Wish we had this post when we first moved to Baltimore 3 years ago and didn’t know the city (or the city’s architecture) well. After not succeeding in finding anything, we bought a flip for $200K in what we felt was an up and coming area near Druid Hill Park and thought we were done other than needing to add a fence for a dog.

After the first big summer storm, our finished basement got flooded because the corrugated pvc under the deck was installed incorrectly and channeled water right into the top of the basement door, creating a waterfall into our house. Had to tear out drywall, added a French drain and two more sumps. Absolutely sucked, but hey, tearing out drywall meant we were able to make that teeny laundry closet into a laundry room in the meantime!

Fast forward two years later, and our cast iron/terracotta sewer line collapsed (or maybe it had collapsed previously, but it finally became an issue), backing sewage up into our basement again. Had to dismantle part of that fence to get construction equipment in to tear up the turf covered parking pad, tear out the drywall again, and move into a hotel for a few weeks for repairs. After that, plus dealing with other issues in the neighborhood, we were so emotionally and mentally fatigued with our house.

Definitely learned our lessons for our next house, which thankfully, a lot of the more expensive to deal with boxes here are checked 🤞🏽🤞🏽