All Forum Posts by: Nnabuenyi Anigbogu

I would have to agree with what was stated above. The email was in no way unemotional. All aspects of it related to you not being appreciated in some way by the tenant. That could be the truth but that is a facet of emotion and not plain facts.

It is ideal for a tenant to thank you for times you go above and beyond for them. However humans are humans and you will not get thanked most of the time. It is not mandatory that they appreciate of than you. All that is mandatory is that they follow what is in the lease. Also on that note you are not allowed to unilaterally end the lease whenever you want. The lease ends when it ends according to the contract or when the two of you mutually agree to end it.

@Jason V. Nick hit the nail on the head. Get a signed estoppel form from each of the tenants. It should detail the current parameters of the rental agreement (length and price most important). You also want to know what amenities are provided to each tenant currently. Once this is signed by the tenants they cant just pull out a mystery lease later down the line. You would craft a lease based on the current agreement for them to sign. If it is already month to month then you can craft any lease you want and they have to sign or you dont renew the monthly lease.

I agree with @Mitch Messerin that your wholesaler is worth it if you are getting deals that work for you. If i bought a property from a wholesaler that i flipped and make 50K i will not be angry if i found out that he charged me 30K in assignment fees. Yes it means i could have made 10-20K more profit, but i still made 50K.

Even if 5K is the average assignment fee, you chose to pay over double of that to get the house and the house was still a good deal so why worry about what the wholesaler made. If you think like that it will be detrimental to your business. Now if he brings you a deal with a 10K fee where you will not make money then just don't buy it.

Hi @David Dyer. I really like the albany park area for what you are looking to do. I currently own a 4 unit there. I have a 5-7 minute walk to the Kimball brown line stop which is excellent since i work downtown when im not working from home. It is also a great place to find renters since its not as expensive as other areas but is easily accesible by public transportation.

If you want more info you can always ask me. @Brie Schmidtis good source also is is probably more well versed in the neighborhoods (especially outside of Albany Park) than i am.

 Owner occupied does not equal first time homebuyer. I think he is just saying he bought them all as owner occupied not that he used first time homebuyer programs. Usually first time homebuyer programs require that you have never owned a house before or that you have not owned a house for the last 3 years. Some programs here in IL count you as a first time buyer if you havent owned for 3 or more years.

I am in the process of replacing four windows in my rentals. Window world quoted me $2030 to replace them which was way too much in my opinion. What i am doing is ordering my own windows from a local building supplier that only works with landlords and flippers. I will then have a carpenter install it. I have a contact that installs windows in one of my partners flips so i have seen his work. 

Overall it will cost me about $700. I would see if you could do something similar in your location. It could save you half of what you quoted. Get some contacts from local flippers to see how they do it. I guarantee that they do not use retail providers such as window world.

For 2-4 Units you are allowed to use the potential rental income as part of your qualifying. It allows you to buy a building that is out of your price range which is excellent in high cost markets. Talk to your lender to ensure that they do not have any overlays. Usually you can only count 75% of the rental income as part of qualifying. They do that to factor in maintenance and repairs.

I will have to admit that i side with some of those who say that the font is harder to read. I find my self straining my eyesight more than usual to read the screen (and i have perfect sight). The font is lighter and thinner and in midst of all the white can be harder to read.

If you have the heloc funds in your checking account for at least 2 months the bank usually does not care where it is from. Any amount already in the account for at least 2 months usually does not need to be sourced. If it has been there for less than 2 months you can use it but you will have to source the money for the bank to show them where it came from.

Either way the monthly payment from the heloc would most likely be on your credit report and will be counted on your DTI. As long as you still qualify with that you should be fine.

@Lane Pate

Given that info i would tend to agree with @Jacob Sampson in that you will not have any cash flow. It will either be very low or negative.

I understand you dont expect any major repairs, however minor maintenance stuff adds up. Vacancy of one month can easily put you in the negative for the year. Also turnover costs can add up if for some reason you get high turnover. Given all that there is a very good chance you will be negative for the year and we haven't even touched putting away money for capital expenditures. I personally would sell unless i was fairly certain that some significant appreciation would be on the horizon.