 and just dropped to $370,000 last week. The only issue for us to consider is the property taxes since well.....its in a Roland Park. That said, its still a bargin!

http://www.ziprealty.com/buy_a_home/logged_in/search/home_detail.jsp?listing_num=BA6526195&page=2&property_type=SFR&mls=mls_baltimore&cKey=5gwglxg7&source=MRIS

The nice thing about Roland Park and perhaps Mt Washington is that they have a sort-of village centre feel to the place but also provide easy access to the city and county.

These 2 places would be near the top of my list were we to move back.  I couldn't get through to the link you posted but for $370K that's only £185K and I bet it's a very nice, good-sized place in a wonderful area.

I think it'd either be around there or in the country in northern Baltimore county.  The light rail at Mt Washington is attractive, too.

We have looked and its amazing how many houses in Florida are disability adapted bedroom dstairs and shower room and the price's are amazing we would love to buy over there if we could get health cover, which is the biggest and only stumbling block for us.

It is an amazing investment but I would love for us to be able to actually use it sometime in the near future so I think until we can we will hold off, I am still trying to talk my parents into retirement down there, we can visit them then. hehehehe.

Good luck to those who are buying, but its sad that people are losing money.

Indy

..or in the country in northern Baltimore county. 

That's a really gorgeous area. I could definitely see living there. You could get a nice spacious place for $370,000-ish!

The nice thing about Roland Park and perhaps Mt Washington is that they have a sort-of village centre feel to the place but also provide easy access to the city and county.

These 2 places would be near the top of my list were we to move back.  I couldn't get through to the link you posted but for $370K that's only £185K and I bet it's a very nice, good-sized place in a wonderful area.

I think it'd either be around there or in the country in northern Baltimore county.  The light rail at Mt Washington is attractive, too.

Matt, sorry the link doesn't work for you. Its a great house (4 bed/2 bath, hardwood floors, nice porch, etc) and I agree with you that Roland Park and Mt Washington are lovely areas! Close to downtown but like you said they do have a village feel on a bit of a larger scale. My Brit husband loves Roland Park because of the leafy/wide streets and mature houses. Of course, I love it too! The good news is that if you guys ever move back, you will have a great choice of lovely houses and cheap prices compared to what we were used to in England.

If you want to check it out, you can get an idea as to what your money could buy, go onto ZipRealty.com and use the 21210 zip code. The house is on Roland Ave (brown with a nice front porch). Its on for $369,900. The description starts with: Tuxedo park. Its a couple of long blocks away from Eddie's supermarket and the Tuxedo pharmacy. (Mt. Washington's zip is 21209 if you want to check that area out as well).

That's funny Jules,I was just looking at that house online just the other day before you posted it and thought how lovely it looked.
One thing I was wondering, the bedrooms on what looks like the top floor seem to have the ceiling curved diagonally, if you see what I mean, so there's less headroom towards the side.  I wasn't sure how this actually looked in person?  Are you in Baltimore now or are you moving from England sometime soon?

The victorian houses and the streets around Roland Park are great.  I used to go to Loyola College not far from there on Charles Street and have been over to Eddie's a few times.

Matt, that is funny that you had seen the same house and liked it too! Yes I know what you mean about the attic rooms. That said, the house is huge compared to the little 2 up/2 down we had in England (cute but gosh was it small).

We are back in the states now and looking to buy.  While the price is right and you couldn't ask for a better neighborhood...the only downside is the size (big) and the upkeep since its just my husband and me. That said, we have friends in Wyman Park (close by) that have a nice 3 bed 1940' brick row house that is just the right size for us and their neighbor a few doors up has their house (similar) on the market for $310k....so it seems the Roland Park house at $369.5k is a bargin....but the annual taxes are over $6k (paying for the location).  Interestingly, houses are sitting for months before being sold...well at least in Baltimore, it is a buyers market. 

Speaking of Loyola (great school), Homeland is just up the street....another nice area! Its nice to have so much choice over here. 

Not having ever owned a house in the States I don't know how much property taxes should be but $6K does sound like quite a bit.
I've not been much around Homeland having passed the sign on Charles Street many times but I knew it was a nice area.  I found this interesting information about it:  http://www.livebaltimore.com/nb/list/homelnd/
Apparently developed by the people who came up with Central Park in NY it was designed in the 1920s.  I'd definitely take a look around there, Roland Park and Mt Washington if I were to move back and go house hunting although not sure how many of those houses I could afford even with the price slumps.  Seems as though houses are starting to slump in Britain as well although you definitely get a lot more house for your buck.

Yes with property taxes at $6k (for the house mentioned) that is an extra $500 per month on your mortgage (quite high). Even more for larger houses in Roland Park. The problem is there aren't many smaller.

Thanks for the link for Homeland....interesting history. While the taxes are just as high as RP and there are huge houses there as well, some are smaller than what you would find in RP (a bit more variety, house size but the area is not as large as RP).

Just to give you a gauge on property taxes, for the house in Wyman Park for $310k (near the Rotunda), the taxes are about $4000...so a bit cheaper even though when it comes to house value (size/cost/smaller area), not as good. That said, all of the areas that we have discussed are within the city limit so taxes are higher. Cross the Baltimore city/county line and taxes are cheaper.