All Forum Posts by: David Stefanovic

Do you have a trusted tenant that you can ask and is willing to clean the common area? If so, you may offer them a slightly lower rent each month for doing the work for you. I would, however, make sure the terms are stated in your lease agreement with them. I also think you should be able to find a cleaning service in your local paper that can give you a quote for doing the job. 

Thanks John. I agree with you. Diversification is key. Just eager to pay off the mortgage debt sooner than later and enjoy the cash flow coming in from my rentals.

Thanks Rob and Mark for your input. Appreciate it! 

I always thought it would be great if I could take out what I have saved in my 401k and pension plan through my employer and use the proceeds to pay off all my mortgage debt on my investment properties now, as I look at this as my future retirement fund. Just looking for peoples thoughts on this, pros and cons. Is there any creative ways around doing this or even possible to do without any early withdrawal or tax penalties?

Go to the 'Learn' tab on BP and go to 'Free How-to Guides' and choose 'How to Analyze Deals' That should help you decide on whether or not a deal is good. Location and condition of the property is key too.

As soon as I read 'bankruptcy', I knew my answer right away would be do not accept the applicant. In my experience, they are usually very eager to do whatever it takes to move in your place and that always gives me an unpleasant feeling. I also had an experience of evicting a tenant that was evicted in the past and went through bankruptcy. Stupid me didn't do the proper background and credit check. That was my first rental and I learned my lesson from there. 

I did however have a tenant that payed me upfront for 4 months to prove to me that she had savings and that her father would assist in paying rent. She was going through a divorce at the time and had no job. Her father co-signed the lease and I did a proper background check and she did have good credit history. I went off my gut feeling and gave her the apartment and she turned out to be one of my best tenants I had. I lucked out in this situation!

Thanks for sharing Jay. I personally would not feel comfortable giving a tenant my bank account number. There are so many other options to collect rent .. Paypal (as mentioned previously), Chase Quickpay, etc. where you have control over what you accept as payment and your personal account information is not shared publicly.

2 bedroom / 1 bath condo with balcony in Jefferson Park (Northwest Chicago). Includes 1 parking space. Rented for $1,250/month. Monthly assessment $245.23 (includes cooking gas, heat, water, building insurance, exterior maintenance). Annual property tax $1,927.22 (2013).

2 bedroom / 2 bath condo with balcony in Mount Prospect (Northwest Suburb). Includes 2 parking spaces. Rented for $1,000/month. Monthly assessment $224.00 (includes water, building insurance, exterior maintenance). Annual property tax $1,627.81 (2013).

Both condos are updated and well maintained and have excellent tenants with leases. Tenants were properly sreened. Never any issues with late or no payment of rent. No other issues with tenants. Well run associations with no special assessments. Condos are in prime locations making it very easy to rent!

Please contact me for additional information and details. Thanks!

Welcome to BP. Good luck on the 2 flat. Let us know how it turns out. I purchased a 2 flat in Norwood Park back in 2010 and had both apartments rehabbed. I lived in one unit and rented out the other.

Very nicely done! Great job!