As a newer investor, there is advice given by more experienced investors that we have to learn the hard way.
One of those truisms is to “invest in landlord friendly states.” However, what can be missing for a new investor are the bruises earned for not listening? This is my own personal view of the lessons learned regarding that truism, and I hope it can shed some clear and specific details on what I encountered, and how this now determines my entire real estate investment strategy.
I’m a newer investor who has invested in Virginia, Maryland, and Ohio, and it’s been and extreme learning experience! However, now that I know the difference between that truism regarding friendly states, I now know that Maryland can be extremely tenant friendly, with Virginia being more land lord friendly. Let me relay to you how figuring this out has specifically changed my entire real estate strategy going forward.
Entitled To Your Earnings
It’s amazing how open tenant friendly city and state governments feel to dipping into your accounts. And, no so subtly enforced through strong arm tactics that can involve code enforcement, the justice system, and legislation to ensure you can not do your business unless everyone gets their share. For tenant friendly Baltimore, MD, this includes paying a $30 rental registration Fee, $30 lead registration fee, and this is in addition to a very active code enforcement agent who’s sole task seems to be to find ways to generate revenue for the city (to be fair, most municipalities are using this to generate money for bare city coffers, not just tenant friendly ones). This is in addition to a $300 yearly LLC filing fee (pretty steep, isn’t it). It all adds up to one hurdle after another to keep track of in order to collect rents.
And …read more