Baltimore
My first real contact with Baltimore real estate came in late 2003 when I drove to Baltimore having seen an ad in Craigslist for office space for rent - for $100 per month. This sounded cheap, so I hopped in the car and went to see what it looked like. I was amazed. It was in a reasonably nice area (Phoenix's first office opened across the street a few years later), and I couldn't figure out why it was so cheap. I drove through town, looking at properties. I tore back to Rockville to see what I could find on the Internet in regards to the price of real estate in Baltimore. Little did I know that a year later I would be moving into my first home, about 4-5 blocks from that office on Maryland Avenue.
In the couple of years after my first trip to Baltimore, I drove block by block, through most of Baltimore's neighborhoods. I discovered that Baltimore had something for everyone... from hip urban neighborhoods to quite suburban areas. Today I live in a northwest neighborhood where the streets filled with folks walking here and there, and the yards with children playing. I'm a strong advocate of learning the "off the beating path" neighborhoods of Baltimore. In these neighborhoods, wonderful homes are waiting, at reasonable prices.
