All Forum Posts by: Atul Mohlajee

Real estate agent kept giving info to her. 

A potential tenant filed a housing discrimination by maritial status against me (Owner) and realtor (Rental).  The complaint was that we gave an apartment to a family and not her (single person).  Anyone with experience in fair housing complaints, please comment.

Hi Art,

Please mention to Raj that I referred you. He has been handling many other cases for me parking issues, encroachment issues, HOA issues etc. as well as eviction.

Raj Sanghvi, Chicago Attorney

He is reasonable. Just did one eviction with him today that took 2 months time in Cook County.  I retain him for all tenant issues in multiple properties that I own and he has always delivered results.

Any responses with experiences will be appreciated.

Tenant moved in on July 3, 2023 with 1 year lease.  Keeps making excuses about maintenance issues.    I have worked on all her maintenance requests in a timely manner.  I told her it is expensive to prepare apartment between tenants, pay realtor to rent, and vacancy costs.  If she breaks lease on her excuses, I will take her to court for remaining amount on the lease. The Village Director called me that he got complaints but I have worked with him before and he seemed to agree that these were bogus complaints and the tenant wants to get something from me.   

You are right.  I could sell all and be fine and totally stress free.  I choose to hold because in addition to $10000-$12000 cash flow per month, there is mortgages payoff of $7000/month (most are 15 year mortgages.)  Appreciation at 3% is $150000/year which is about $12500/month although it has averaged 5% appreciation for most properties.  In addition to that, this cash flow is taxed at a lot lower rate than my W2 incomes.  Real estate helped me with financial stability after immigrating to Chicago in 1986 with $15 ( It was actually $20 but spent $5 on pastries at the layover airport).

My real estate income is not used for living expenses at all.  I like to lower risk at this time.  I can manage even if my cash flow goes to zero or $5000 below zero.  I am not in expansion mode anymore due to personal preference as well as high property costs as well as high interest rates.

I invested $2800000 on rental real estate between 2003 and 2021 mostly between 2011 and 2016, out of which I have paid off $1300000.  Current value of real estate is $5000000, and cash flow is $10000 per month plus very conservative estimate as it may be around $120000 even.  It is personal preference that I started paying off because since 2018,cash flow has been very hard to find, so I did not want to expand anymore.  Currently I am in the process of paying remaining $1500000 that might take years. I also have W2s income to help with payments. I stopped expanding when cash flows dried out because cash flow reduces risk and this was a side gig for me always. 

I have 25 tenants in 12 properties total.  I just reached a cash flow of $10000 basically because half of my mortgages are paid off.  That is reason for good cashflow.  Otherwise Chicago has high taxes, insurance is high, repair costs are high, vacancies etc.  For sure shot cash flow and keeping risk low, try to pay off some mortgages.  That is what keeps me calm and low risk.