Selling in Baltimore? (for sale, foreclosure, rent)

[lemonhead]

Me and my husband recently bought in a good section of Baltimore, about a year ago I guess...anyways, we got a great price on a great house and have been slowly making our improvements.

Long story short, I am now pregnant when I was told it was impossible. Great News! But obviously not something our finances were anticipating.

Taking a look at our already tight budget, we realized that even if I continued working we would not be able to continue making our payments with the additional cost of child care. This isn't a bad thing by any means...we've been looking for an excuse to get out of the Washington D.C./Baltimore area...we like it here but just can't afford it (we bought as low as we could without risking our investment in a bad section of Baltimore that isn't going to come around in a few years) We are paying in mortgage what we would pay in rent so we know we can't continue to live in this area.

I explain all this to ask the question Is it possible to sell a house in Baltimore right now, becuase everytime I say the short version "We are pregnant and can't afford it so we have to move" everyone just wants to give us budgeting advice or tell us to get a second job or what not...we've already looked it at, it's over, we are ready to just leave. It's costing to much, not only in money but in quality of life to continue living here.

Our realtor feels so bad for us she's willing to list our house without a commission to her but she says she thinks it's pretty impossible for the house to sell.

Is there any hope? Or should we just begin bracing ourselves for our excellent credit score to go down the toilet in the foreclosure that is coming our way in May (don't worry we've already called our mortgage company and explained and have begun the ball rolling to hopefully minimize the damage to our credit when/should we have to walk away from the house unsold.

[kharing]

Sounds like even if you weren't pregnant (congratulations by the way!) you would be in this situation. What's to lose by putting the house on the market despite the impossible?

[lemonhead]

I guess I'm just looking for some hope. We are going to list the house but I don't really know how healthy the market is in Baltimore right now. I know everyone is down but I'm not sure if D.C. helps insulate Baltimore from some of the very negative effects, if there is still people buying houses in the area.

Right now we are coming out to $0 monthly, so we've had no problems (course we aren't getting anywhere either) but with the baby, that will change obviously so...yeah...

[jonjj]

I would list it. Homes are selling, just not as fast as they once were. It can't hurt and maybe you will win in the long run.

[lemonhead]

thanks jonjj

[Augie]

The housing market is the same in NJ, but I got lucky. Only 3 months ago I sold my condo for what I was asking for it (minus 5%) with a clean quick deal. I even made $40 K profit after using it for 5 years and paying the commission, etc. So, it is not impossible, even in this market. It only takes one buyer to make your problem disappear. Remember, there are still people out there with $$$, who for their own reasons, must buy to have a roof over their heads. Location helps, so being near DC is good. Don't consider it impossible and don't get discouraged. List it at the price you can live with plus 5% more, so you can come down and make the buyer feel he got a "deal." Even if you don't make a profit, you'll be able to move on with peace of mind and good credit. Good luck to you and your new baby.

[helenejen]

Originally Posted by lemonhead

Me and my husband recently bought in a good section of Baltimore, about a year ago I guess...anyways, we got a great price on a great house and have been slowly making our improvements.

Long story short, I am now pregnant when I was told it was impossible. Great News! But obviously not something our finances were anticipating.

Taking a look at our already tight budget, we realized that even if I continued working we would not be able to continue making our payments with the additional cost of child care. This isn't a bad thing by any means...we've been looking for an excuse to get out of the Washington D.C./Baltimore area...we like it here but just can't afford it (we bought as low as we could without risking our investment in a bad section of Baltimore that isn't going to come around in a few years) We are paying in mortgage what we would pay in rent so we know we can't continue to live in this area.

I explain all this to ask the question Is it possible to sell a house in Baltimore right now, becuase everytime I say the short version "We are pregnant and can't afford it so we have to move" everyone just wants to give us budgeting advice or tell us to get a second job or what not...we've already looked it at, it's over, we are ready to just leave. It's costing to much, not only in money but in quality of life to continue living here.

Our realtor feels so bad for us she's willing to list our house without a commission to her but she says she thinks it's pretty impossible for the house to sell.

Is there any hope? Or should we just begin bracing ourselves for our excellent credit score to go down the toilet in the foreclosure that is coming our way in May (don't worry we've already called our mortgage company and explained and have begun the ball rolling to hopefully minimize the damage to our credit when/should we have to walk away from the house unsold.

Congrats on the baby! Now to see what has been selling in the city lately you can go here: Real Property Search. Choose "Baltimore City" and then "Property Sales". You can search from there by date and location. (For a broader "district" or "map" search, look at your tax bill to see what these numbers are for your area.)

If you find some properties in your area that have sold and want to see what the house was previously bought for, you can go back to the sdat homepage and do a search by "Street Address" for the sales history. (You can also look up your own address and find the district and map numbers there.)

Good luck!

[Oakback]

I'm very closely involved with the Baltimore market, and have been for almost 30 years.

All things being equal, this is a buyer's market. And there are buyer's out there.

I'm finding that the homes that sell, are the best ones in the neighborhood. They are "cream puffs" with all the bells and whistles.

The other properties sit on the market awhile.

[DivineMsK]

So long as you don't expect to make a profit, you should be able to sell your house. There are things selling, though a lot of properties seem to stay on the market for quite some time.

I'm a buyer, just not for another 6-8 months or so. :-) It might have been sooner but the job for which I was on the verge of getting an offer has decided to suspend recruitment for the position. Boo!

[thenuge]

Neighbors in Upper Fells have taken their houses off the market because they were unwilling to reduce their price. Lots of people were coming at them with lowball offers. Mostly nothing is selling. Houses on my street have been for sale since last summer. Consider that credit is hard to get right now and people are having to put down 20% on most decent mortgages.