Hi, I'm moving to Baltimore! (Towson: sale, hotel, buying a house)

[ltong1009]

Upper fells point is great too. Wolfe academy is a very solid school.

[K-Luv]

I know it is Johns Hopkins and all, but you can afford a 200K home on post-doc salary?

Wow. That's impressive.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by LouisDS

Thank you everyone again for your advice.

For the shuttle service, routes and schedule are easy to find but nowhere you can find how long it will take to go from A to B. If someone has some experience with these shuttles, please give any information you want.

It seems that several good rehab townhomes are available in Reservoir hill (Ewtaw, Madison). How is that neighborhood?

Thanks.

Didn't mean for my post-doc comment to sound mean, but I am surprised. I know a few post-docs, and they do not make much money.

I have rode the Johns Hopkins shuttle a few times; my GF goes to the Bloomberg School of Public Health. The shuttle is pretty quick as the stops are very limited. Getting from Point A to Point B on one of the shuttles takes about as long as would to drive the same distance by car along the route.

Res Hill can be sketchy, but Ewtaw is a nice street. At least from what I have seen of it. Not sure of Madison. I have a friend who volunteers near Ewtaw. Rides the Metro from Johns Hopkins and walks the rest of the way. She has yet to have a problem, but a nice street can quickly turn into a not-so-nice street.

Anyways, I am still fairly new to the area, and I actually live in Columbia. These are just my observations.

[Tinawina]

I can talk about the schools. There are some good public options here but many of them are charters, which means a lottery. There are no guarantees that way. A few do assure admittance to neighborhood kids. If I were you I'd plan my move around getting my kid into one of the decent schools and NOT my commute to work. Make that your secondary concern. The truth is this city is not that big and your wife could probably pick you up or drop you off if push came to shove. But the public schools here seem to be really good or absolutely horrible, and you need to be sure your kids are in the former and not the latter. Some of the nicer neighborhoods have horrible neighborhood schools, so do your homework on that front.

[LouisDS]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

Didn't mean for my post-doc comment to sound mean, but I am surprised. I know a few post-docs, and they do not make much money.

I have rode the Johns Hopkins shuttle a few times; my GF goes to the Bloomberg School of Public Health. The shuttle is pretty quick as the stops are very limited. Getting from Point A to Point B on one of the shuttles takes about as long as would to drive the same distance by car along the route.

Res Hill can be sketchy, but Ewtaw is a nice street. At least from what I have seen of it. Not sure of Madison. I have a friend who volunteers near Ewtaw. Rides the Metro from Johns Hopkins and walks the rest of the way. She has yet to have a problem, but a nice street can quickly turn into a not-so-nice street.

Anyways, I am still fairly new to the area, and I actually live in Columbia. These are just my observations.

Well, do post-docs can buy a house. The short answer is yes. Why? Because rental in Baltimore is so freaking expensive!!!!! I looked at the craigslist to feel the rental market a little bit and it really sucks.

I'll give you an example of what I mean:

*** Renovated TRUE 4 Bedroom | Walk to JHU (http://baltimore.craigslist.org/apa/2724227888.html - broken link)

This is a 4 Beds 3 baths in Charles Village. It seems big, kitchen is outdated, flooring is ugly. Has a yard, A/C.

1850$/month

VERSUS

http://www.trulia.com/property/10641...imore-MD-21217

This is a 4 beds 2.5 baths on Madison. Not the same neighborhood but I think comparable, tell me if I am mistaking. 2200 sqft, open space, charming, nice wooden floors, beautiful remodeled kitchen. With A/C

249,950$

Mortgage calculated over 25 years (could also make it 30 yrs as it seems normal in the US) at 4% with 60 000$ (which I will get from selling my current house in Canada) down payment including 4000$/year estimated taxes and 60$/month insurance:

1400$/month, not including gaz, electricity, water

I know this is not an exact calculation but I think it's a fair estimation.

So, as a post-doc, I will get a salary between 45-55K. Based on a 50K salary, a 30% part of the salary attributed to mortgage payment (which is recommended but can be exceeded) represents 1250$/month.

Maybe I'm a little tight for buying, but I don't think I can afford renting for my small family and be happy with where I live. My credit will be recommended by my HSBC branch to another one in Maryland and this should be enough to qualify me, according to the person I talked to on a recent visit in both branches.

There are cheaper options available to buy, but not really to rent.

[LouisDS]

Originally Posted by Tinawina

I can talk about the schools. There are some good public options here but many of them are charters, which means a lottery. There are no guarantees that way. A few do assure admittance to neighborhood kids. If I were you I'd plan my move around getting my kid into one of the decent schools and NOT my commute to work. Make that your secondary concern. The truth is this city is not that big and your wife could probably pick you up or drop you off if push came to shove. But the public schools here seem to be really good or absolutely horrible, and you need to be sure your kids are in the former and not the latter. Some of the nicer neighborhoods have horrible neighborhood schools, so do your homework on that front.

Thank you for this message. I think I will first evaluate if it is possible for me to live in the city without a car for myself at a price I can afford. Then, of course, finding a good school for my daughters will be my first priority.

[Tinawina]

Originally Posted by LouisDS

Thank you for this message. I think I will first evaluate if it is possible for me to live in the city without a car for myself at a price I can afford. Then, of course, finding a good school for my daughters will be my first priority.

I think you can afford it. It's not that expensive a city and those Hopkins shuttles are everywhere. There are some decent neighborhoods with relatively inexpensive housing stock as well. Have you asked the people in the lab(?) where you'll be working about where to get the shuttle schedules?

Good luck!

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by LouisDS

I think I will first evaluate if it is possible for me to live in the city without a car for myself at a price I can afford. Then, of course, finding a good school for my daughters will be my first priority.

It's a shame, as this is one of the best buyers market in a generation, but still... one more time: don't be in a hurry to buy.

Find the school that suits you and your child's needs the best...
find a place to RENT as close to that school as you can for the first year.
Make everything else work around that.

hth

[EdwardA]

Originally Posted by LouisDS

Well, do post-docs can buy a house. The short answer is yes. Why? Because rental in Baltimore is so freaking expensive!!!!! I looked at the craigslist to feel the rental market a little bit and it really sucks.

I'll give you an example of what I mean:

*** Renovated TRUE 4 Bedroom | Walk to JHU (http://baltimore.craigslist.org/apa/2724227888.html - broken link)

This is a 4 Beds 3 baths in Charles Village. It seems big, kitchen is outdated, flooring is ugly. Has a yard, A/C.

1850$/month

VERSUS

2547 Madison Avenue, Baltimore MD | MLS# BA7672363 - Trulia

This is a 4 beds 2.5 baths on Madison. Not the same neighborhood but I think comparable, tell me if I am mistaking. 2200 sqft, open space, charming, nice wooden floors, beautiful remodeled kitchen. With A/C

249,950$

Mortgage calculated over 25 years (could also make it 30 yrs as it seems normal in the US) at 4% with 60 000$ (which I will get from selling my current house in Canada) down payment including 4000$/year estimated taxes and 60$/month insurance:

1400$/month, not including gaz, electricity, water

I know this is not an exact calculation but I think it's a fair estimation.

So, as a post-doc, I will get a salary between 45-55K. Based on a 50K salary, a 30% part of the salary attributed to mortgage payment (which is recommended but can be exceeded) represents 1250$/month.

Maybe I'm a little tight for buying, but I don't think I can afford renting for my small family and be happy with where I live. My credit will be recommended by my HSBC branch to another one in Maryland and this should be enough to qualify me, according to the person I talked to on a recent visit in both branches.

There are cheaper options available to buy, but not really to rent.

You are right buying in Baltimore is cheaper than renting. Although I would watch for the taxes. In the city a 250K home will run about 5500-6000 a year in taxes.

[remstone]

Originally Posted by LouisDS

I'll give you an example of what I mean:

*** Renovated TRUE 4 Bedroom | Walk to JHU (http://baltimore.craigslist.org/apa/2724227888.html - broken link)

This is a 4 Beds 3 baths in Charles Village. It seems big, kitchen is outdated, flooring is ugly. Has a yard, A/C.

1850$/month

VERSUS

2547 Madison Avenue, Baltimore MD | MLS# BA7672363 - Trulia

This is a 4 beds 2.5 baths on Madison. Not the same neighborhood but I think comparable, tell me if I am mistaking. 2200 sqft, open space, charming, nice wooden floors, beautiful remodeled kitchen. With A/C

249,950$

Louis, welcome to Baltimore (almost). I'd be happy to tell you about Reservoir Hill. Certainly there are nice, big houses and great neighbors along with a giant park close by. Some parts are definitely transitional - that mostly means visible drug dealing, not break-ins or feeling unsafe on the street. And that's much more an issue around North Ave and the Madison Park North complex (which is all too many outsiders see) and not on the better blocks up Eutaw and Madison.

If you're looking at being here at least several years then buying a house at these prices probably does make more sense than renting. Closing costs can be the killer though, if you only stay a couple years. You've probably already figured it out but if you've got a family and are looking for 4BR+ then you're pretty much past all the 2-story houses and into the 3-story, and your options get limited quickly. Which makes Res Hill attractive. One thing to be aware of here is construction quality - a full gut rehab done right would almost always cost more than what houses are selling for right now. Which means that some of the for-sale properties had some corners cut during construction. The ones that didn't were either in pretty good shape already, are short sales or foreclosures (where the bank or owner lost some money), or are being subsidized in some way. Along those lines I'd strongly recommend you look into Healthy Neighborhoods and houses they've been getting rehabbed under the NSP 2 program. There are about 7-8 of them under construction here right now that should be going on sale pretty soon at prices under $250k. And there's been well more than the sales price put into them - you'd be getting a bargain. This won't tell you everything but is an intro to what they're doing, along with income limits:
Dollars For Foreclosures
HNI also offers very good mortgage rates if you want to rehab a house, though some patience is required. There have also been several great foreclosure bargains here, if you can do the hard work of finding them, waiting, and getting an offer accepted.

I think in Reservoir Hill you'll find plenty of space, a yard, mostly professional neighbors, and some young families. I know some people who do the walk to the metro stop - it's only 5 blocks, if not that attractive. And I could also put you in touch with a couple neighbors here who work at JHH. Schools are always an issue. We're lucky in that nearby Midtown Academy is one of the best charter schools in the city, and is set up to take kids from Bolton Hill and Reservoir Hill first. Make some inquiries to be sure but it's my understanding that not as many families have been coming from Res Hill recently while the Bolton Hill side has been oversubscribed. Some other parents are working to set up a new charter with an arts-based curriculum, but that often takes a bit of time to get approval.

Feel free to ask more questions or PM me. I could probably give you a tour around here if you're going to be in town.


Adding - taxes in the city are no fun, but even with a sales price of $250k, the initial assessment might be more like $200k or $150k. It's been a bit of a crapshoot. The nice thing is once you have your initial assessment (and you're an owner-occupant) your property taxes can only go up by 4% a year maximum. I think your worst case is around $6k/year, but perhaps more like $4k.