All Forum Posts by: Danny Chan

Thank you very much everyone for your insight. This helps a lot.

Ok thank you. It just seems like a lot of people on this site keep mentioning the requirement to have income equal to three times the rent. I guess it doesn't apply for the Chicago area... Can we still ask if they are employed?

Hello,

I was looking up fair housing laws in Chicago because I am trying to rent out a unit, and I came across an article online that said we are not permitted to say that income must be three times the rent, because it is considered income discrimination. I was wondering if this is true? 

This is the link I found, and it describes the issue close to the bottom of the article.
Illinois Landlord’s Guide to Source of Income Discrimination — Enterprise Esquire

Thanks!

Hello, 

Can anyone recommend to me an electrician who has experience working on the electrical metering boxes, dealing with ComEd, and troubleshooting electrical issues affecting the whole building? Long story short, we are having difficulties with a corroded neutral connection in the metering box. Thanks!

Thanks everyone for the responses. I’ll update my documentation after a period of time has passed and I still can’t find anyone 

Hello,

I am trying to help my sister rent out a unit in her building in a class B area, but we are having trouble finding the right tenant. We followed suggestions and set up minimum screening requirements, one of which is a minimum credit score of 700. We have been contacted by several people, but they disappeared once we told them our minimum screening requirements. I was contacted today by a prospective tenant and was told he meets all our requirements except for the credit score. 

I was wondering, is it too late to change our screening requirements? Or would this violate fair housing laws? And let's say 3 months later, we still can't find a tenant with our screening requirements - does this mean we can't do anything about it?

Thanks!

Hello everyone,

I’m a young professional who has been renting most of my life. I’m in the Chicago area and I’m finally seriously thinking about buying my first property.

I’ve heard of BiggerPockets a year ago from a podcast, but the mere thought of the repairs, property management, high monthly expenses, landlording, and risk of buying a bad property scared the heck out of me. Plus I have been renting from a friend so rent is very low and calculators determined it would be more worth it to rent than to buy.

However, things have changed and my girlfriend will be moving to Chicago for me. We have looked at various condos, and although nice, it feels like we aren’t getting much value for the price we would have to pay. I believe my options are at this moment, finding a low cost condo to have a low monthly payment, or to buy a 2-3 unit investment property where we can live in one unit and rent the other units out.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get started on the investment property route in Chicago? Aside from the ultimate beginner’s guide, what are some of your favorite articles/resources that helped educate you when you first started on this route? The amount of information here is overwhelming.

Thank you,

Danny