All Forum Posts by: John Huynh

I notice in Chicago that there are a lot of mult-units with garden units and in-law units. It also seems like the rain storms are getting worse, If you own a building with a garden unit or in-law unit, has yours ever flooded? What are some devices/systems that you would recommend to mitigate/stop flood damage? Are those devices/systems typical in those garden/in-law units? Are there any things that I can look for when viewing properties in order to see if there was past flood damage?

@Grigory Pekarsky What is the difference between illegal/legal, up to code, and non-conforming/conforming?

@Angel R. I believe the units already have their own separate furnace

@A.J. D'Asaro Would having the electric meter split require tenants to set up electricity with the electricity company when they move in or is the meter used to help split the bill when the landlord gets the electric bill? Also, is splitting the meter something that the electric company can only do, can a handy man do it?

Hi @Vijay T. , was your final solution to have an electric furnace/AC for each individual unit for your 10-unit property? 

If so, how did you install the vents? Did you install them all at once as your tenants were occupying your units or did you install the vents after they moved out? 

Do you know how much much the electricity bill increased for your tenants after using the electric furnace/AC?

Thanks @John Warren and @Jonathan Klemm! That clears it up for me.

Thanks @John Warren for the insight. When searching for comparable homes, what factors should I consider and also what does the assessor look at to determine if a property can be used as a "comparable"? I am a bit confused by the "3 scenarios", can you please clarify? Thanks!

Thanks for the reply @John Warren . The property I was just browsing is: https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chic... 

The current tax bill is ~12k before exemptions, if I were to use the asking price which is 1.05m, the taxes can be ~23.5k, a difference of 11.5k which is almost double. Does this sound about right?

Hi everyone,

I am looking to purchase a multi-unit property in Chicago and am currently analyzing properties. Since the home prices have increased significantly in Chicago, I want to understand how to estimate my future property taxes taking into account the price that I purchase my property for. 

I want to understand how the property taxes are calculated in Chicago. I see "property value" and "assessment level" are denoted when looking at the tax bills of properties at https://www.cookcountytreasure... . When looking at the tax bills, I see the "Property value" field in the tax bill is very different than the asking price on Redfin. I am seeing properties on Redfin with an asking price of 1.05 million dollars, but the 2020 Property value is showing as 540k. Can someone help me understand how the "Property value" field is calculated in the Cook County Property tax bill? I understand that people can ask for more than what their property is worth, but it was sold for 850k in 2005 so why wasn't a value around that price used for the 2020 "property value" field?

 If I purchase a property, will my new "property value" be the price that I bought it at?

Hi all, 

Could someone tell me if loan origination charges are a fixed amount or if it is a percentage of the loan? I have heard that there are online lenders that don't even charge loan origination charges. Any recommendations on how to find the best lender for a multi-unit property in Chicago?