All Forum Posts by: Joe Cantanzriti

@John Casmon Thanks, and I am certainly excited to take on Chicago, certainly a big change from Ohio. We did factor in PM as that was the original plan though I just haven't gotten there yet as we have been in a constant state of renovation for the past year it seems between turnover and a new acquisition so the plan always was to turn over to PM once we were renovated and occupied. Though I did plan on managing myself for a little while just to get a feel for what all it entailed as I knew I would appreciate PM once I had experienced it myself.

I love the idea of the 2-4 unit and living in one as that was actually the plan here in Youngstown for one of my units, though it didn't actually happen. Do you know if when using FHA financing to purchase a 2-4, will the bank count the rental income towards your overall income? I'm wondering because the price tags I'm seeing for 2-4s is a little steeper than what our income will support.

@Jeff Valentino  My rentals now are so-so to be honest, had a major heroine turned eviction problem recently that is thankfully now over but that really put a strain on me managing all of them the best that I could, not to mention it was affecting 2 other tenants negatively as well. I do think I will hold most of them as I do have family still here in town that can assist with any issues when they arise. And yes, I certainly need some time to figure out Chicago.. its about 1000x the size of my current market and a bit daunting.

@Jimmy Chou As far as how large of a project, as long as it's in finance-able condition we could certainly make it work as we do have some temporary housing options there should we find a project that would take a bit longer to get to live-able condition. Pop the top might be a more aggressive strategy than I'd want to take on for my personal residence and first property in Chicago but layout changes are no problem at all, my background and current job is in architecture & development so I'm pretty comfortable with major changes as long as the bank account likes them of course.

I really appreciate all of these thoughts on my current rentals as far as making them more systematic... really need to sit down and flowchart it like you just said, great idea!

James Austin I would say focus on the deals and your 'buyers list' will appear before you without much effort if what you have to sell is a deal. Also, Bigger Pockets is your buyers list.

@Jimmy Chou I appreciate the response.... yes I have seen that we're looking in a very popular area, if it was just me I'd live anywhere that I could find a deal but that's probably not realistic with the future wife. Although she is more than willing to get into a project property as we've done full renovations in the past together. 

We really don't have a great system right now for the rentals though I know I need it, seems the hardest part of that for me is the work order mechanism.... right now my go to guys barely operate a cell phone let alone a computer or technology that could help me out. 

The other piece to the puzzle is that if we don't sell one or several of the properties, buying a place in chicago is probably not realistic right now as I just don't have the cash for the price ranges of Chicago properties compared to here. So we're in the debate right now on whether to rent for a year or try and do a short term rental and then buy as soon as find something. 

@Kevin Coleman  Thanks for posting this link, just made a post about moving to Chicago so I'm jumping in and trying to immerse myself in a totally different landscape than where I'm coming from. 

@Carrie Herrmann Could be "What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to know about Cashflow." By Frank Gallinelli 

If that's not the one you were thinking of you could go to the podcast page and look through the show notes to find it as well. At the bottom of the podcast page they have a "Books Mentioned" category.

So I'm about to make the move from my home town of Youngstown where I've lived and worked all my life up until now and started my rental portfolio 2 years ago which is now at 7 units. My fiance got an opportunity of her lifetime in her industry and we've always talked about moving to Chicago down the road but apparently that time is now! So a couple things I'm pondering, I currently manage my own properties and don't necessarily want to sell them off though I'm a little weary of giving them to a management company and being a timezone away, though I know many people do this.  Also I would love to continue my business in Chicago, so I'm looking forward to connecting and diving into the market! We'll be moving to the north side somewhere possibly Roscoe Village, Lakeview, maybe Lincoln Park areas.... though from my initial searches it seems a bit daunting to purchase something in any of those areas, any Realtors out there willing to lend a hand?

Hi Mike, Since you're in Akron, go online and check out Hondros.com. They offer several different time options for you to get the license classes completed as well as all of the information you need. Also spend a minute on the Ohio.gov department of commerce site for real estate, lots of good information there as well. You can't get take the classes online so you will have to physically go to class at the Hondros location.

Agreed with all of the above, don't avoid Hubzu, just choose to use your own title company as Altisource is a pain to deal with. Hubzu deals can be great since many investors avoid it because of the perceived issues and problems that come with it, I've found not much competition on some deals that come through Hubzu in my area.