All Forum Posts by: Robert Richardson

Congratulations to you!  I love Villa Park.  In fact, I live in Villa Park.  Do you go to any group meet ups?  I love the WCRT and we meet once a month in Elmhurst.  Lots of other great, smaller subgroup meetings in the Chicagoland area too.  You should check out wcrt.org or on facebook wcrt-Chicago

Good luck to you!

Hi Christopher, I am in Villa Park, IL and I go to a great group called WCRT Chicago.  You can check out wcrt.org  Meeting the first Thursday of each month in Elmhurst.  You should come and check it out.

I think you should check out wcrt.org  WCRT chicago has a great monthly meeting in Elmhurst and it is free for first timers.  My wife and I bought a duplex a couple of years ago and got ourselves into trouble with what we didn't know or expect.  I feel like I found a group to learn from and work with.  In my opinion, it is infinity valuable to talk to people who are successful at what you want to do.  Best of luck to you and yours!

Thank Sean and Ibn, This thread is quite old at this point.  I have posted a few other times about it.  We did buy a duplex in Peoria a little over a year ago.  My wife and I are brand new at this and we are struggling!!  The numbers seem to work ok, the problem is the distance.  It is a huge pain in the a$$, but so far she has not divoced me.  We will be much smarter on our next purchase.

Hi Kevin,

My favorite is WCRT chicago.  You can find info at wcrt.org or on their facebook page WCRT Chicago.  They are great!  Best of luck!!

You have probably had enough answers by now, but I have my tenant deposit directly into my account.  I opened an account in a local bank close to them.  I gave them a stack of deposit slips from my bank with my account number on them.  I get a text when the money is deposited and then transfer it to my regular account.

Thanks George and Michelle.  George, the electric is split metered, but the water and gas are not.  The current tenant seems pretty good.  They deposit directly into my bank account always on time and they keep up the apartment OK.  I certainly get your point about the 1/3 vacant versus 100%, but I feel like renting the whole building to them would just make things a little easier as I continue to learn.  The taxes and insurance are cheap enough that I feel like I can go a few months 100% vacant if I need to.

Michelle, I agree the way to make the most money is to get it zoned as a triplex. Renting it out as a SFH is just a way for me to start making some money now. I admit that I may be cutting corners just trying to call this project "done" so that I can begin to research and look for my next project. I need to build some volume so that I can hire a handyman. I really appreciate your opinion.

Thank you Michael Herr. I am certainly not getting a good return on my time, but I am learning a lot. We are in 61606 near North St and Columbia Ter. The building is very inexpensive and so is the rent. The current tenant who is interested in the whole building would not require us to convert to SFH. They would just rent the building as-is. That is part of the reason I am considering this. When they move out, then we could decide how to proceed from there. Thanks for speaking up.

Hello BP friends!

My wife and I are new landlords.  We bought a building in Peoria, Illinois about 1 year ago.  It was listed as a small 3-unit building, but was zoned as a duplex so we had to move one tenant out.  The other two stayed while we started to tackle all of the massive deferred maintenance, like new roof, windows, exterior paint, doors...  We are really struggling because of the massive amount of work needed versus the limited time we have available because we both work more than 40 hours a week.  Also, we bought a building 2 and a half hours away, so when we do get out to get some work done we have to add 5 hours of travel to our day.  Yes, I know that buying so far away was a mistake, but I think we found a good deal and it was cheap enough that we could complete it.  We were desperate to find something that we could do all cash.  

Currently we have only one tenant and they have expressed interest in renting out the whole building as a single family home. I think that this would be great for us. Renting the building as a SFH would relieve us of a lot of responsibility and free up some time, but would decrease our profit. If our tenant does want to rent the whole building, I think we should do it. We can take out a mortgage and put that money into a project closer to our home.

The empty, upstairs apartment is almost ready to list for rent, so we can start making some money again if we can find a good renter.  We would have to get the building rezoned as a 3 unit before we could rent out the studio apartment, but we have not done the work to update it yet.

I do believe that the most profitable way is to get the building zoned as a 3-unit and rent out all 3. As a duplex the building is still profitable, but as a SFH we can still make cashflow after taking out a mortgage. With our struggles due to inexperience and distance I think a SFH is our best option. Does anybody have any better advice? Thanks!!

Hi Jackie, we are new landlords with inherited tenants too.  We are learning everyday.  We bought a very distressed property with lots of problems, so everything is a challenge.  We signed new leases with out two tenants and so far everything is going smoothly with them, it is the city and the contractors that we are struggling with.  Best of luck to you!  By the way, there is a great real estate association that I joined called WCRT.  You can find their website at wcrt.org and their facebook page wcrtchicago  What I like most is that no one will try to sell you anything, except their $20/month membership.  They have monthly meetings the first Thursday of every month in Villa Park and have other subgroup meetings all over chicagoland.  I went to one on Tuesday where we sat at a bar and played Robert Kiyosaki's game Cashflow 101.  It was great!  If you go, please mention that I sent you.  Good luck with your business.