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All Forum Posts by: John Clark

John Clark has started 5 posts and replied 1310 times.

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

whats the reality of Auto industry popping back up in this area.. can the existing factories be put back into service in a  reasonable amount of time.. Will Detroit and MI  fast track any new facilities like Texas did for Tesla.. ?

Could now be the time to jump back in and buy in the very best school districts ? 

Econ 101. The tariffs are going to crater the economy and hit the auto industry very hard. 
Quote from @Rodney Lorenzo:

It wasn't overnight. According to the PM, the city was making efforts to clean up the streets around my neighborhood. When they got to my street, they stopped. Funds may have run out. Police force reduced. I don't know. Hartford has pockets of bad areas. My street had a crack house across the street and a brothel a few doors down. You cross the avenue onto the other block and it turns nice. This wasn't anything I could control

Your analysis is wrong. Neighborhoods don’t decline because improvement money runs out. They don’t improve because improvement money runs out, and simply remain as they were. 

Now look at what you wrote. There was a crack house across the street. C NEIGHBORHOODS DO NOT HAVE CRACK HOUSES!!! Then you say there’s a brothel a few doors down. Most C neighborhoods don’t have brothels, and if they do, they are discrete and the girls are pretty.

Bottom line: You bought into an F neighborhood, not a C neighborhood. It remains an F. Whoever sold to you unloaded a bag of s**t on you. I have to question your mental acuity first, though. How could you think that a neighborhood wits crack house was class C?
Quote from @Ying Tang:

Hello everyone! I’ve received a lot of helpful responses on my recent posts—thank you all for your time and support! I have another question today. My husband currently has a 30-year fixed $315K mortgage that was secured around November/December 2023 at a rate of 7.99%. With mortgage rates trending downward lately, should we refinance now to secure a lower rate, or would it be better to wait until autumn for a potential further drop? I found several online opinions suggesting that high refinancing costs might negate any monthly savings for a couple of years. Given that a rate cut is anticipated later this year, do you think refinancing is the right move? For reference, his credit score is over 810.

My bank will not refinance my into a lower rate unless the savings will pay for the refinance costs within 3 years. It tends to be paternalistic, but that’s a good rule of thumb.

You skip over the most crucial part: just how did this neighborhood go from C to F overnight?

Quote from @Derek Robinson:
Quote from @Eric Gerakos:

Personally, I wouldn't work with anyone who can't spell Steve. But that's just me.


Maybe his parents were creative?
Or a product of the Chicago Public Schools.

If you get no love from the water department call your alderman and be a pain. Water bills don’t triple for non-obvious reasons. If there’s no running toilet, then the water department has a problem.

Quote from @Taylor Kendrick:

@Chris Seveney got it - this would be ny first purchase, but I don't intend to reside at the property. so I'd likely be DQ'd from the vast majority of these assistance programs?

These programs are not for investors. They are for primary residence buyers. That said, you can use it to buy a duplex, but keep in mind that many of these houses are going to be in appalling condition.

Post: Loan for debt consolidation

John Clark#3 Real Estate Horror Stories ContributorPosted
  • Posts 1,339
  • Votes 1,066

What has your bank said? I assume your property can be refinanced at a rate less than your plastic. Borrow and pay off the plastic. 

Start by reading all of your agreements. Then take the agreements to a lawyer to discuss.

Quote from @Bol Oke:

I have a multi-family rental property in Milwaukee (Hampton Heights), and it has a deteriorating wooden deck with a door leading to it. Instead of rebuilding the deck, I’m considering tearing it down and sealing the door. However, my property manager says this might violate code due to egress requirements.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? Are there cheaper alternatives to rebuilding the deck? If I remove the deck, would a standard window satisfy egress requirements, or would that still be a code violation?

Looking for advice on how to handle this cost-effectively while staying compliant. Thanks!

You need to tell us basic facts like what floor the door is on (a window out the second floor won’t cut it) and what else is being serviced by this deck.

also tell us how sealing the door affects ingress/egress.

i agree that sealed off doors are unsightly, and a usable deck is a selling/renting point.