Sunday, August 21, 2011

Life in "Progress" City - Baltimore edition

I think I saw these houses on "The Wire"..............

Andrew Wells is hoping to buy a Baltimore home for around the cost of an old car: Less than $10,000.

Turns out he's in good company.

One of every 10 city homes sold during the first half of the year — about 275 in all — fell in that price range. Twice as many sold for under $20,000.

Often foreclosures, these properties are usually in bad shape but seem like deals to real estate investors and the occasional hopeful owner-occupier — such as Wells.

"I don't have to worry about trying to get a loan," said Wells, 40, a bill-processing technician who works in Annapolis. "That was the purpose of me searching in that price range. I could buy something, pay cash, and I could live in it and renovate at the same time."

Almost exclusively a city phenomenon — very few homes in Baltimore's suburbs sold for less than $10,000 — it's a market that has expanded rapidly. More city homes sold for less than $10,000 between January and June than in all of 2009 and 2010 combined. Dozens of city neighborhoods had at least one such sale this year.


"Almost exclusively a city phenomenon" says it all in "Progress" City.

More......



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