All Forum Posts by: Mark Doyle

Thank you @John Weidner .  I get so frustrated with people saying there is nothing nice on the south side.  I grew up in Beverly and my parents still live in Mt. Greenwood.  Those always have been, and as far as I can tell, will always remain great neighborhoods to live and raise a family.  I'd certainly classify those as "A".  The nicest homes in Beverly sell between $500k and $1 million, and you can pay well over $300k for an updated 1,000 sq. ft, three bedroom ranch with a finished basement in Mt. Greenwood.  There are other nice areas on the south side as well.  The entire south side is not Engelwood and Roseland.

A lot of people value the safety you feel surrounded by the homes of cops and firemen.

@David Hutcherson I did.  It is rented and making money.

@Brie Schmidt @Michael Garcia First, I always give this caveat - Anyone can sue you for anything or nothing at any time.  All they have to do is write up some kind of complaint and pay a filing fee.  That's why we have insurance!

Having said that, yes, Illinois has the Snow and Ice Removal Act.  I cut and pasted the text of the statute below.  Based on the Act, it is always better to make an attempt at removal.  Both you as landlord, and your snow removal contractor, are protected by the Act.

It's not that surprising that it is assessed that much higher than purchase price.  I just bought a condo for $47,500, and it is assessed at a market value of $100,000.  

Like I said, if you appeal, you should get the taxes reduced.  Obviously there are no guarantees, but if you call the local assessor, they should be happy to discuss it with you before you purchase.  

It all depends on the local assessor and/or Cook County Assessor whether they will give you the purchase price as the new market value.  They may decide you just got a great deal and use comps instead to determine the value of the property.  When you appeal, you can get a tax appeal attorney, or you can do it on your own.  If you do it on your own, do your homework and have good comps to show the assessor.  

In Frankfort, our local assessor will automatically reassess at the purchase price no matter what.  If your township were to do that for you, that would be ideal.  First thing to do is find out what township it is in, and call that assessor's office and have a discussion.  

@Kevin K.  As for the tax rate, it changes pretty much every year.  But if you want to know what the 2013 tax rate was, go to the Cook County Treasurer's website and search using the property PIN.  If you don't have the PIN, go to the Cook County Assessor's website and search by address.  (It's really annoying you can't search by address on the Treasurer's website and have to go through the extra step.  Hopefully they fix that someday.)  Once you have the PIN search the Treasurer's website and look at the last tax bill.  Once you know the total amount of the property taxes billed, just divide that number by the assessed value and you get the tax rate.

@Kevin K. Cook County assesses residential property at 10%.  So if your total assessed value is 17,654, you are being assessed for a market value of $176,540.  If you were to purchase for $90k, you should win a tax appeal.

@Liam Goble Ok Liam, this is coming from the perspective of an Illinois attorney.  Not sure on all of Pennsylvania's laws, so don't take this as "legal advice".  You will need to talk to a Pennsylvania attorney to be sure.  But here are my thoughts.  First of all, the drunk driver who drove into your building is not going to sue you.  There are no grounds (based on the facts I have read).  Plaintiff's attorneys work on a contingency basis and would never take a case like that.  They will take crappy cases hoping for a settlement, but never something where there is not even an argument.  

So the question is, what do you do?  First, I would go to your insurance company and see if they will pay for ALL of your damages.  As has been suggested, you need to calculate all of your damages from this, and think long and hard about what those will be.  Make your claim with your insurance company.  Give them all supporting documentation.  If they will reimburse you for everything, minus a deductible, take it and they will subrogate (sue in your place) against the driver to get their money, and your deductible, back.  That way you don't have to go hiring an attorney and pay attorney fees.  

If you cannot get a satisfactory recovery from your insurance company, then you should go get your own attorney to go after the driver for his insurance proceeds.  The problem with this is an attorney is going to take a chunk of your recovery (33% in most cases but try to negotiate down to 25%).  In Illinois, attorney fees are not recoverable for negligence cases.  And since property damages are a fixed number, unlike injury damages where you can recover for pain and suffering, paying attorney fees means money is coming directly out of your pocket.

Having said that, if this guy really was drunk, depending on Pennsylvania law, you may be able to seek punitive damages.  In that case, you can recover more than your property damages, and possibly make up for the attorney fees.  

So, to summarize, try to get a full recovery from your insurer first and let them deal with litigation.  If you cannot, then hire an attorney that will work on a contingent basis and ask him/her about the possibility of recovering punitive damages since the driver was drunk.

Thanks @Kimberly H.  and @Deborah Smith I am an attorney and I agree the HOA may have some liability exposure. At the very least, it would be named in an injury lawsuit, along withe property manager. But really it is only a limited common element and primarily the unit owner's responsibility. So most of the exposure is on me. That's why I have to make sure nobody goes out there.

I may be able to use the threat of possible liability vs. the HOA to get things moving though. There's an HOA meeting tonight and I will bring it up.

I'm pretty sure I am decided that I will not get a tenant until the work is done.  If that is during the tougher holiday/winter months, so be it.  It's not worth the hassle at this point.

Thanks for the advice Richard.  The hotel idea is a good one.  The significant disruption should only be a couple days.  But yes, of course, it would all be discussed before any lease is signed.

Good morning everyone.  I have a landlord question I was hoping to get some input on.  I closed on a condo in a Chicago suburb to rehab and then rent out.  I did all the inside work myself and that work is pretty much done.  So the unit is ready to be rented.  However, the balcony (3rd floor) is probably not completely structurally sound.  The support joists are rotted and need to be replaced.  The condo association is going to have all the balconies at the building repaired at once by their contractor so they all look the same.  Mine is in the worst shape, but chances are there are others that are on their way to having similar structural issues.  How my balcony is repaired is going to depend on the condition of the others.  If most of the others only need a minor facelift, then the contractor will take up my floor and sister new joists running out to support the balcony.  If several others also need structural repair, then the contractor will erect 2x6's to support all the balconies for a uniform look.

Here's my issue - I have no idea how long that will take, since it is dependent on the cooperation of 23 other condo owners, inspections, decisions being made, permits, and then work being done. I don't want to incur further holding costs while I am waiting.  Not to mention if it takes until November it will be really difficult finding a tenant during the holidays and early winter months.  But if I put a tenant in there now, I am subjecting myself to possible liability.  I would of course make the tenant agree not to go on the balcony until it was repaired (and probably lower the rent a bit until it is done to make up for the time without a balcony - possibly even give free rent during the actual construction to make up for any inconvenience).  But what if they have some stupid guests that go out there jumping up and down and the whole thing comes down?

Would you other landlords recommend getting a tenant in there or just continuing to eat taxes, association fees, etc. until the balcony is fully repaired?