All Forum Posts by: Jim Bryant

Everything is pretty normal for me in the Valley.  I haven't really increased my rents, just when I've had turnover.  

Wow a two bed-two bath for 1350?!  I might have to think about increasing some of my rents.  

One of my houses caught on fire (you can see it in the local news) at the beginning of April.  It was Arson!  My tenant's crazy adult daughter decided to set the couch on fire and that pretty much totaled the house.  The good news is it's insured and although the insurance won't cover the full repairs, I am able to sell the burned house for exactly what I bought it for in 2015 (19k).  

So good enough I suppose!

I'm looking to retire in a few years and when I look at houses in the Illinois Valley, they always seem disproportionately high compared to other rural areas in Illinois. I wonder why that is.

So we had a crappy tenant who didn't pay rent and we began eviction paperwork.  According to our other tenants, he's gone.  However his wife, an occupant on the lease, remains.  She swears up and down that she is merely moving her stuff out and will be  gone, but her full departure date keeps slipping. 

My question is, since  she is  not the lease-holder and is not paying, do I even need to legally evict her (along with her husband)?  Can I just call the cops and say she is trespassing.  I'm pretty sure she is just milking the situation, at least that is what experience tells me.  

Hope everything is going well with you guys!  We bought a 4-plex outside of the Quad Cities.  It's not too bad and was the best of the multi-unit homes at the time.

We also bought a home in Champaign that we plan on living in, at least for the  next few years.

We had a tenant go silent on us for a month or two and did not pay his utility bills either.  So anyway we went in and it looks like they abandoned the  property, leaving a mess of course!

So there's a new member of our Sierra List, do not rent to Micah Cole. You'll be glad you did(n't).

19,000

It was a silent auction for a bank foreclosure in the Illinois Valley.  The house needed some work, especially plumbing.

Not a bad little place though.  It has been rented to the same family for 6 years now.

Ok thanks alot!

I think I have my properties picked out.  Do I have to wait until the sale of my property too close before giving my list of three?

I just want to make sure the properties I have  my eye on don't sell while I'm waiting for everything to go through. 

Ok thanks for the advice! I think we've got it nailed down here. We worked with an attorney from the other side who was executing a FSBO and he says he can do the whole thing for 2k. The QI is asking 500 flat feet. That all seems reasonable.

So I'm trying to sell one of my rental properties to trade up to a multi-family home.  

There is no problem with finding a buyer, my renter wants to buy it for my asking price.

Since I already have a buyer, I don't think I should use an agent.  So what will I need to make this sale all legal-beagle?  Some people are talking about escrow or title companies and others about getting a lawyer.

In addition, since I want to do a 1031 exchange, I guess I need to find a QI.   Also for the purposes of my 1031 exchange I am looking at more expensive properties than the sale price of my home and at the time of the sale I own the property outright.  I read something about needing the amount of debt to be greater on the new property, but since I own the property I am selling outright, I would imagine it doesn't apply. 

This all seems very complex, does anyone have experience with this in Illinois?

These guys have never steered me wrong.  Very thorough:

https://www.rocksolidinspectio...

Things are fine with us, all our units our filled.  We had a goofy renter at No. 2, which is our problem child house.  He decided to stop paying at one point and it took forever to get him out.  In the end we didn't have to evict him, just threaten it a bunch of times.  Of course, he left all sorts of trash, as is the custom.

The 3-unit is doing well, but of course there are new problems like who will the cut the grass and tenants complaining about other tenants.  Other than, though, working out well.

There is a 4 unit in Spring Valley.  They are listing at 279k and they collect 2200 total for rent a month.  Running the numbers, it seems either the price is way too high or the rent is way too low, not sure.

I  thought about selling a couple of my weaker performers and putting it towards another multi-unit.  I mean prices are so damn inflated, that it might be a better idea to consolidate into fewer, but higher-yield properties. 

Anyway, what's going on with you?