All Forum Posts by: Richard S.

The comments here reflect my own thoughts perfectly. Emotionally, I want to tell them to go to hell. Financially, that will put me out about $1700 and I'm looking at a 16% IRR projected out over 8 years (and going up after that).

Looking for some advice. I am the buyer of an out-of-state SFR in a hot market. Home passed inspection, appraised right at the sales price. There were some title issues which took a few weeks to clear up, then the seller's LLC paperwork was out of order and wasn't resolved until the day after the scheduled close. It took another six days to get everything through underwriting and the bank set the close date 8 business days later (12 calendar days). Seller says the closing date should have been set a day or two after and is insisting on an unreasonable daily fee to cover his carry ($90/day, so a little less than $1000). This is just 6 business days away so if he walks, he'll go another 45-60 days to close with another buyer and I will be out inspection, appraisal fees as well as the property itself.

Is he being reasonable? Should I walk or pay?

Jacksonville is very interesting. Not a bad place to travel to every now and then either. Thanks for the tip!

Re:Chicago -

I was born and raised here and I've been watching prices for about 20 years. At a macro level, it's a so-so market, though you can find deals if you are alert to new developments. 

Prices here follow population and job growth. The best long-term appreciation is likely going to be seen at the core as density is increasing pretty rapidly with the demolition of Cabrini Green, the high school being built in River North, rapid commercialization and the new TOD zones on the west side. Lots of tech jobs being created here as well. I think the near north side is going to resemble Manhattan in the next 20 years. So very solid, but I have a big chunk of my portfolio here already.

I have no interest in the south side or suburbs due to lower potential for appreciation, outrageous property taxes in certain burbs and risk of decline in certain areas. Also, I'm looking to diversify my metro exposure.

Hi everyone,

I am an investor here in Chicago, currently in nine properties. Two are buy-and-hold and seven are short-term debt. The competition is pretty fierce for cash flowing properties so I've chosen this strategy to offset the cash flow from the debt deals with the tax benefits from the rental properties. The problem with this is that the debt side is inherently short-term (2-3 years), so those deals need to be constantly replaced.

I've decided that a better approach would be to consider out-of-state, cash flowing buy-and-hold properties. There are a few smaller cities I'm interested in, including St. Louis and Nashville. 

I'm wondering how big of a leap this is from where I'm at now, how to get started, common mistakes, and maybe what to watch out for (legal or tax issues, etc).

Thanks,
Rich

Hi Art,

I was born and raised here and yes, that is pretty normal. Though depending on where you are looking, there are sometimes newer units/buildings built after the 1980s which go up for sale. I just missed out on one today, in fact :-)