All Forum Posts by: Chris Witt

Does anything know how I can access historical zoning maps for Chicago?

I have a two flat in an area currently zoned R2 (two flats are prohibited in this area) however the code allows legal non-conforming uses to continue under certain situations. 2004 is the effective date of current zoning map but looks like my property was converted around to two flat around 2000 so I need to know if two flats were allowed at that time.

Thanks

Nice to see I'm not the only architect on here! Great stuff all, thanks for sharing. Sometimes the results have to do the talking I suppose. My ultimate goal is to help others where I can and use my expertise produce better quality projects that benefit all parties involved. No one size fits all solution. Guess there is a reason why they call it "practicing" architecture...always something new to learn! Part of the reason I love it!  @Jared W Smith I'll definately be checking out some of your previous posts on the topic. Cheers

all thanks for chiming in. It is very interesting to hear the various perspectives. Also, just to clear the air, the situation I described was indeed made up...but thanks all for reminding me that once you hit send it is out there forever! 

And for future readers or those of you interested, my other post with some equally enlightening info is here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/21/topics/634...

@Chris Gottshall thanks for reply. Everything you say makes sense but I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that if a buyer asks for some type of concession, that the seller shouldn't ask what the issue is so they can properly negotiate just to protect themselves from potentially having to divulge to future buyers should the negotiations with current buyer ... that you haven't actually had yet because you don't know what you are negotiating.... end up falling through. So mind boggling to me. To me it's simple; if you have to provide disclosures such as "my house floods sometimes when it rains" then I think you should also have to disclosure previous inspection items that killed past deals. Otherwise what is the point of having disclosure laws in the first place. Not saying the information provided should be deciding factor in deal and I'm definitely going to get my own inspection just to make sure (perhaps my inspectors opinion differs from last guy) but knowing things upfront helps inform my offer and if I'm interested or not. Again it's simple in my mind; hey buyer just a heads up, last inspection said foundation needed work. I'm not willing to negotiate bc price reflects condy so make your offer based on the info I'm giving you or I'll move on. Don't want to waste my time. Thanks everyone for the feedback. I'm sure it will make sense to me eventually.

Hi all. I tried posting this in the general forums and was told it is state specific so figured I would try here. Here is a fictitious scenario to illustrate my question.

 I'm selling my house. My buyer has his inspection and finds a major issue with foundations and rightfully requests a reduction in price. We try to negotiate but cannot come to terms so he backs out using inspection contingency clause. Week later I have a new buyer who knows the previous deal fell thru as a result of inspection so he asks what that inspection found. Am I obligated to inform him of anything? If not, what is the difference between disclosing that info and anything else such as the basement floods sometimes. 

Thanks all!

@Russell Brazil thanks for walking me through this. If I'm selling my house and the buyer says "inspection found something so I'm backing out" I would at least want the opportunity to try to negotiate. Especially if it's something that's going to come up every time. And once I am aware of the issue am I not therefore obligated to share should another buyer ask me about it? Even if agent left the room, deleted email, etc. Communication flows through agent like you said but ultimately I'm asking the seller what they know, not the agent. Sorry if I'm missing something.

@Russell Brazil I see what you are saying Seller provides the disclosure statement not the agent no?. So even if the agent has no knowledge of past inspection, when a buyer inquires isn't the seller obligated to share?

@Russell Brazil understood. But what about owner disclosing info? Assuming previous prospective buyer mentioned something other than "I'm backing out because of something found during my inspection". I have to believe if a buyer used inspection contingency to withdraw that the seller knows what exactly the issue was. No?

Question for all the agent/brokers out there. 

I would like to buy a property that has been contingent twice, each time falling thru after inspection. I understand previous inspections reports are the property of previous prospective buyer, therefore the seller is not able to share a full blown report with another buyer as it is not their property. 

However assuming the buyer disclosed specific information to the sellerfor whatever reason...either in negotiations or just for the seller's reference (ie your foundation is cracked and needs immediate repair), does the seller and/or agent (depending on who was privy to said information) have any obligation to disclose that information when asked for it by another buyer? 

I understand the seller's agent has a fiduciary responsibility to the seller and offering that information unsolicited is not in the seller's best interest, however what is the point of the disclosure statements if the seller does not have to disclose that type of info? I also understand proving what a seller knows can be difficult - let's look past that part for this post.

Just to be clear, I'm not asking for the numbers from the past deal and I do realize an inspection report is subjective. I'm just trying to avoid going through the same process wasting everyone's time. 

I have read similar posts but still do not have a definitive answer so hoping to get some good insight here. 

@Bill Nolan No personal experience but I just finished listening to Loopholes of Real Estate by Garrett Sutton and the author had some good info on the subject. Best of luck