All Forum Posts by: Hans Suljic

WOW didn't think I was gonna get so much good information or advice on my first discussion post. Wish I would have found BP way earlier. You guys are all awesome!

@John Warren Thanks for the insight! There is definitely value in the west and south side. I know Cicero's crime rate has gone down in the past few years. (Since I manage and rehab the properties myself I've always been turned off by areas with a lot crime) I'll have to look more into that area. I know Multi-Family seem to sell very fast there. Every property I find that matches my criteria is ether contingent or pending sale.

@Soh Tanaka I've owned a 21 unit building in Glenview for quite some time now and trust me I know how much "Crook" county can be a headache. I've been trying to rezone another property I have in Glenview for the past year and the changes they are requiring make ZERO sense. It's at the point where I'm contemplating selling the property as is and moving on. I've heard about the new ordinance they are trying to pass but I haven't looked into it yet. I should probably get on that. :)

@Gloria N Gear Thanks for the advice! I looked into Lake Geneva and Lake Como in 2019 thinking to buy a property to airbnb, but COVID has put those plans on hold.

@Tim Jensen- Thank you so much for your input! If I find something I'm interested in I'll definitely get in touch.

@Jonathan Klemm- I 100% agree with you. I'm the same way in regards to cash flow. I'm more focused on appreciation and equity building since I already have very good cashflow from my existing properties. Chicago will always be my primary market, but I feel that prices are inflated and I don't want to invest here at the moment. At the same time, I don't want to wait around for the market to change or for the next market crash that may or may not happen. I've been hearing people say the market is going to crash next year for the past 5 years... I don't want to sit idle in the meantime.  

@John Warren

Hello BP! I need your help. I'm looking to buy a multifamily property somewhere outside of Chicago. As much as I love the city, the prices here have gotten out of control and I feel like my money can go a lot further elsewhere. So unless the market takes a dip or I find a briefcase full of cash under a park bench, Chicago is off the table. 

Now before you tell me to go take my money and get a one-way ticket to Ohio, I want to be close to Chicago. I want to be an hour to an hour a half drive from the property. That is the furthest distance I would go when it comes to long-distance investing. The reason being is because I have a background in carpentry and plumbing and love to work on my own properties. I also love being able to visit my properties since it gives me a sense of pride, motivation, and gets me out of the house.

One of the places I've looked into is Northwest Indiana, Whiting specifically. The properties seem to be in a great price range but then again I do not know if that's just the Chicago investor in me because personally, anything under 300k is a steal. Those prices can be overpriced for Indiana so I'm looking for advice. It has a large blue-collar workforce and I'm starting to see a trend where many people who work in Chicago are moving to parts of Northwest Indiana since it's a short drive away from Chicago and houses are much cheaper, along with much lower property tax and cost of living. Northwest Indiana is also investing 2 billion dollars in infrastructure to improve the connections to Chicago with better highways and also adding railways. 

Do you have any insight about the area? What are some other places to look into around Chicago? Any Investors from Normal, Illinois, Aurora, Illinois, Rockford, Illinois, or Southern Wisconsin that can give me some advice? Thank you!

I think renting out the condo and getting some skin in the game would be a great start to your investment journey. Even if it doesn't cash flow that good I'd just have it build equity, get some exposure to being a landlord, and keep studying/learning about investment properties. Once you figure out if this is the path you want to take you can take the necessary steps to move forward. Best of luck! @Jenny Erickson 

Many of the landlords I know started out with buying condos to rent out because there are less barriers to entry and less work when you take into consideration the HOA takes care of the building but over time as there portfolio's increase the condos are the first thing they sell. HOA fee's can really eat up your profit and even dealing with them can be a pain (I recently changed the door knob to my gf's condo to a smart lock and she got a letter saying if she doesn't change it back she will be fined since they want all the doorknobs in the building hall way to look the same or something along those lines.)(-_-) Also condo's/townhomes just don't appreciate in value as much as Single and Multi-families do which is important if you are trying to be a buy and hold investor. I think equity you have in it can definitely go far in a city like Detroit especially if you wanna reach that 5-10 rental property mark.

I've thought about investing in Ohio for a while. You can definitely get a lot of bang for your buck and from what I hear it's also a more of a "landlord friendly" state.

That's awesome @A.J. Manaseer I actually live and own a multifamily in glenview and I'm in the process of rezoning one of my properties to build a 8-10 plex but cook county is being difficult as I'm sure anyone that lives here would know. I do not know many other investors in this area so feel free to message me if you'd like to talk more about this! 

Start building! I'm planning on building 3 duplexes this summer on a property I own. Unless the market takes a nose dive then ill just redirect that money into multi-families and save building for another time.

@Michael Leeson I have an licensed HVAC guy that lives in one of my buildings that has been doing work for me for the past 2 years. Since he lives in the building he can get to the problem immediately and doesn't charge me extra for emergency calls which is nice. I pay him out right for his work but I've heard of people deducting payments out of the rent or giving cheaper rent to those type of tenants. I wouldn't advise this because I think it just complicates things. I also wouldn't I have him do work for me if he wasn't licensed. 

On a side note my uncle has a great tenant who is a retired janitor that takes care of small repairs and general maintenance (leaking sinks and toilets, shoveling snow, cutting grass, etc) They've been doing this for the past 10 years and the tenant acts as the eyes and ears of the building. This has definitely helped him out over the years with tenants in the past trying to steal the appliances when they moved out or another occasion when some guys (With the key to the unit??) were supposedly renovating a vacant unit when in reality they were trying to steal copper pipes. Lucky these occasions were stopped since the tenant has a good relationship with my uncle and alerted him. 

I think as long as there is a healthy level of trust and the tenant has the proper experience and background. It can definitely be a win win situation. 

Hi Frank! I've never been through that process, but I do know that there have been problems with Chicago rehab shows primarily Windy City Rehab. I don't know if that's the show you are applying too but there's been many problems with them doing shoddy plumbing and electrical work not to mention they are being sued from one of the families for "a deliberate and fraudulent scheme to misappropriate funds”. If this is case I definitely don't think its worth a few thousand. It sounds like a really cool opportunity I would just be super cautious and get the necessary people involved when going over the contract. Let us know how it goes!