All Forum Posts by: Rich Wilken

Dat,

Florida has several real estate schools you can attend online and then go to Florida to challenge the test. You will have to hang  license in Florida somewhere as well. Not recommending any one school as I have not gotten that far, but here is one I talked to the "walked" me through the process since I am in Illinois.  Search Gold Coast Schools

@Corina Eufinger I was thinking that exact same thing myself. My banker knows the guys and knows that he has received numerous offers over the last few years to buy the building. Banker told me today that the owner doesn't believe anything will happen. Sad

There is a 20 unit apartment building in a small submarket in the Chicagoland area that I have had my eye on for the last few years. The building is held in an LLC that is owned by the son and the wife of the original owner. The son calls himself the manager but has never returned my calls. He replied to my email once, never to letters of intent. The building has needed work for years and is the victim of deferred maintenance as the owners treated it like a cash machine instead of an investment. Well, that has all caught up to them over the last few months. The Village where the building is has now sought a demolition order for the building due to; smoke alarms, improper boiler venting, leaking gas lines to stoves, and leaking roofs over the front and rear entrances. We are not even talking about major issues here. The Village forced the eviction of the remaining 4 tenants. It blows my mind.

Does anyone have experience getting a court injunction to stop a demolition order issued by a municipality?  

Where can I find a map of a recent hail storms path?

I have used farm land Equity to buy properties outright to be able to come in with cash offers. Does your father Farm? If he Farms than the bank he uses already uses a revolving line of credit to fund his farm operations most likely. Every rural area has a go to bank that is willing to be aggressive when it comes to rates, otherwise move the opetation sonewhere that does. If it's not your bank then you just have to find it.

I have begun the process of getting licensed as a broker in Florida as Illinois and Florida have a Mutual Recognition Agreement. This agreement basically states that since I have already passed the National portion of the exam, I only need to sit for the state of Florida specific portion of the test (40 questions). I am having a hard time finding what areas those specific questions will be taken from. Is anyone aware of the ability to take only the Florida specific portion of the exam through Pearson VUE? Do any schools have prep classes etc that only cover the Florida specific portion? Any help is, as always, appreciated. 

If you take the trim and a few pics to a plumbing wholesaler (not Lowe's or HD) they can usually tell you what brand it is by the valve.

They will cash flow at 5.5%.  I'd like to have access to that credit line for cash offers/ short term property acquisition, etc. but we don't know what's gonna happen here with these interest rates 5 years from now. 

Thanks for the thoughts all. @Joe Villeneuve 1.&3.&4. The properties will still cash flow. I originally bought them as a place to park some money as I lived very nearby. Back then, the market there gained a little. Not anymore. 2. If they appreciated, I would probably refi and pull equity out or park them in a commercial loan and use the LOC.

@Andrew Johnson

@Andrew Johnson I've been leaning towards your suggestion. There is a time value to money, and I will most likely extend the term to use the cash flow for another property. Pretty much anything I've offered on around here investment-wise has required a cash so it doesn't really matter if they are on my personal credit or not I guess. When I have 7 more I can worry about it then, right? might as well take advantage of the "lower" interest rates between the two while I can. 

Hey all, thought I would seek your advice. I own two SFH rentals in a flat market that is not appreciating and will most likely never appreciate. Both properties are on 5 year balloons (20 yr amort.), with one of the loans coming up for maturity .I want to refinance both prior to rates going any higher but I am torn over whether to hold both in a commercial loan for 5.5% giving me access to a LOC on them and not tied to personal credit (excellent credit), or to hold both as conventional Fannie Mae loans with a longer term, 20-30 years, and cashflow a little bit higher. I have roughly $70k in equity on both, one being worth approximately $105k, the other worth approximately $75k.

I am interested in long term holds on good SFH rentals, as I have other projects in the works for shorter term gains. Just not sure these two are worth hanging on to. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Rich