All Forum Posts by: John Warren

I just bought a 2003 f150 with an extended cab and an eight foot bed for $2300 bucks. It's perfect for hauling stuff but I can also put a car seat or two in the back when I need to!

Hello everyone!

My wife and I are trying to decide if we want to flip our first house later this summer. As back ground, we just closed on our first quad last month. This building will be cash flowing between $600-800 this month (now that the inspection stuff is fixed). I am also finishing up classes to become a real estate agent, and I should be licensed in a couple of weeks. By July we will have around $20,000 to work, not including our reserves. This should allow us to buy a house in this area of the Chicago suburbs that needs some work.

I am fairly handy, and I can install cabinets, countertops, toilets, replace windows and doors, etc. I am not a very good plumber, and I know it is not always optimal to do everything yourself, but I am on Summer vacation (school teacher) until August! I could definitely do some of the work and contract out anything that is above my pay grade.

I guess my question is what are some of the things we should be thinking about before we flip a house? Do we start looking for lenders who specialize in flipping? Do we need to start an S corp first? What am I overlooking?

Tomorrow I am installing a used stove in one of the units of my new quad. This particular elderly tenant has been living without a working stove in the unit for quite some time. My issue is that the unit has an old built in stove and the electric range is one that drops into the countertop. There is no spot for a traditional oven. I am going to remove the cabinet the old range sits on, but I am trying to decide if I should just replace the countertop or cut it and bend some sheet metal or something at the edge where it meets the stove.

I guess I could also just replace the countertop with a cheap laminate, but I am trying not to put money into this unit until it turns over and I can easily gut the whole kitchen. "What would you all recommend? Should I just bite the bullet and put a new countertop in?

Thanks!

John

Thanks for the advice everyone! This property just went on the market yesterday for 150,000, and I definitely think it is not worth that kind of money. This is not a great area for appreciation, and I am definitely not comfortable with the level of rehab and risk there is when the taxes are taken into account!

Hello!

I recently closed on my first property, a fully rented four unit building, and I am looking to pick up my second property. I am low on cash as I am finishing a variety of inspection issues with the town. The three unit property right next door to mine just came on the market, and I was wondering if you all could steer me in the right direction! Here is what I know about the place.

The Good:

The seller is older and seems motivated. I think she would be willing to do some type of seller financing potentially.

There is a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom unit that could be turned around for 2-3k and rented right away for $950-$1000 a month.

There is a two car garage that could be rented out for a little bit (potentially).

The building is fairly solid (brick), and I am the only comp in town since we just closed two weeks ago!

The Bad

 There are two other units that were used as commercial, so they are essentially just open rooms. They could be converted to one bedroom apartments, but this might take 5 grand each or more. I could do a lot of the work, but I would have to hire licensed plumbers/electricians due to being in cook county. 

These units as one bedrooms could be rented for $750 or so, but I don't believe there is much demand for them as commercial units.

The Weird

The property has two different pins, so it has two different tax bills. One is for $4,300 per year and one is for $3100 per year.

So is this a deal or a pig?

I treated my own live termite infestation successfully. It is really easy to do. I bought termidicide and followed the directions. Essentially you just mix it with water and dump it in a shallow trench around the building. I had to drill holes in the driveway and use funnels as well because my driveway touches the foundation.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the tip on GACO. It is definitely not cheap, but the articles and reviews look fantastic. It looks like you just paint it on over the existing roof and you have a 40-50 year roof. That is pretty crazy!

Thanks everyone! It got a chance to look at the plumbing, and it appears that the plumbing is vented properly. It is hard to tell since it is mostly behind the walls, but it is all original so hopefully the inspector will grandfather us in. I think I am going to keep the laundry and raise the rents appropriately. This building seems to cater to the older, more stable tenants that I think will value this feature. Maybe this will keep vacancies down!

I would love to hear anything it out know about cook county! I know it's not the most land lord friendly place in the world...