All Forum Posts by: Sarah Shockley

@Mitchlyn D. 

First you need to decide if you want to DIY or hire a contractor for the installation. This is a project that requires a city permit FYI, but if you are installing windows on a house you live in, you can pull the permit yourself.

My husband and I replaced all the windows on the house we live in now - it was one of our first renovation projects.

If you hire a contractor usually they will want to purchase the windows themselves, and that cost is included their quotes along with the labor cost for installation. It pays to shop around b/c I got some crazy high quotes. My house has 15 windows and the quotes were anywhere from $5k-$8k.

So we decided to do it ourselves. We purchased windows online from windowliquidators.com. Cost ended up being around $2700 - then installing them took about a day.

@Susan M. Exactly! It's a precedent I DO NOT want to set...

@Antonio Esquivel It's a two-unit building, and I do cover lawn care (we don't get much snow lol).

Yesterday one of my tenants contacted me and asked that I have someone come clean the dead bugs out of the outdoor light fixture by their front entry - they feel it is my responsibility to take care of this problem.

On one hand I feel the request is somewhat ridiculous - really? You want me to have someone come over just to clean your light on a regular basis? 

Also I really don't want to get a phone call/email every time they feel the light needs cleaning.

On the other hand, the problem is a small one - I've gotten to the point where if a problem is cheap and easy to fix, it's not really a problem in the grand scheme of things. It's a nice quality apartment and they've been ok tenants so far.

Any advice on how to handle this?

@Tracy Spencer I used B-cool earlier this year, good experience. I would recommend them as well.

@Pyrrha Rivers Anytime and good luck! Good help is hard to find - I've been struggling with it for several years now so anything I can do to help other people avoid the same pitfalls is time well spent. Wish that help had been there for me! oh well. Live and learn.

@Dan Wynn I usually subcontract my jobs to save money (also maybe I'm a bit of a control freak lol).

However I have heard a lot of good things about Centerbeam Contracting - I've seen several of their recent jobs in Riverside area - top-quality work. Not familiar with their prices though.

Hey neighbor! I live in Murray Hill! 

Sounds like you're in a tough situation. Unless you can at least break even I wouldn't recommend holding on to the house as a rental.

However without having more details about your financial situation, it's difficult to make good recommendations - although I understand not wanting to give out personal information on an internet forum.       :)

You need to compare the cost of renting to the cost of selling, and make your decision based on that information.

Monthly Holding Costs: Mortgage, Property Taxes, Insurance, Property Management 

(Plus funds in reserve for maintanence and vacancy)

Potential Rent: $700-$1000 There is a lot of variation in rental rates in Lakeshore area based on quality of location, and size and attractiveness of the house. Normally to get top rents your house would need to have a good location, a lot of curb appeal, and recently renovated kitchen and bathroom. 

As for selling costs - there are a few numbers you need to know. First, how much you owe on your mortgage, and also what your house would sell for. Then you'll probably pay another 7-8% in realtor fees and closing costs as well! You could be writing a sizeable check at closing if you're selling for less than what you currently owe on the house.

Can you afford to pay to sell your house now, and still have funds to purchase your next home? Many things to take into consideration.

@Jack Dougherty I like your idea of pulling out some equity, and using that money as a down payment on your next investment property. I've used this strategy more than once to be able to afford my next property. How are you planning to pull out the equity? Cash-out refinance? HELOC?

You need to talk to a lender and find out what you would qualify to borrow, before you do anything else.

Do you have a mortgage on your current property? Your current debt load influences your ability to make future purchases. If you did a cash-out refinance, that would give you some cash in hand, but also would add to your debt load - potentially making it difficult to qualfy for additional financed purchases.

Based on your stated income of $55k/year, I don't see how you would qualify for the purchase of a $500k property - even if it is already turning a healthy profit.

Also without 2+ years of property management experience, sometimes banks won't include a property's profits towards your own profits in their calculation debt-to-income ratio, making it impossible to borrow more.

You need to know 2 things before moving forward:

1. How much can you pull out of your current property?

2. After you pull those funds out, how much can you qualify to borrow on a new purchase?

Once you know the answers to those two questions you can plan what to do next. Often your investment strategy is influenced by what you can actually buy.

@Kandi Alston Sadly you're not overlooking anything - it's pretty unusual to find anything close to 2% on the market in Jax. Even during the last RE dip those types of properties were rare.

When I first started buying (2012) you could get a cute bungalow in Murray Hill for $50k-$60k, easy - not even needing much work! The same properties these days are going for $100k+ or if they're asking $60k they need $40k in renovations.

@Chris Ramos I don't know about insurance being the culprit. Actually my largest expenses are property taxes, by far (don't get me started). Of course I don't have any properties in flood zones, or at the beach so that makes a difference. 

Have you given them official notice that their lease is not being renewed, and they need to move out?

I'm not familiar with landlord/tenant law in Illinois, but it sounds like now would be a good time to brush up, and make sure you are following the letter of the law with providing notice. That way if you get into an eviction situation you are well prepared and have done everything in a correct and lawful manner.

Praying is always a good idea, but I suspect you will need to be a little proactive in this situation, as well.

Worst case scenario - you could try "cash for keys" - provide some financial incentive if they are all moved out and the rental is clean by a certain date.