All Forum Posts by: Henry Lazerow

IL has state laws that prohibit any IL city from passing rent control laws. Chicago can’t do it and would 100% have many years ago if they could. 

Hopefully this does not pass. @Brie Schmidt has been super helpful in fighting for landlord rights. Lets keep everyone informed when the next call to action is!

Seems everyday now more radical policies are being announced. The way I recommend my clients avoid problems is to only buy nice building in areas with high quality tenants, I cannot stress this enough for new investors in Chicago. A good golden rule is only buy a rental property if you would be willing to live there yourself. For example, my 4-unit in Rogers Park has never had a late payment notice needed in 8 years of ownership and of course never an eviction. I raise the rents to market every year and if someone leaves there is enough demand for multiple qualified applicants who are happy to live in a nice rental. On the flip side, there are other neighborhoods in Chicago where numbers look like great cashflow on paper but they have high eviction rates, even sometimes double digit eviction rates where you are heavily involved in Chicago eviction/tenant politics. In areas where the tenants can't afford the rent raise, you get stuck with either high vacancy/turnover or below-market rents. It's very important you NEVER let your rents get more than 10% below market rate with upcoming potential laws like this. It is not passed yet so if anyone has below market units I recomend you raise them immediately at the next lease renewal. Below are some excerpts from the new law.....

City Council lawmakers are hoping to once again bring to fruition the advancement of such protections for tenants this 2025 legislative session. Introduced by Alderman Desmon Yancy (5th Ward), the city’s proposed just cause eviction ordinance (“Record No. O2025-0017516”) would strengthen tenants’ rights in a concerted way, including by (1) requiring that landlords have just cause, such as nonpayment of rent or violation of the rental agreement, to evict a tenant or refuse to renew a tenant’s lease; (2) requiring that landlords provide tenants with relocation assistance if the tenancy is terminated through no fault of the tenant, or if the rent is increased by more than 10%; and (3) requiring property owners to register their rental units in a citywide registry in order to increase transparency in the private rental market.

Tenants who are terminated from their tenancy due to one of the causes listed are entitled to receive relocation assistance in the amount equal to five times the median monthly rent in the city for a unit with the same number of bedrooms.

This 100% “The most likely outcome will be every agent reading between the lines that your clueless in real estate, and acting like a greedy dink so we assume what else shady BS are you willing to pull over, like hiding various condition aspects.“ I would give my buyers a big warning if saw a list agent trying to pitch what you’re saying. I am not even sure how other posters here could do $10k flat. All my clients agree in advance what pay me as a buyers agent (2.5%) so if a seller offers less then the client just offers a little lower so I still get the 2.5%, it ends up netting exactly the same to seller as if they just did 2.5% initially. It’s not legal to show buyer a place without their fee agreed in advance anymore and I can’t see any good agent doing it for less, maybe Redfin agents but they don’t know investment properties like a BP type investor agent does and their business model has been decreasing for years losing market share to full priced firms like Compass. 

I have listed hundreds of rentals and never seen that happen (did leasing my first few years and still do them on the side for clients). We always list the full address here in north side Chicago. 

Your best protection is cameras and also hiding the lockbox location. As well as of course quality locks on your property. 

Focus on 3/4 units buildings instead! For a single family/condo it can forsure be a few years before actually in the green. Atleast in my market chicago north side you cashflow day 1 if buy a 3/4 unit at 25 down. I would never buy anything that didn't cashflow day 1 way too much risk of taxes going up, rents going down, etc. that can get you in trouble if that negative cashflow spread widens.

I do wonder what would happen to housing if Gavin Newsom won presidency 2028, could he implement similar laws California housing has for rest of US or do state laws override federal for things like rent control, etc.? I know IL state has laws against rent control which has prevented Chicago from implementing it. 

Don't buy properties in working class areas. Stick to class A/B and you will stop having these costly tenant issues. I haven't and been investing 8 years. I self manage and all my northside Chicago clients also have never had to do a single eviction either. It can happen but should be extreamly rare if your in a good area and do even basic qualifications. 

I also own a C class building in suburbs and it has an eviction or tenant leave before an eviction almost every year. It all depends on the area. 

Looking for any referrals for an insurance agent for a 4 unit property where one units is an airbnb. Please PM me. Thanks! 

A lot of these PM's don't even answer the emails prospects send. Switch management companies or find a good realtor and hire them direct to handle the leasing. A unit should never sit on market more then 2-3 weeks if it's priced right. 

When you sign the list docs you agree with seller in advance how much sellers agent and buyers agent collect. Regardless, I don't know any buyers agent who will try to squeeze their client for a higher offer due to higher co-op that would be extreamly unethical. Typically atleast in IL 2.5% is the co-op and on rare occasions seller offers less so the buyer just offers a little lower and pays the remaining portion themselves at closing, it ends up netting out the same.