All Forum Posts by: Garrett Pearson

Does anyone have information or have had an encounter buying or selling a house in University Park with illegal upgrades, such as a bathroom installed without permits? If so, please share your knowledge and experience?

@Colleen F.

@Merritt S.

@Laura Guy

I’m going to agree that lessor and lessee is the most appropriate term. It is already a legal term used as part of Real Estate law. Housing provider is a term often used in social services and nonprofits. That is not to say anything negative because I appreciate the work we do. Keep in mind shelters are housing providers for homeless well that word is inappropriate in some arenas so I should say the “unhoused” because someone needed change that term. When the Housing Authority, Grantors and many in the Social Service community are referring to the person who is providing free or subsidized housing, they refer to them as the Housing Provider. When I hear the term, I immediately think it is potentially a charitable situation. With that in mind, what’s to differentiate the difference between renters/lessee from those who are recipients of free housing (without a lease or legal obligation to pay) from “housing providers” unless you use the terms, tenants/lessee. As a RE licensee and CEO of a Nonprofit, I can tell you that it’s important to be able to easily differentiate the two terms especially when something is in writing and an explanation made not be readily available.

@Rob Jones Personally, I would start looking for a new PM. Meanwhile, you should amend your contract to include the handling of utilities bills. Make it clear that the tenant is required to transfer the utilities prior to move in and if isn’t done, the utilities become the responsibility of the PM. I would also include a clause that they are not authorized to deduct profits from other properties to cover expenses without prior approval.

I am interested to hear some of the experienced Chicago investors thought/opinions on how you think Mayor Lightfoot's plan to "limit aldermanic prerogatives" as it relates to zoning and permits will change the permitting process in Chicago especially as it relates to Expeditors.

Hello fellow investors. Hope your day and all your investments are going well. I also hope I posted this in the right forum. Has anyone or know someone who has any experience working with American Portfolio or Duke Capital Portfolio? If so, what was experience? Thanks for your input.

@Ibn Abney Sound like you hit the jackpot. It's great to know that BRRRR's are still possible in the Chicago market. I was getting a bit discouraged. Thanks for sharing.

@Marc Winter Thanks for the input. I appreciate your time. Very valuable information. I love the screwdriver test tip. With the replies that I received from this post, I'll be out sniffing this weekend with a new nose. Thanks again.

@Ibn Abney "When I smell urine and mold, I see $$$ signs :-)" LOL. That's certain a different perspective. You are getting all the properties I have been running from especially as a first flip because I too have been seeing $$$ signs but coming out of my pockets and going into the contractors. Maybe I need to re-evaluate my thought process. Thanks for your input. My prospect list just got to larger.

I was talking to an investor that was telling me about a house that he purchased that had mold issues and I don't want to quote him because I may get it wrong but I believed he said that he gave the house a good wash down and put it on the market. I am looking to do my first flip or BRRR and I just realized after hearing that I subconsciously run from anything that have mold beyond the bathroom when viewing potential properties. I see mold as a major and costly problem. I need your help here. Am I overthinking it? What is your experience with mold? How do you deal with mold?

@Martin Neal CONGRATS!!! Great job. You may have left some money in the deal but it sounds like you learned a lot. The best part is that the money is not lost but invested. You mentioned that you would have been able to refinance sooner if you had refinanced in the LLC. Are there banks that you ran across or know of that don't require a 6 month seasoning for refinancing for LLC's?