All Forum Posts by: Josh Allison

Hi,

I'm new to the forums. In April I bought a 3 unit building in Chicago. I live in one and rent out the other two. It seems like most of the topic are geared toward people who don't live on the premises of what the rent out. At the moment I am bringing in $200 a month more in rent than my mortgage, taxes, and insurance. It seems like those are some good numbers to be working with, but haven't really found anything on here to compare.
My plan is to get this paid for, then save up to buy another 3 flat. I am just doing this on the side. At this point I don't want to own more than 3 buildings.
I may not ever buy that many, so far this has been the single most stressful addition to my once simple life. Does the stress lessen over time?

I live in a 3 unit building and rent out the other two. I had my first rat problem this fall. As soon as the weather turned cold I started hearing them in the walls and one of the tenants saw a huge rat in the middle of her living room.
I found a service similar to what you mentioned and it also cost me 1800 bucks, but the nice thing is that it came with a guarantee that I won't have any more rat problems for the life of the building. The trick is to get that building sealed up. You can lay out all the traps and poison you want, but if there are entry points they will get in. I have been very happy with the service. I had one more rat in the wall last week and I called them and they came out and found one more spot where he may have gotten in. The put out more traps and sealed the whole and true to their word, they did not charge me for that.
I know it is expensive, but it is nice that to know that if there are any more problems all I have to do is make a phone call and it won't cost me anymore money.