All Forum Posts by: Eric La Pratt

I have a fully tenant occupied duplex in metro Detroit, Ferndale specifically, that I replaced both water heaters in after the massive flood in August 2014. I did the work and didn't pull permits. Now, in order to pass the rental inspection, I need them permitted by 1/27. Can anyone recommend a licensed plumber?

Why not let a property manager take care of this for you? You may not need to use any bandwidth to manage anything, just collect the checks and let equity build. A former colleague of mine from my hotel/resort days has a Chicago based startup that manages only AirBnB & VRBO's. PM me if you are interested.

Welcome aboard @Brian V.!

You are in the right place, that's for sure. I've got a property in Ferndale myself that my wife and I house hacked back in 2011. It's a great area. I second everyone's advice on here as well as what you are already doing. Welcome to BP!

After much debate, I think we're going to stick with the reverse layout. The rehab budget is massive already, adding more doesn't necessarily help the inflow. Plus I really liked the idea of the "mud room", the feeling of which can be easily be created with some inexpensive accessories without actually making a mudroom itself.

Thanks everyone!

Originally posted by @Jack Thornton:

If you are able to make some exterior changes to the unit, could you alter that closet and the rear entry so it enters into the kitchen instead of the bedroom?  I am thinking of turning the closet 90 degrees, or shortening it far enough to put a door to the kitchen, then getting creative to find/create additional storage space (if needed) for the bedroom.

Having the public area to the front looks better to me than the reverse layout.

I tried that already. Problem is City of Chicago building code is SUPER strict on porches. It would require bringing in an architect and structural engineer to draw the solution out and we would have to relocate the furnace that currently sits exactly where the rear entry would move to.

The other solution is to put in a new drain stack, plumbing and gas lines entirely to where the bedroom would relocate and open the front of the house up again. That would be awesome and allow me to create additional bedrooms in the units below, but I am afraid that is not in our budget.

Originally posted by @Brie Schmidt:

The issue is, is it worth risking losing a "legal" bedroom on the future appraisal for a better layout?

Thanks so much for sharing the layouts! Brie, you may have guessed, is our realtor on this deal. She has the (mis)fortune of dealing with my stuckness on this. I am sure she was shaking her head when she saw my post.

I think the question can be more refined:

• What are the chances that we would lose a legal bedroom in an appraisal, given what Mark Ainley pointed out above?
• What is a reduction in the appraised value equal to?
• How does that reduction compare to the potential other losses?

For what it is worth, a 3 bedroom on a floor below does have the same egress in a bedroom issue and we are not planning on changing the layout on that one. Do we risk losing 2 bedrooms, just 1 or none at all?

Originally posted by @John Weidner:

I think the whole scenario depends on your plans for the building.  Flipping or Holding as rental?

100% buy and hold but I, like the city of Chicago, require multiple exit strategies (pun intended). Even though I have no short-term intention to exercise them, you never know what the future holds. Part of buying it right is ensuring it's not difficult to let go of, that it's easy to rent and the purchase + rehab are less than ARV.

The FHA feasibility study inspector who's a 20 year GC in the city said that there are potential legality concerns about it and that one of the only two forms of egress cannot be in a bedroom. I presumed because a tenant can easily put a lock on the bedroom door, preventing others from using the egress in an emergency. I think it is fair to mention the liability here, too, should that happen.

I'm looking at rehabbing a legal 4-unit on the north side of Chicago in a class A neighborhood (Lincoln Square / Ravenswood) and the top floor rear egress is in a bedroom, making the bedroom not a legal bedroom but, rather, an "office" or a "den". We'd do a large rehab (not gut but pretty darn close - all new kitchens, baths, moving a wall here and there, roof, facade, flooring, etc.) and are considering creating a reverse layout in the top unit so that we can keep it a legal 2 bedroom as opposed to a legal 1 + den. By reverse layout, I'm saying the front entrance enters into a hallway that serves the bedrooms and the rear entrance enters into a dining area or living area. In other words, the back of the home is living area (normally in the front) and the front of the home is the bedroom area (normally in the rear) but just in the top unit.

I've gone back and forth about this in my head. As a long time renter, I'm envisioning Class A renters saying, "Meh, I don't like the layout" and moving on. Because of that, I'm envisioning not being able to get top dollar rent the other floors will command given the level of rehab we'd be doing. Then there's the less quality tenant issue (unique units = unique tenants). Lastly, I'm envisioning the home not selling as quickly or for the price we're hoping for by keeping the legality of the bedroom.

Does anyone have any experience with or thoughts about this?

Where is this and what are assessments?