All Forum Posts by: Lucas Hammer

@Jeff Burdick Nice. Can I ask which lender you used? I went with Guaranteed Rate initially and they wouldn't even let me owner occupy a multi-unit without 20% down unless I went with FHA.

@Matthew Olszak Sure, thanks for the reply. The issue is that I have a stairway between two floors of a single unit. Statute 13-160-290 states "All stairways required as exits shall comply with the provisions of Sections 13-160-300 to 13-160-350, inclusive." I'm not sure what would make a stairway "required as an exit", since there's a back stairway that connects all 3 floors of the building. The current staircase there is also 30 inches wide with risers of 10.5" (which I'm reducing anyway), which doesn't meet egress requirements, but it apparently passed inspection when the previous owners legally converted it from a SFH to a 2-flat, so I'm assuming that doesn't mean that it's required for egress and the height and width limits wouldn't apply.

The issue is that once I finish fixing up this place, I'll be renting it out, so I don't want someone to have grounds to sue me if I have a staircase that doesn't meet code, and I've read all of the building code requirements, but it's still not clear if this applies since it's not "required for exit."

Thanks for the responses everyone!

@Jeff Burdick I'm in Little Village (northeast side of the neighborhood) near the California Pink Line. I'm sandwiched between that and the Pete's Fresh Market at Rockwell and Cermak. Unfortunately, there's no vacant space. I have one of those Pilsen-style 2 flats where it's "sunken" below street level and there's only about 3 feet of height in a crawlspace below the first unit. I'm adding value slowly paying out of pocket with my W2 income, but I don't think I'd be able to hit 80% LTV yet to get out since I've only been here 6 months and the principal hasn't gone down much.

@Michael Facchini Last year when I was looking to buy my current 2-flat, I was told by multiple lenders that I couldn't get a 95% LTV loan on a multi-family without going FHA. I was approved for that on a condo, but once I switched to multi-family, it was FHA or 20% down. Do you know of a lender that will off hand?

@Casey Murray The idea was to stay in my current place and buy the second place as investment-only due to my current proximity to the train and the fact that I work downtown, but if one came up on my block or a place very close-by, I'd consider it. It just isn't the plan currently.

So we're house hacking a 2-flat in Chicago right now and I keep seeing buildings in the neighborhood popping up cheap enough that I could be sure to cash flow, but getting that 20% - 20% for the second down payment is killing me. I'm in an FHA loan right now, so I know I got spoiled. I have plenty of open credit on cards, but nothing I can really use as a down payment. I'm assuming the best advice is just to keep saving and saving until I get enough for the second down payment or wait until my house appreciates enough to get a HELOC, but any specific advice for getting that second deal done other than the obvious?

I should probably add that this stairway is not required for egress. It is from the middle of one floor to the middle of another inside a single unit where there is a back stairway that connects all floors.

What's the best place to find building code for the city? I'm rebuilding a staircase that's entirely contained in a single unit so it sounds like not all of the traditional rules apply, but I can't find anything for sure and search results are bringing up amlegal and chicagocode sites that don't really answer my questions. Where do you guys look to find out code restrictions? 

I'd like to know how it works in general (if it does). I don't have an empty unit now but I'm sure I will at some point. 

@James Rodgers Hey, no worries. Still on topic, so feel free to carry on here. I'm curious about the answer as well.

Awesome, thanks @Tom S.! I'll have to call around once I'm ready and see what I can do. In your experience, do they typically require a 20% down payment still, and is that calculated on the total including improvements or just purchase and then they finance the improvement.

Hey everyone. I'm a relatively new investor in my first property and I'm considering buying an additional property in Detroit, preferably a multi-unit. I plan on doing a ton of research on each area before deciding to invest out of state, but Detroit is an area that my wife and I have always liked and from what I can tell, some exciting revitalization seems to be happening. The thing that I don't know is how the neighborhoods compare to each other and where in the city we should start looking. I'm fine with C and up neighborhoods, but I'm looking for a place that I'd be okay with staying in while up there as well. (I typically have a rule that if I'm not willing to live there, I don't want to buy there.)

As a comparison, I live in a "sketchy" neighborhood called Little Village in Chicago that most people are wary of, but it's mostly immigrant families and pretty quiet as long as I don't join a gang any time soon. Thanks in advance!