All Forum Posts by: Tim Coppola

The brand (Carrier, Rheem, Lennox, Trane, etc) or the company that installs it?

I'm starting to have companies give me estimates for replacing my two rental units HVAC systems and after a little research have come across the notion that the installation has a lot to do with the long term quality of the AC and furnace. 

I would understand not having a handyman doing the installation but can there be an actual difference between professional companies doing the work?

I'm looking to replace both HVAC units in my building. I've had a few companies come out and give estimates varying from $8,732 to $11,236. I've read that while the brand does matter the installer matters just as much if not more. Is this true?

I've pretty much narrowed my choice down to two companies, Besco Air which uses Rheem and Air Blue which uses Carrier. 

Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Tim

I use Chase Quickpay. Free for both parties and your tenants don't need to have a Chase account to use it.

I use smart move so the applicant pays online. I let them know that if the lease is signed then I take the $35 off their first months rent check.

@Trung Hong

As a recent first time buyer I would suggest you figure out what you want to do with the building first. Buy and hold, owner occupy, flip, turnkey? That may help you decide what part of Chicago you want to invest in. From one of your previous posts it looks like you moved here a year ago. If thats the case spend some time getting familiar with the different neighborhoods in Chicago. Some places might be better for investing and not owner occupy and vice versa. And by better for I mean you might not want to live there. 

Good luck!!

@Trevor Fritz

I purchased a three flat in April with an FHA loan. My suggestion is to get a really good lender who not only knows how to work with but is willing to work with FHA loans. From what I understand there are a lot of lenders that don't fully understand and aren't comfortable with the FHA process. I still don't understand everything my lender did for me but it all worked out well. I would also get an agent that is familiar with them as well. Mine was amazing but the sellers agent pushed back a little in the beginning because he wasn't familiar with the loan. 

Don't let the frustration get to you, just keep working on it. I'm almost a year into my first purchase and it was a ton of work but I'm so glad I did it.

Good Luck!!!!

@Daniel Clem

I just went through the FHA process earlier in the year. Get used to providing your financial information that you normally wouldn't hand out. I was the same way but they need it and for good reason. It's worth it in the end.

Good Luck!!!!

The Tribune came out with this calculator a few months ago. I don't know exactly how accurate it is but it may provide a good estimate of what you can expect.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-property-tax-increase-calculator-htmlstory.html

@Hemanth Grandhige The basement is a finished unit which I live in now and will rent when I move out. And although it doesn't happen often, Chicago does experience outages during major storms. Fortunately I personally have never had an outage last longer than overnight until the power comes back on.

@Michael Boyer The replacement would be a 3/4 HP pump. The backup has two batteries which would last for 6 hours each unless there is an extreme storm and it would be pumping constantly in which case it would last about 4 hours.

I bought my first property earlier this year in Chicago and it has a sump pump in the basement unit. Being that this is my first property and I have never dealt with sump pumps before I had someone come out and look at it. He said everything was working well although he couldn't tell how old the actual pump was. He also mentioned that I should consider getting a backup in case the power goes out during a storm. I asked him for a quote and it came back around $3600 which includes a new pump as well as the backup with two batteries.

My question to experienced investors and home owners, is getting a backup worth the money? Has anyone ever had a basement flood because the power went out and there was no backup? I have no issues spending that kind of money but I just would like to know if it is worth it or if backups really aren't used in the Chicago area.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Tim