Brian Leibowitz eyes the newcomers on the courthouse steps with skepticism.

They come every Thursday to bid on foreclosed homes at public auctions, pulling up properties on their cellphones and raising their hands if they see a deal that looks good on paper.

Leibowitz, the director of acquisitions for a Baltimore real estate company, knows that making money here takes more than just adding up numbers. The seasoned homebuyer can navigate red tape, has enough cash to wait out permitting delays, knows which homes are in food deserts, monitors which neighborhoods have higher crime rates, and tracks whether blocks are about to stabilize — or come apart.

“Baltimore tends to chew people up and spit them out,” Leibowitz said of the newcomers.

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