All Forum Posts by: John Clark

Basement floods? Numbers flashing yellow, not green? Walk. You don't need the hassle.

"It takes a very moral Realtor AND two parties that of equal experience in buying and selling for dual agency to be fair. "

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Dual agency is not and cannot be fair. It is a contradiction in terms. It is only a way for a shill to cover his butt and double dip, to the harm of the seller.

I see a giant red flag. If ARV is 138, and it only needs cosmetic work, why is purchase price so low?

Owners don't walk away from $50K + in equity.

Go to the recorder of deeds web site and check for liens on the property AND any others against the owner (judgment liens can be hard to find.

Something here is not right.

If the house is worth $90k in good shape, and needs $10k in repairs, then the seller should be pricing it at $80k and be willing to let it fo for less because you're taking a risk in the repairs and need to factor in the $10k in determining your ROI.

So let's assume he priced it at $74k to eliminate the rigamorole. That tells me you're dealing with an intelligent seller. Coming in at $60k is an insult to him. That said, r.e. agents do have fiduciary duties to present all offers. Tell the agent that he either presents the offer or you do two things: first, you will complain about the r.e. agent to the state, and; second, you'll by-pass the agent and make your offer directly to the owner and explain to the owner why you are making it directly.

Chicago heat ordinance protections begin September 1st and runs to June 30th.

@Omar Khan

gave you your answer. Find Sharia (sp?) compliant banks and learn their geographical and service limitations. Find lawyers in your area familiar with Sharia law as it applies to real estate. As you are well aware, many of the fees and charges that Islamic banking allows are simply putting fancy terms to "interest." That means that you can still leverage your assets like any kafir  ;) on this board. DuckDuckGo, Google, and whatever, is your friend as to who can help you in any given area.

@Matthew Olszak

Thanks for the numbers regarding a family of four.

Even New York City ceases rent control on apartments renting for something just over $2,700 a month (less than $2,800 a month).

This bill is not aimed at rent control. It is aimed at stopping and freezing gentrification in its tracks. Gentrification needs cheap rents that can be swiftly raised. With rent control designed like this, gentrification never takes place.

There was a good article in the Economist a few months ago about gentrification. Someone should find it and give it to Senator Hunter. Her bill will suck out any dynamism Chicago has and make it much less vibrant than it could be. Far better to have expanded, targeted, subsidies for tenants. A local Section 8 if you will. Guaranteed it won't subsidize $101k a year families in $2.8K/mo. rentals.

Asinine bill.  

1. Massively increase headline rents for units ahead of bill becoming law. Insist that tenants pay by check. Rebate part of that rent down to a reasonable amount -- rebate paid by check -- to your good tenants. That means your headline rental, on which increases will be based, will be high enough for your numbers to work.

2. Can't increase rent for unregulated tenants for three years if "previously" rented by a tier 1-2 tenant? How is that going to work? Can I rent to an unregulated tenant for a year, and then raise rent after that year when the new tenant leaves, because it was rented "previously" to an unregulated tenant and therefore the three year proviso doesn't apply?

3. Never rent to an unregulated tenant who is near retirement. Never rent to an unregulated couple who might divorce. Never rent to a young unregulated couple who might want to start a family. Why? Because their incomes will fall and they might then become tier 1 or 2 tenants and you'll have rent control imposed on you.

4. If I have .75 median income and I move my girlfriend (also .75 median income) in, are we now a 1.5 median income unregulated tenancy?

State Senator Mattie Hunter introduced this bill. I looked at her biography. She is obviously intelligent, by no means stupid. She is, however, ignorant of economics, as proven by this bill.

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Rough 70k breakdown (high level / bigger ticket items):

Remaining 10k include materials from Home Depot/ Menards / Lowes..."

Nice, but vague. Until you allocate your expenses to each apartment, nobody can tell what your ROI is other than in gross, which means you cannot improve on your performance and estimating. You have to recognize where your weak spots are to improve on them. Having a great apartment that covers a multitude of sins on other apartments is no more than a craps shoot. Can you figure your basis allocation per income producing unit?

"What are my rights? Are we locked into paying the initial contracted amount since we signed the document? Is he able to put a lien on our property without having to justify his claim? Advice on how to respond?"

 Your rights: You have a right to the best lawyer you can afford to pay.

Locked in?: Maybe. Ask the best lawyer you can afford to pay.

Lien ability: Maybe/Probably. Whether he can justify it at trial is another matter.

Advice on responding: Engage the best lawyer you can afford to pay.