Hollins Market/Union Square (Baltimore: for sale, real estate market, crime)

[morenita9218]

I was hoping to start a discussion on the neighborhood of Hollins Market/Union Square. It's a diamond-in-the-rough neighborhood, with grocery and restaurants and access to several public transportation lines. U of MD has expanded into the neighborhood as well, which has brought economic opportunity.
I have noticed that there are several houses for sale in the area. I don't understand why the homes are not selling, as they are generally for a good price, in good condition (except for empty shells of course).
As a homeowner in the area, I'd like to know what else can be done to promote the neighborhood to attract new homebuyers.

[jonjj]

I've always liked the area and considered buying there a few years back. I agree with you that it is a "diamond in the rough" and think it has a lot of potential. The progress being made on West Baltimore Street has also helped the area.
Let's face it, in this real estate market-just to remain stable is uplifting, anywhere. It is very hard to sell a home anywhere right now. The area will continue to rebound once or should I say, if, our economy starts to improve. Until that, everyone is playing the waiting game.

[Dbatiste]

Originally Posted by morenita9218

I was hoping to start a discussion on the neighborhood of Hollins Market/Union Square. It's a diamond-in-the-rough neighborhood, with grocery and restaurants and access to several public transportation lines. U of MD has expanded into the neighborhood as well, which has brought economic opportunity.
I have noticed that there are several houses for sale in the area. I don't understand why the homes are not selling, as they are generally for a good price, in good condition (except for empty shells of course).
As a homeowner in the area, I'd like to know what else can be done to promote the neighborhood to attract new homebuyers.

I agree with you. This area has a lot of potential. Not to long ago I was interested in a property on Hollins Street, but the broker never responded. Oh well I thought.

Also, earlier someone posted a request about this area. I think they are interested in opening a martial arts school? Maybe you can make some suggestions to him/her or connect with people interested in investing in the neighborhood business wise? Just a thought.

[ajacksb]

The Union Square neighborhood, unlike the other West Baltimore squares, never saw complete disinvestment and abandonment in the 70s and 80s. It's always been a pretty stable neighborhood in the middle of enormous poverty. I'd say buying here is a good investment, especially with long term expansion of UMD Biopark and the free downtown circulator which will run just a few blocks east of Union Square. Property crime is the biggest issue, so I wouldn't recommend keeping nice things in open view outside your home or in your car.

[barante]

ajacksb summed up what I know about Union Square, where I lived overlooking the fountain for 11 years. For all of my 40 years in Baltimore it has been an up-and-coming neighborhood that never up and came.
While it is true that the square never saw total disinvestment, that's only true about the square. Leave the square and you see all the signs of disinvestment, a trend that the University of Maryland's recent expansion across MLK has reversed.
During our 11 years, we never had a real crime problem, i.e. no one ever broke into our house. Once we lost our garden furniture, with the thief seeing taking the stuff to a house on Carey Street. More recently, though, there have been breakings and enterings even on the square, a situation we avoided, I think, because during our time there was still a daytime human presence -- an illegal bodyshop -- in the alley.
Our main reasons for leaving the square were:
1. The economics of owning an old house changed. When we bought ours, built in 1857 and still with a backyard privy (of brick construction), it was easy to find multitalented handymen. With the retirement of Eastern European craftsmen that changed. A simple plastering job became a major expense, unless you possessed the skills which we didn't.
2. Anywhere I looked in the house, I saw dollar signs of unmet needs and the certainty that even if we repaired something, we would have to revisit the issue because old houses often are that way.
We had terrific neighborhors and a real sense of neighborhood. In our current neighborhood, Cheswolde, life in many ways is more carefree but we have next to no contact with our neighborhors and they have little contact with theirs.
For those with sufficient budgets for maintenance -- and a long time-horizon -- Union Square may be a terrific investment. One of our old neighbors just sold his house on the square. He began asking for something like $400,000 and finally took less than half of that for a 3,300 square foot home.

[morenita9218]

is there a way, other than the annual SOWEBO festival, to promote the neighborhood?

[barante]

For lots of years they used to have the annual cookie tour of houses before Christmas. It always produced people who were interested in the area.