All Forum Posts by: Byron W.

Hey everyone, just purchased a building. I'm not 100% sure what the walls are made of.. Seems like they could be plaster but I'm not sure. Anyways, I'd like to update some things in this place and the ugly baseboards are one of the first things I'd like to get rid of. However, they're unlike any baseboard's I'm used to seeing. They almost sit flush with the wall. The wall's have a lip at the bottom and under that lip are the baseboards. Almost like the wall ends where the baseboard begins. Can anyone give any advice on how to remove these? Also, do I need a special kind of baseboard for replacing them? Or are any baseboards gonna do the trick? Thanks!

Hey everyone! I'm trying to figure out ways to monetize or at the very least, make my 1400sqft basement useful. The basement is at the bottom of a 3 unit building in Chicago that I'm in the process of closing on. It's unfinished and doesn't seem to have any flooding issues. It's pretty humid down there but nothing that a sump pump can't solve.

Has anyone else had an unfinished basement this size? What have you done with it? 

Some of the ideas I've had:

- Turning it into a paid extra storage area for the tenants and other people who would be willing to pay to store their things down there.

- Converting it into a basement level apartment (I'm iffy on this as the basement height seems about 1 foot from being able to be a legal unit. But that's from my eye and not actual measurements)

- Finishing it and using it as a Airbnb rental space

Any other ideas? Or anyone have experience with the ones listed?

Hey Brie! Using the 5% down was my original plan but that would've required 2 more months of saving before I could buy. I'm about 4 weeks from my closing date but I do wish I would've been a bit more patient and gone that route. I was mainly concerned with the lack of 3 unit properties being sold in the area and people offering over listing. The place I found I got a fairly nice discount on. 

 Thanks Mike!

Jeff, the building is located in Bronzeville. I'm keeping my options open since I have a year to decide where the next property well be that I purchase. Bronzeville and a few other neighborhoods seems like a good investment right now. But my ultimate goal is cash flow so whether I decide to invest out of state or in a Chicago neighborhood that has good cash flow, I'm keeping my options open and monitoring the market for the next 200 or so days before I refi out of my FHA and look to make my next purchase.

I'm about to close on my first deal on a 3 unit in Chicago FHA financing and am looking for lending options for my next deal. The Homestyle loan seems like a good choice as I'd like to find a deal, rehab the property and live in it.

My main question is, what dictates the down payment amount? I've seen mixed reports of anywhere between 5% down and 35%. Can anyone help clear up how I can determine where in this range I would fall? This would be my second deal that I would purchase sometime next year after I've lived in my new FHA financed property for the minimum amount of time. And I'd like to purchase another 2-4 unit property with the Homestyle loan. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

I'm currently in search of my first multi-family live-in property. And I've noticed something that was odd at first. Some properties have been listing for say... $500k and after a month or so of no offers, they'll delist the property and re-list it for $470. So that the previous $500k price never shows as the original price. This means that if/when they sell for $470 (or close to that) the MLS will show a really high percentage of sell to asking price in that area.

I noticed something was weird when my realtor said that this particular neighborhood in Chicago had a 97% sell price to asking price. This got me to doing the research and this is what I found/realized after some time. Is this standard practice elsewhere? (I'm in Chicago). It just seemed really unethical to me, but I am a rookie at this so I don't know if this is the norm or not? 

Thanks for the response! Any ideas on a ballpark figure on what that would cost per unit?

Hello everyone! I'm considering purchasing a 3unit building in chicago and the building does not have central air. However, I've been told each unit has a separate furnace for its unit. Does anyone have a ballpark estimate on how much it would be parts + labor to add central air to all 3 units? Thanks!

I've been told that when buying 3-4 units, about 3 months of cash reserves is expected for just in case things go wrong. But does the 203k also require this? Considering you won't be immediately moving into the property, I would assume you could just show the reserves once the rehab process is complete? Or do they expect you to show reserves up front prior to closing?

I'm looking to purchase a 3 unit property in Chicago that's a full gut rehab. Each unit is a 4 bedroom 1-1.5 bath. The property is currently gutted to the studs. I'm wondering, what should my plans be in terms of figuring out what size to make the rooms, bathroom, kitchen, etc? I would assume the GC would help decide those things but if he asks what size/layout I'd like everything to be, I wouldn't have a clue what to tell him. Should I look to hire a designer/architect for this? Or find a GC who has experience with creating the layouts for properties?

I've done various research on rehab loans but there seems to be very little information on this specific thing. This will be a live-in house hack, and my first property purchase.