All Forum Posts by: Ariella Sherman

Looking for recommendations for contractors to help with a basement remodel. Looking to redo drywall, flooring, changing some light fixtures, and redo bathroom and paint. 

Thanks. Tenant did not cause the damage.  Unfortunately it was installed incorrectly. 

I need to repair the flooring in one of my apartments, who generally pays for the furniture to be moved? They have some very heavy bookshelves and China cabinet in the room that needs repair. Is that generally considered part of the cost of repairing the floor? 

I'd be interested to hear more about your experiences with Hemlane. I'm have 5 units and am struggling to keep up with maintenance requests and scheduling, etc.

Have you read the book "Never Split the Difference" about negotiation? You may need to use some real negotiation strategies to get the tenant out of the unit, just like when negotiating with a hostage taker. Keep your empathy up (they are probably stuck and need a place to live) while also enforcing your limits of what you can offer. Hear what they want, see if you can help them meet their needs and also your needs. 

I think drawbacks to tenants are that they will worry that you will kick them out or raise the rent at any point. It also increases your risk of vacancy since they can leave basically at any time. I have found it easier to fill vacancies in the spring/summer than in the winter, so I prefer my leases to end during "moving season". 

Looking for recommendations of a contractor to do a full gut rehab of a 2 flat with basement in the northside of Chicago. 

Thanks everyone, this has been really helpful. I'm going to keep looking for something better.

What do you think of this deal? 

$1,100,000 for a 6 unit multifamily, newly gut rehabbed, in Chicago 60645. Rental income is 9000 + 400 for laundry and parking. Expenses are 2834/month. 

This would be my first deal. It doesn't need to be the best deal of the century, but my goal is to get started and not get ripped off. Looking to pay market rate.

Right now 2 units are rented, 1 for 1250 and 1 for 1550. Seller claims he will fill the other 4 units in the next 30 days @1650 each. My concern is that rents are high now because its all brand new, but in a few years when it's not brand new anymore, rents will go down to 1400 each. Also, because it's a fix and flip, I'm concerned what quality of work was put in and that I won't find out until it's too late and falls apart. How can I figure out if this is a real concern?

@Alex Bekeza Do you mean that I won't be allowed to live there at all, or just that it won't help get better terms on the mortgage?

@Steve Hall This seems like a good deal for the neighborhood. It has good cash flow, and we can live there for free when we outgrow our current home. One of the units is huge (6 beds, 3 baths) and can probably be split into 2.

The seller is not willing to finance the whole note, but I have asked them if they will be willing to finance a portion of the downpayment, will see what they say. 

I don't think rezoning it to 4 units would be worthwhile. One of the units is already huge, which makes it harder to rent out because at that point most people want to buy a house. Wouldn't want 2 huge units, rent wouldn't double.