All Forum Posts by: Tim Coppola

I am in the process of renting out my first apartment and was going to use the Chicago Association of Realtors lease that @Brie Schmidt posted but it seems as if you need to be a member now. I remember looking at it when this thread was originally posted and liking it because it included everything. Does anyone know of another website that offers the same thing?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

@Mark Ainley

 I appreciate the response. I'll have to rethink what I'm going to do. Thanks.

I am getting ready to rent my first apartment and have a question about taking a pet deposit. I wasn't originally going to accept pets but I have met a prospective tenant whom I feel good about and they have an 8 year old cat. I'm going to allow it for an additional $300 pet deposit. 

From everything I have read in terms of Chicago and security deposits I have personally decided to charge a non-refundable move in fee as opposed to a security deposit. Do those "rules and regulations" apply to pet deposits as well? If I put in the lease that there is a pet deposit do I have to put it in a separate account? 

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Thanks again to everyone that responded and just to update this post I did finally move in and to date it has been 12 days since the 60 day mark. I have yet to be contacted by anyone to see if I actually live in the place. I did talk to a guy who said he's known people to get FHA loans and never move into the building. I'm not promoting that or saying I would do it but it would be interesting to see if there are actually any checks and balances on this aspect of the loan. It seems like a pretty big thing to not follow through on.

And these people did it with no money down.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/news/ct-sta-squatters-charged-st-0702-20150701-story.html

Building was just over $400k. Two units are 3/2 and the basement unit is 1/1. I'm doing some remodeling on the top floor (new floors, kitchen and bathrooms) because it hadn't been touched in almost 10 years and it'll help increase the rent. First floor was the previous owners unit and they had done a lot of work already so not much needed there.  

I'm planning on living in the basement unit and renting the top two floors. Hopefully I'll have enough money saved up to buy another place in two years. I'm using this place as a learning experience for purchasing as well as being a landlord.

Up near the Albany Park/North Park neighborhoods.

I closed on a 3-flat in April with an FHA loan. Make sure whoever you go through to get your loan is well versed in FHA loans. I've heard some places have no idea how to handle them and it can make for a bad experience.

@Jean Bolger

Thank you for responding. In the contract they had paid for two months rent (through the end of June) in the closing costs. The original plan was for me to move into the basement unit but those tenants are being difficult in terms of moving out. They were month to month and I am in talks with an eviction lawyer to remove them but obviously that is going to take some time. The previous owners are an older couple and he has been sick (chemotherapy) as of late so the wife is handling everything. They asked if they could have a little extra time to get the move done and I let them know that would be ok. I have been checking a couple times a week on them and they have been packing and have movers set up so I know they will be out. I am just trying to help them however I can.

That is why I am trying to find out how or if anyone checks to see if a buyer had moved in by the 60th day. For others that have purchased via an FHA loan, did anybody check on you to see if you actually moved in on the last day?

Thanks again for all the responses.

I guess what I'm looking to know is, how do they know someone has moved in? Does someone physically come to the house and check to see on the 60th day, do they just call, check mailing addresses or is this something where as long as the mortgage is being paid they don't care? Again, I have no intentions of cheating the system I just want to know if I should be overly worried about this or not.