All Forum Posts by: Joe H.

Wish I would have seen this sooner, would have loved to meet up. I started out doing this and would love to share. Let me know if you have another meet up.

I would be interested to learn more about where your land is at, please PM me with the location. Sometimes new construction in Chicago doesn't necessarily mean there is a market for that. Many parts of the city, particularly where there are $1 lot program lots, aren't feasible for new construction and the new construction you do see is built by non profits.

Please PM me and I can possibly help you. You might want to find some nice smaller mixed use properties. One of the few places that you can still find value right now is in properties that are too complex for portions of the market. Commercial guys often don't want to deal with residential and residential guys are afraid of commercial. A building with a couple of apartments and a nice commercial storefront is often a bit cheaper since the pure residential and pure commercial guys are both not going to touch it and it's too small for the institutional investors to pursue it. 

Ah yes, just give the RLTO a quick glace and jump right in! What could possibly go wrong! Being a landlord in Chicago can be a total **** show if you don't do your research first. Please do your research in depth before you commit to the responsibilities of being a landlord particularly in a super competitive and complex market like Chicago.

So I found out you can now use FHA to acquire mixed use properties with up to 49% commercial component. The multifamily market in my area is totally overwrought (if you can even find something on the market at all) so I'm thinking of advising a client to pursue a mixed use building.

My one question would be how the FHA counts commercial storefronts from a unit count perspective. Is each separate storefront a "unit"? The line is very clear with pure multifamily, but sometimes you might have a building that has 3 big residential units that are 1000 SF each and then 600 SF of storefront divided into two tiny little storefronts. Do each of those count as a "unit" thereby making it a 5 unit building and ineligible for the loan? Seems very odd to me that FHA ever started allowing mixed use, but I sure want to find out how to best take advantage of the program given the newish rules allowing it.

If you have a good working relationship with the right commercial bank, they will give you loans with almost no seasoning. Typically my bank will finance me out of a construction project with 2-3 months of rent roll. We usually start the process as soon as I'm done leasing it up and by the time we have all the paperwork done, they are comfortable with the tenants. But I have an ongoing relationship with an institution that trusts the product I put out. 

Also, not to knock anyone's success, but I just don't think I could handle owning 25 separate properties. But I do my own management, so that's probably the difference. I just sold off a bunch of properties because I owned 14 buildings with almost 50 units a few months ago and was getting sick of the constant repairs and tenant issues. I've now grown my businesses providing the services I've learned to others since it is definitely not a buyers market in the areas I prefer any more. Looks like I've jumped out of the frying pan into the fire though since now I get paid to clean up other people's problems now instead of my own!

I have a property management company, Ideal Property Management. I just hired three additional permanent employees and am looking to grow. There should never be a situation where a manager is taking your rents to cover their losses. That seems like a serious, probably criminal, violation of the law. PM me if you are interested in meeting or just want to chat further. 

I'm a broker on Chicago's NW side. PM me if you'd like to talk.

My property management company does apartment turns and painting. We could easily knock this out for you. PM me if you are interested.

What collateral is there for this $20,000 loan? I would assume any HML doesn't want 2nd liens being put on the property. PM me if you want to chat about it.