A Turkish pilot visited his investment property in Baltimore. He was shocked by what he found.

[yuna628 9,671]

Quite a lengthy investigation going on here in Baltimore but the scheme involves scamming foreign investors into buying derelict property and convincing them that they are beautiful inside and that they are collecting piles of cash in rent. Unfortunately, they essentially become slumlords, owning properties for drug dens, where people are have died, been firebombed, or condemned. Several such properties resulted in the deaths of firefighters in massive blazes.

 

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For two years, the Turkish property investor thought he had purchased a renovated rowhome in the Park Heights area that had tenants who were paying rent. He’d received 20 months of such payments.

Then, five months ago, the money stopped. Property Invest USA, the Miami-based company that facilitated the transaction — along with nearly 300 others across Baltimore to buyers in Turkey and Central America — was being evasive under questioning, he said. 

“They are trying to give answers, but most of the answers is funny,” said the man, who did not want to be identified for privacy reasons.

So the 34-year-old investor, a commercial airline pilot, decided on a recent layover in Washington to make the trek to Baltimore and take a look at the property for the first time since he bought it in June 2021. He climbed out of a Lyft and folded his arms.

 

“Yeah, here we are,” he said, standing on the sidewalk looking at a front lawn that hadn’t been mowed in ages. “It’s obvious there’s no tenant.” 

Last year, the Baltimore Banner identified Property Invest USA as one of two companies soliciting overseas buyers to purchase investment properties in some of Baltimore’s most distressed neighborhoods. In fact, Property Invest USA was being sued by the other company, ABC Capital, for allegedly stealing its business model. Property Invest USA denied the allegation, and the case later settled, according to court records.

But while ABC Capital was facing scores of lawsuits for allegedly misleading its investors by failing to renovate some houses and pay rent, and has since filed for bankruptcy protection, Property Invest USA was at that time facing no known complaints and most of the homes it sold appeared to be in decent shape. Investors contacted by The Banner said they were being paid. CEO Cengiz Bayirli appeared on CNN Turkey and in splashy print and online spreads, portraying a high-class lifestyle.  {..}

Investor Aylin Öney Dodanlı purchased three homes for a total of $314,000. One was acquired by Property Invest USA for $25,000, and flipped the same day to her for $108,000. It is vacant and boarded up. Another was acquired by Property Invest USA for $50,000 and sold to her for $114,000. A man who answered the door said he was paying rent to Reliable Property Management. A third was bought for $27,000 and flipped for $92,000, and appears uninhabited. https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/housing/property-invest-usa-leaves-turkish-investors-scrambling-VOCVTD5DMBEBJNANRU5KQ4MXCA/

 

If you ever wonder why there are scores of vacant and dangerous rowhomes in Baltimore, amid sky-high rent, and lack of good homes for people to live in, look no further to yet another weird problem the city has on it's hands, that it will do nothing about. One thing I love about the city I grew up in, was the fantastic architecture. These blighted properties once had good bones and now have been left to rot.

[Boiler 45,447]

I have heard of these sort of stories not involving overseas buyers, the we buy anything for cash and flip. This just at the top end, mind you what did you expect for 100k?

[TBoneTX 45,259]

This really sucks, Y ma'am.  Shame.