All Forum Posts by: Jen W.

Hi! Here's my situation:

I have a returning tenant who left on great terms, will be renting out same unit he vacated and will have two roommates.  The other two roommates I do not have a previous relationship with.  Returning tenant and one of the roommates meets credit and income criteria, other roommate does not.  Roommate that does not meet criteria is a recent college grad with little credit and not enough income to support income/credit criteria at this time and offered his parents to co-sign.  All three people living in the unit would be on a written lease. 

My questions:

1. Do I require a co-signer for the roommate that does not meet the criteria?   

2. If I have a co-signer for this one roommate, do I do a credit check on the co-signer?

Thanks!

Ok, let's remove the pit bull from the mix and say it is another tenant with a non "aggressive breed" how would you handle that situation knowing that there are other dogs on premises? Any differently than signing an addendum, asking for renter's insurance, and hoping everyone abides by the rules (tall order, I know). 

The reason I'm leaning more toward allowing a dog of any breed (assuming no insurance violation) is because it is not prime rental season in Chicago and we want as little vacancy as possible. 

FWIW - We don't require security or pet deposits, Chicago tenant/landlord laws are very pro tenant, and any deposit is difficult to manage and can get a LL in a lot of trouble if mismanaged, we'd require a pet fee plus monthly pet rent for any dog or cat. 

Thank you, everyone, for your thoughts and advice! 

My biggest concern after not voiding insurance is making sure we are not liable for anything that could happen from a tenant not abiding by the terms of their lease (addendum). After that is noise, which is also something I'd add to the addendum. 

@Kevin S. As far as I know we do not have an "aggressive breed" clause in our policy but plan to double check. Provided there isn't one, do you have any other recommendations? 

This is me and my husbands first out to market rental, potential tenant inquires if we allow pit bulls.  We have another tenant that we inherited at purchase of property that has a pit bull and poodle.  Property is a three unit with fenced in yard.  Two questions/concerns:

1. How do you handle large dogs with bad reputations (pit bulls, rottweilers, etc.)? We are advertising the listing as pets allowed and pet rent will be applied (rent tbd).

2. The pit bull from existing tenant can be aggressive but ultimately friendly, the concern is existing tenant's dogs and potential tenant's dog being in the backyard at the same time (I'd have this concern with any two dogs, regardless of breed).  I want to include a rider/addendum in the Lease that states all pets must be on leash when in the backyard and that the yard is not a dog run and we'd post signage that states dogs must be on leash. 

Is there any other concerns/issues I should have? 

For what it is worth, property is in Chicago, IL. 

Hi all, thanks for you replies, yes we are in the city; one property is in Albany Park/Irving Park and the other is in Logan Square/Humboldt Park.  

Greetings! 

My Fiance and I are looking for several recommendations to help us build and maintain our real estate investment properties.  We are looking for:

- A CPA who is versed in multi-family properties, creating LLCs, and shares similar goals/values when it comes to real estate investing. 

- A plumber (or two).  We're looking to build partnerships/go to relationships as we build our portfolio 

- A General Contractor (or two).  Similar reasoning for plumbers, we are looking to do several renovation projects in our current property as well as the one we're under contract for. 

Please feel free to comment with your recommendations or PM me. 

Thank you!