All Forum Posts by: Michael Mahung

Bro, if you have the means to get into and maintain a quadplex for 3.5% down and the bank approves you and the property - go for it!  Sounds like you're wanting to do a house hack of sorts, is that correct?  If you're living in one unit and renting out the others then I think you'll be fine.  It'll be important to treat it like a true investment or a business - not a flip - if you hold on for the long term (5 - 10 years), utilize a sizeable amount of proceeds each month/yr to put back into the property, raise the rents periodically - you'll probably win.  Knowing the #'s is cool but rarely will they turn out the way you got 'em down on paper.  Whatever you come up with - cushion it even more, lol.

@Michael Mahung

Management and capex are extremely low in my opinion. You need to list all equipment and major work (roof/windows), out a cost to it, figure out it’s life cycle and determine a number

Also depending on location will you service hvac and other equipment or use a company? That is usually around $500/yr if you have a summer and winter as an example of additional costs.

 The easy answer then is to get the property owner to sign a release for use of the video. Then you can do pretty much anything you want. I think that will be more difficult than not to get, as most people don't want their homes paraded out without good reason, but you could certainly present one or more of those reasons to them and they might be agreeable. Of course, you could always do it by stealth and just take your chances, but if some unnecessary misery were to befall any of those sellers/homes and someone could trace any of it back to you (i.e. the criminal saying "Well, I knew what was in there because I saw this video"), then you could also perhaps be successfully sued. 

If you had no vested interest in the property and were posting it for your own use I would think they'd have some kind of claim against you. If you are filming a duly listed property for a client, you have a reasonable interest in the property (they're trying to sell - you're trying to buy). 

Why would you be posting the video online? 

If you are in an ADU zone it is much easier and faster. If you have the ceiling height you are looking at about $125-$150k to add a unit.

You could have a plumbing issue (Sewer) if it is below grade of main line. Have a plumber check this out, it can get expensive...

@Michael Mahung - as @John Warren mentioned you need an architect. Step one is to see if your property is in one of Chicago's ADU PIlot Areas - Chicago ADU Site. The ADU program allows you to add a unit by right instead of going through the entire zoning variation process. @Samuel Pavlovcik has reviewed and worked on these for me and can talk you through the administrative differences. 

Regardless of ADU or not, if you're doing it by the book, you'll draw up plans and submit for permits. You'll likely have to update water service as you're adding a bath, and need to account for adding an additional electric and gas meters. Besides the height requirement you referenced, you'll need to also hit the light and ventilation requirements. I'd strongly recommend drain tiling around the perimeter along with the sump pump and ejector pit. Also, make sure the general mechanical room is separated and can be accessed as a common area (so don't have to access garden unit to get to meters and mechanicals).

As for buying materials, if you don't know what is needed than you will need to work with an experienced GC and rely on him. Overtime as you have a better pulse for this project, you can look to order materials, but right now it sounds like you would just be adding another layer of variance to the equation.