All Forum Posts by: Jim Bryant

So I was talking with a coworker today and she mentioned HUD-VASH. From what I gather it's somewhat like Section 8, but benefits homeless vets. I wanted to know if anyone had experience with it. How tough are the housing inspections to qualify and how good is the rental income?

What were those killer deals?  

Since we bought our latest, the 3-plex in Spring Valley, we haven't been looking around.  Looking today, I saw there are NO multi-families available on Zillow, at least in my search region.  That's interesting, unless I'm doing something wrong.  In any case we're not in a position to pick up anything for a while, we've got two properties (out of six)  that aren't paid off and we are very conservative about debt.

There is a real Mansion for sale in Tiskilwa, "the Stevens House", which is a historical home (although I don't know why).  I was looking for something like that for our living house after I retire in a few years, although it probably won't be available.  Tiskilwa is  far from everything as well, so  probably not the best.  I would like it to be at least close to a gym!

Hey  fun fact, the lousy city of Spring Valley charges a fee for having a rental home.  $25 a year, $10 for each additional unit (if it's a multi-family deal).  I mean it doesn't really effect my bottom line much, but talk about nickel and diming you!

@Anthony Bellesbach  Oh ok, a real bad neighbor!  Never had that one happen before, usually non payment, but hard to be THAT bad in DePue ;).  We use USAA my smart move for our background checks, but we make sure to call those past landlords, they've  helped us sidestep some landmines that's  for sure!   Facebook marketplace is awesome though, we use  it exclusively.  Well good luck, like I said, in our experience once you post the notice  on their door or deliver it, they'll usually beat feet on their own.  Also, forget about getting money from them for whatever (other than the deposit).  I did a "it's the principle of the thing" and all I got was a larger bill from the attorney.

@Diana Dorantes  Oh you guys have a property manager?  We weren't  able to find a real property manager in the Illinois Valley!

Sorry to hear that, I guess they went rotten right from the start!  Well for sure, don't use Eric May, we used him and he totally sucked.  You could  try to file for eviction yourself, that our plan next time someone doesn't pay up for a while.  It's really just a form that will cost you 200 dollars to file with the courthouse.   Look up the timelines, but if you present them with an eviction notice, they'll generally leave on their own.  That's how it turned out every time we evicted someone.

If you don't mind me asking, how did you find these schlubs?   When we started off in the business we didn't really do much vetting but after we started doing references, credit checks and all that we haven't had to boot anyone out.

So folks I just bought my first multi-family.  It's a 3 unit, but has an odd utility setup.  It has 2 furnaces and 2 water heaters and an odd set up.  So Apartment A is on its own system and they pay everything themselves.  Apartments B and C share the same grid and the old landlord was splitting the electricity bill 2/3 and 1/3 between them and paying their water bill.  

This system seems hopelessly involved and given the fact that we don't live locally puts too much active involvement on our shoulders as well as "check-writing" which is always a mess (we use  an online service to collect rent).  Water as well, we've never  paid water, but I imagine that it can cut into profits pretty well.  I suppose we'll have to request the average cost to see if it's worth worrying about.  

So has anyone ever had meters put in?  How much did it cost?  I imagine having meters installed, for water as well, will save money over the long term.  I guess I'll have to keep with the legacy "system" for at least the first few months.  

I have also read about "submeters", does anyone have experience with using them?  Do they work pretty well?

Well little update on our adventures in the Illinois Valley.  We were able to get a renter in our best house in DePue for 900.  I did have a few people on facebook who took the time to tell me how I was crazy to ask 900 in DePue (I was even told to "get real", very 80-ish!).  In the end we had a few good prospects, although many no-shows for showings.  I feel like when I go back to my roots, people are just so unreliable and nonchalant about life.  

During the crisis we've been looking for multi-units.  Finally we found some better deals in Henry, LaSalle and Spring Valley.  Our offer for a 3 unit in Spring Valley was accepted and  now we are just going through the process, loan and all that.  The main issue we have is for the three unit there are only 2 furnaces and water heaters.  The landlord was paying water before, but I don't want to do  that, so I'll have to figure something out.  Maybe I'll just get another furnace and water heater.  Might cost a bit more now, but I'm sure it will save all sorts of money.

Nice!  I'm  impressed.  Let me know how things turn out with the renters.  I've  been able to find good renters in DePue and  that has a bad reputation in the area (maybe not as bad as Streator though).  Let me know how it goes down for you, maybe we need to rethink our strategy.  There  were some beautiful homes in Streator  that you can tell used to be super luxurious and just needed some fixing up, but my wife was turned off by the large amount of other, neglected homes around them.

Well let us know, we avoided Streator but maybe we were too hasty if you are getting 950 for rent.  What's the taxes like?