All Forum Posts by: Melissa B.

@Brent Cullipher much appreciated feedback and counsel-- a great reminder to be assertive, thank you! and I will check out that podcast!! 

 @Jeff McCaskey  thank you for your perspective!  agreed, it would be great to find someone within my network of family and friends, haven't found someone yet but i'll keep looking! 

thank you both for your time and willingness to contribute!!  

thank you for the encouragement @Account Closed !  

Does anybody know a contractor in the Chicagoland area who would be willing to act more as a consultant than a contractor?  My situation is this:

I am interested in a 2-unit property that needs some fixing up. If it makes sense, I'd like to purchase it with an FHA loan and include the cost of the rehab in with the loan, live in one of the units and rent out the other. But before I write an offer, I need to get a rough idea of how much it would take to fix up the house.

Additionally, what I'd really like to do is work with somebody who'd be willing to give me a fair amount of creative control in the renovation.  I'd like to source my own fixtures (vintage/ salvaged/ thrifted) and do some of the work myself/ w friends who are handy.  (I realize that a lot of things could go wrong, but for me, that's part of the learning process!)  But I believe most contractors want to hire their own teams and use their preferred vendors, am I right about that?

If anybody can make a recommendation, or let me know how to go about sourcing somebody that might help, it would be greatly appreciated!!  (And yes, I have plenty of ibuprofen!!)

Thank you!

@Lumi Ispas  thank you SO incredibly much Lumi!  thank you @Robert Valenti , @Caroline Hedin , @Jason Carter !  You've all given me so much to consider and research. 

I just found out that there is already a contract on the house/ land I was looking at purchasing (must have happened in the past two days, as the house was just listed less than a week ago!); so it looks like this one is likely a no-go.  I'm still very grateful for all of the insight, so that I might be better prepared the next time something like this comes along!!

thank you so much for the clarification and helpful information, all!  so wonderful to receive this feedback, greatly appreciated!

@Account Closed -- haha :)  

much obliged all!

I've found a single family home in a market in Chicago that is definitely on the ups.  The house is a total dump, but the area is perfect (I've researched this area extensively and have been searching for a while) and the property itself is zoned for 4 units. 

There is strong potential for this property, but I need to figure out if it would be profitable for me to pursue.  How can I figure out what it would cost to build a 4 unit building on this land?   Also, who must I meet with in order to ensure that what I want to build is up to code/ legal?  Is there one person I might meet with, that would be able to act as consultant in this process?  If so, how is this person paid/ what is reasonable for them to charge?

Any help the forum might provide would be greatly appreciated-- thank you!

Melissa