All Forum Posts by: Brandon S.

I've heard of people getting rehab loans where you put down %20 of the acquisition price and %20 for the rehab and you get much better terms than an HML. Has anyone found a local bank in the Chicagoland area that offers a loan like this? I'm in the western suburbs.

Apologies, looks like it has been answered here

I've been in the process of evicting a tenant in Jefferson County, Alabama since February. I am just waiting for the Sheriff to actually carry out the eviction. Has anyone else gone through this lately? I've heard from both my PM, and the court system that the Sheriff's office is backed up on evictions. I'm wondering if anyone has found a way to expedite?

@Ashour Rehana Thanks for recommending @Chris Titcomb I was able to talk to him about this situation and he was very helpful!

I think I have found a pretty great deal for some multifamily properties. There are three duplexes that are currently classified as townhomes. In this classification, each unit is taxed individually, however, if they are able to be reclassified, I could potentially reduce the taxes substantially, making them incredible cash-flow properties. 

Would any real estate attorneys who practice in Illinois and have a background in tax assessment and reclassifying property types be able to shed some light on this area for me? I believe there is a lot of potential here. 

I am looking to house hack my first investment property by buying a multifamily, financing with an FHA loan and eventually moving on to the next one after a year.

I have found that when looking at properties on the MLS, the property taxes end up being higher than the expected 2% of purchase price (which is the property tax rate for Brookfield, IL according to SmartAsset.com). I am not sure what to believe. Are the taxes high because the previous purchase price was considerably higher? or is my tax rate way off?

Also, I recently pulled back on putting in an offer on a property because I found out that since the property was on a 75ft lot as opposed to a 50 ft lot. This caused it to have two tax pin numbers, which accounted for the higher taxes. I'm assuming that since it has a bigger yard, you pay for it in taxes?

Is anyone out there in the Brookfield, Riverside, Lyons, La Grange area familiar with how property taxes work in this area and how I can better account for them in my analysis? I'd greatly appreciate the help.

I am also looking for a multi-family for a house hack for my first deal. How far are you guys in the process? I currently have looked at about a dozen properties, and am looking to close by the end of the year.

What I am doing to analyze my properties is to run one for when I am living in it and one for when I move out, to make sure that I can cash flow when I am not living there. (I plan to finance with FHA, and then move to another property, maybe another house hack).

After reading Scott Trench's book, I know this is a great way to go. Ideally, I'd like to find a property in a great location that has one unit to fix up, so that I can buy at a discount, and make some upgrades while I live in it and still bring in some income from the other unit (hopefully rented out).

-Brandon

I am working on getting my financing lined up to buy a duplex, triplex, or quad. I plan to live in one of the units and house hack. I currently live in a condo and plan to sell this to use as part of the downpayment. I expect to have about 40k as a downpayment. Most of the properties I am looking at are between 270k and 400k.

I am wondering what the best banks or credit unions offer the best rates for investors near Naperville, Wheaton, Warrenville, Clarendon Hills, Downers Grove, Westmont, Plainfield, Romeoville, etc.

Zips include: 60563 60187 60555 60569 60521 60561 60523 60490 60544 60585 60586

Thanks!

Thanks for the responses guys! 

I think I'll look more into multi-family units. Look forward to learning and connecting more from people here. 

-Brandon

Hey Everyone!

I'm just introducing myself to the community. I've been reading a lot of financial independence type blogs and all of that has lead me to Bigger Pockets. 

I'm currently working as an engineer and am looking to eventually reaching FI. I currently have 132k in student loans between my wife and I. We could pay that off in 3 years if we continue with the same payments we have right now. We rent right now and I'm considering either one of two options. 

1) move into a really cheap apartment unit. It seems like we could get a decent 2br for 60-80k in our area (Western Chicago Suburbs).  This would allow us to live cheaply and pay down our loans quicker. I

2) Buy a duplex/triplex and rent out the other rooms to tenants. This would involve taking out a larger loan, but would also get me into the buy and hold rental property business, which is what I am really interested in doing. 

Any thoughts?

I'm also looking to  do a lot of reading on this before I start. I have been going to Meetups to meet with people, but I want to start deepening my knowledge. Any book recommendations?

I look forward to learning and contributing with everyone.