All Forum Posts by: Garfield M.

$1200/month for a 2 bedroom in bridgeport is still a great deal for a tenant. A nicely renovated 2 bedroom with a decent layout can get you $1800 pretty easy. Smaller 2 beds can still fetch around $1400. Unless you have very small apartments or with strange layout, I think you should be shooting for higher rents in this neighborhood which would probably make the decision for you to just go ahead and get the rehabs done before next year's high demand rental season. Just my two cents.

Quote from @Henry Lazerow:

Isn't it already allowed city wide now? Or alderman allowing case by case currently city wide but the regulations would make it a right of property owners without alderman approval needed? 

 Here's a useful article about most of the changes.

https://www.chicagocityscape.com/blog/chicago-appears-to-be-in-the-home-stretch-for-citywide-adu-expansion-8bfd8b2bc8

Quote from @Henry Lazerow:

Isn't it already allowed city wide now? Or alderman allowing case by case currently city wide but the regulations would make it a right of property owners without alderman approval needed? 

No. Currently the pilot areas are restricted to designated pilots on the North, Northwest, West, South and Southeast sides. 

The ammendment proposes to also allow 2 ADUs at one property (basement + coach house). This change is significant for the financial feasibility of ADU construction in Chicago since water service costs can be more easily justified when collecting rents from two additional unit.

Also proposes to allow larger units and to allow ADU construction in any zoning designation. Not just residential, so it would expand the possibility of ADU construction to alot of building owners.

Zoning meeting this Tuesday has ADU ammendment on the agenda. If approved in zoning, would go to Chicago city council this Wed. Seems to be in the home stretch for city wide approval.

If you support, send your alderperson an email in support before this Wednesday

https://secure.everyaction.com/HnLeBVXmk0GdcAnDBRKkJA2

Quote from @Brandon Brown:

My wife and I own a two-flat in Chicago, and we're planning to upgrade our heating system. Currently, we have boilers and radiators that we want to remove to create space in the basement for a future conversion into another dwelling unit. The basement meets all the criteria for a dwelling unit in Chicago, but we need to go through the re-zoning process.

In addition, we have old R22 forced air units that we want to replace with a heat pump. Chicago winters can be harsh, so we're curious if anyone has had a good experience using a heat pump with an ancillary heat strip for those extremely cold days when the heat pump can't keep up. We know that a dual fuel system would be more optimal, but the cost of running a gas line and venting is likely higher than adding another circuit for the heat strip.

Furthermore, we are looking for recommendations for an HVAC installer in Chicago. We plan to provide all the HVAC equipment ourselves, so we need someone who is willing to install it. Unfortunately, none of the larger HVAC companies in Chicago are willing to install equipment they haven't sold.

Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

 No personal experience here but here's a helpful reference from someone who wrote a blog about different aspects of a 2 flat remodel in Chicago 

Scroll to "Two-flat journal 6: How to make an all-electric house" - - speaks a little about heat pumps and cost In the HVAC section.  

https://www.stevencanplan.com/tag/two-flat-journal/

Difficult to value the non-conforming units in Chicago but you can get an idea with comparables

I would look at similar properties sold within the last year. It's not a science with price per unit so there's gonna some discrepancies 

Here's some examples of some recent comps in the same Chicago neighborhood within a half mile area sold during the last 12 months 

This is a legal two unit with a nonconforming basement apartment

https://redf.in/o9h0T8

Here's a 2 flat with a nonconforming basement and attic unit (so Four total two of which are nonconforming)

https://redf.in/h7VIpL

Here's a legal 3 unit

https://redf.in/JIentS

All 3 are in pretty similar condition and all three sold about the same price. If its in good condition theres buyers for these properties. However as you can see, the property with two nonconforming units sold at a significant discount if looked at on a price per unit basis.

Quote from @Elijah Grindstaff:

Anyone have thoughts on Woodlawn and W Woodlawn area for 2-4 unit investing?

Woodlawn has alot going for it. Just off the lake, green line at Cottage grove, Midway Plaisance to U of C, demand from the university, obama library, Jackson Park. For a long time U of C had a bad reputation to neighborhood residents but now theres a student residence at 61st/ellis. Crime still a concern but has been somewhat improving.

East of cottage Grove and North of 63rd has changed quite a bit already and prices have risen. South of 63rd to 67th is changing more slowly but still improving. West of cottage Grove is changing gradually also but still a hard area to manage in. 

I'd say East of cottage Grove would be pretty good for a househacker. U of C gives you some rental demand with not only the school but also the hospital/medical center. That will likely increase over the long run. Prices are not cheap but I'd expect east woodlawn to get better than average appreciation over the next 5-20 years. West woodlawn would likely do well too but would be harder to manage.

I disagree with some of the above posters that living for free is not possible in Chicago anymore. Its definitely more difficult and probably impossible in the popular and rapidly gentrifying areas though.

I'd say your best balanced area to look in general is the SW side of the city. Prices are high but they are less pricey than the north side or the south lakefront neighborhoods. They are relatively stable and there's also potential for growth. Bridgeport has high prices. Down archer there's McKinley park which has growth potential due to proximity to the orange line EL Station. There's also some redevelopment in planning stages in the former CMD district on pershing road. Those reasons and the demographic changes already occurring there lead me to be bullish on that area. With proximity to Chinatown and Bridgeport, the demographics of the neighborhood are changing. 

https://mckinleypark.news/news...

Southwest of there you have Brighton Park which is a working class neighborhood with a stable tenant pool. There has also been some demographic change there to a smaller extent with some Hispanics moving out and Chinese moving in. Further southwest there's Archer heights which has a similar purchase price to brighton park and a stable tenant pool of  working class families. The amount of house hackable 2-4 unit multifamilies drops off as you go SW of midway Airport. 

In these neighborhoods you have the most likelihood to live for free in a relatively safe neighborhood by househacking. I bought two househacks in McKinley Park in 2021 and 2022 and after small cosmetic improvements, I live for free in the second property and bring in about $700 monthly cash flow from the first.My purchases were before the interest rates rose. I have found great renters in the neighborhood with good incomes and credit scores above 750. 

Quote from @David Pfeifer:

I just bought a property that has one gas bill for 3 units, and I want to split it equally and charge my tenants. What is the best way to actually bill my tenants monthly for the gas bill, and how do they pay me for it? 

I had this same dilemma. I chose to bake it into total rent as others above have said. Either include a regular monthly fee or bake into overall cost is what I would do.

However to minimize the gasbill this is what else you can do:

Use all electric stoves

If you have laundry, i guess you can go electric with dryers also I guess but I have coin operated in basement and plan to keep gas as its better. 

I have boiler heat system. Maybe you do too.  I installed a wifi thermostat hardwired to the boiler system in the basement. Then, in the upper units I installed compatible remote sensors. I use the first floor apartment as the primary thermostat for the building. This way you can see the real time temperature of each unit from an app on your phone. It's worked pretty well and allowed me to control the temp of the entire building without anyone having access to change it. The hardwired thermostat is password protected. I included the links to what I bought below.

If you have wifi at the property you can do that. If you don't have wifi then you might need to play around manually until you find a good temp for everyone in building.

 https://www.supplyhouse.com/Ve...

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Ve...

Thanks for offering your help. 

In chicago, where do you usually buy appliances for your rentals? I usually buy from outlet stores like best buy outlet or lowes outlet. Can get decent deals for open box items or hundreds of dollars off for a missing owners manual or a small scratch. Do you know of any other ways to buy quality new appliances at good prices. 

Also can you list the brands youd recommend for stoves, washer dryer, etc for landlords? Durability and infrequent repairs are king. 

also, any features to avoid when buying appliances? 

Thanks again