All Forum Posts by: Brendan M.

Albany park, portage park, kilbourn park, jefferson park. You can find cash flowing properties in these areas. 

If you try and go more towards the lake, it becomes much much harder unless you are putting down 20-25%. 

@Gary Guidi

Did you find that 6$-7$k was enough to fully revamp each unit? Yes. We remodeled the baths, kitchens, sand & stained original floors, painted and added ceiling fans. More than that would have been overkill for Class C in this area. But doing those things raised the rent from $800/mo to $925/$950 for our 2 beds.

I'm curious about your numbers for rehab on the units. Do you have before/after pictures for the rehab? What amenities/materials did you use? Do you have recommendations for contractors in Chicago? I have some units in Chicago and will need some work done for a turnover soon so curious about these aspects. 

Thanks and congratulations! Sounds like you got a killer deal! 

@Martin Neal

Really love your posts! I'm planning on getting into BRRRR soon in the Chicagoland area, so it's really nice to be able to read about your process in doing it.

With the lack of appraisal coming through and some of the issues with rehabbing, what are some takeaways or things you've learned for the next deal? I think the benefit of doing it this way, is that you get to understand what works and what doesn't and create systems for the next one, each successive BRRRR gets better and better until it runs like clockwork and you can really start scaling as quickly as possible.

@Helen Fremichael

I sent it in a week ago and haven't heard back yet. I'll keep you updated once I do. 

@Helen Fremichael

I'm in the process of getting a building I purchased switched to a three unit. is correct - my water cert says it's zoned as a three so you'd fill out a certificate of zoning compliance (https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dcd/supp_info/certificate_of_zoningcompliance.html) and pay the $120 fee. I wanted to get the water cert for another building I own (to see if I could get switched from 2 to 3) and emailed DWMfoia (at) cityofchicago (dot) org (BP isn't letting me put in email address) . You need to ask them "any historic water document on file" of the address you're curious about. 

Otherwise, it becomes extremely difficult to do. I believe you'd need to go to the alderman to try to get it rezoned as three unit and they are hesitant to do that because of density issues. 

@Henry Lazerow

1) What do you see as the initial investment for adding in-unit laundry? For a three story building with no water connections for the washer?

@Kevin Scanlan Jr.

We talked a bit about this but I went through the exact same thing and this was two years ago! I thought about sending out postcards, reaching out to landlords, etc. and the only thing that ended up working was me being patient and me moving quickly. 

You have to know what you are looking for and be ready to pounce once you find it. I probably made 5 offers and got outbid on all of them. People overpaid for properties that didn't make sense. People paid all cash. I couldn't compete. 

In the end, I knew what I was looking for and when I found it - I moved quickly. This market is super hot right now and it's hard to find deals but they do exist. I found a place a couple months back and had it under contract within a couple days of it being on the market. 

Don't look for any deal, look for the right deal. 

What areas specifically are you looking in? There can be a huge difference in quality within just a couple miles so it's hard to say without knowing more. 

Everything has been going well with both properties. I've been getting a couple different quotes for the copper so it looks like it'll be about 18K to repipe the whole place. The company has 0% interest for the first year and the loan is over three years so it allows me to space things out over the long haul. Most likely, the cash flow will be able to pay for the whole amount. I'm not too worried about the costs since I'll be holding this long term. Unrelated, but I'll be getting credit cards with sign up bonuses to get some free trips out of this big project. 

Also, I've decided to get my real estate license for a couple reasons 1) to get access to the MLS 2) be able to look at properties and make offers myself and 3) supplemental my income. I've already signed up for an online course so hoping to pass the exam in the next month or so. Excited to start studying!

Hi @Lynnette E., the plumbing lines are very old and starting to corrode. The water pressure is quite low in some areas and it's long overdue. 

Chicago requires copper. I'm not too worried about tweekers stealing all the copper. People are currently living in the property so that's not a huge concern of mine.