vacant/abandoned homes in BAWLMER for sale? (Baltimore: real estate, condo) - Maryland (MD) - City-Data Forum

movingsomewhere · 02-13-2008, 06:15 AM

yeah I've seen several of these abandoned and or vacant homes that have been stapled with cardboard/boxes on its doors/windows. What happened to these? Did the owners just leave? Did crime become out of control and is still out of control that home owners just left? Did a hurricane hit BAWLMER? Who owns these abandoned properties? I'd like to get ahold of one and probably fix it. I heard prices as low as $1? Is this a joke? The most realistic price I've heard were around 15K.

sobo16 · 02-13-2008, 08:23 AM

The dollar home program was in the 1970s (possibly late 1960s?). Houses in Barre Circle (and also maybe Pigtown and Otterbein?) were available for just $1. The buyer had to agree to live there and rehab the house. The program turned out to be extremely popular, and so many people were interested that they had to hold a lottery to determine who would get to buy the houses. It was a giant step towards revitalizing the areas bordering downtown.

movingsomewhere · 02-13-2008, 11:06 PM

[SIZE=2]this is all good to know, but I'd like to know more about the now, not 4-5 decades ago. there are still an over abundance of abandoned homes in the city. I'd like to get one of these and fix it, if the price is right.
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sobo16 · 02-14-2008, 05:38 AM

I'm not aware of any special programs right now for selling vacant homes, but yes, there are many abandoned homes on the market. You can go to any real estate website and search in Baltimore for the price ranges you're interested in. Most of them require that you sign a waiver before entering them because they need so much work.

rgk1500 · 02-14-2008, 06:44 AM

My understanding is that most of the abandoned homes be long to out of state real estate speculators. Presumably, they are waiting for Baltimore to become New York so they can sell the land under the houses. I think this is something that deserves legislative action.

rudy_d · 02-15-2008, 04:08 PM

The link below has some info on the city's project 5000 initiative, where attorneys have donated their time to help the city gain title to a large number of vacant properties.

rgk1500 is right; a lot of the houses are owned by out-of-state speculators. Unfortunately, it's been a good investment. Even abandoned shells in bad neighborhoods have significantly risen in value. I think the owners of many others grew old and passed away, and their heirs had moved away and had no interest in going through the trouble of selling them, so they let them rot.

Developer Opportunities (http://www.baltimorehousing.org/index/Opportunities.asp - broken link)

bawlmer · 02-17-2008, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgk1500

My understanding is that most of the abandoned homes be long to out of state real estate speculators. Presumably, they are waiting for Baltimore to become New York so they can sell the land under the houses. I think this is something that deserves legislative action.

They've got a long wait.

dontforgettofloss · 02-18-2008, 02:20 PM

if you've found a home for under 20K in baltimore I hope you use the other 100k to purchase an extensive security entourage, guns, a tetanus shot, and perhaps body condoms might be a good idea too. Just a thought... I know you can get some row homes in not so great areas of the city for around 60K at auction, but when I've talked to people that live in the same neighborhoods, they've told me don't come down here after dark.

KRB97 · 02-19-2008, 10:10 AM

A friend of mine bought a rowhome for 30K in a bad area of Baltimore and has fixed it up and loves the inside. But since he moved he can no longer leave the house at night, or come home after dark. His car has also been vandalized 4 times. He has lived there for 4 months.

bawlmer · 02-19-2008, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KRB97

A friend of mine bought a rowhome for 30K in a bad area of Baltimore and has fixed it up and loves the inside. But since he moved he can no longer leave the house at night, or come home after dark. His car has also been vandalized 4 times. He has lived there for 4 months.

How long before we have some "blame the victim" posts? Don't you know you shouldn't buy a house in a bad part of the city? It's all your friend's fault! By the way he shouldn't have a car either. What's this guy thinking? Fixing up an old house in a bad neighborhood and owning a car, he deserves what he gets.