All Forum Posts by: Samuel Liapis

Even if all you are looking to do is retire? I mean you cannot retire on $210k.. But you may be able to retire on 2000$ a month.. I mean you wouldn't live a lavish lifestyle, but depending on where you live, you could do ok.

I wanted to invest in properties until I start making around 5-7k$ a month in profit. Then retire. That would allow me to purchase a new home and not have to work. I also thought about maybe purchasing the new home and paying my own home off right away, that way my bills per month would not be that much. This would allow me to live very comfortably and go on 4-5 vacations a year I would think.

I always thought the same thing. I was thinking in terms of generating the profits monthly. I thought paying off the property sooner would create higher monthly profits.

For example a mortgage of 1700$, cash flow of $1000. If I pay it off I should make around $2000 a month in profit.

I talked about this to a few people and some said that you lose a lot of the tax benefits too.

This would definitely be interesting. I imagine the government would have to do a survey and see how close you are to other airports (if making your own). Too many hoops to jump through for my liking though. Good luck!

@John Colin Rogers I just recently bought a 2 flat for $1,500 down. The price of the building was 280k. I was a first time buyer and the seller covered the closing costs. I needed to show that I had at least $7,000 in the bank in order to even purchase the property.

If you are serious, check and see how much a bank/lender will loan you. That is the first step. Then if you are approved for a high enough amount, you can start looking at properties and seeing if any of them cash flow. Do not quit your day job! You will definitely need that money if anything goes wrong with anything on the 2 flat. If you do not live at home with your parents, maybe you could occupy one apartment and rent the other. If the basement is finished, YOU move into the basement. Basements receive the least amount of rent.

I was approved for 300k on my loan, but my score was also 780. I make 20$ an hour. You have to prove to the bank/lender that you are worth loaning the money too. To justify the loan, the lender used the incoming rent from 1 unit of the amount building I was buying too.

I AM BY NO MEANS A PROFESSIONAL. I only own this building and have JUST STARTED. But this is how I did it.

P.S. As soon as I bought the property I had to sink another $5,000 to get a sewer line replaced amongst other little fixes. YOU NEED THE CAPITAL.

He was my agent/broker. Unless those papers were presented at closing then no i didn't sign anything. 

I believe if someone wanted too they could demolish the house and build a wider house? But I'm not so sure about that. Due to parking conditions on the streets there, they only allow 2 flat buildings. This isthe reason they gave me for not allowing me to turn the 2 flat into a 3 flat.

We recently purchased our first investment 2 flat for $280k. Our real estate agent/broker sold us on the property because it had a side lot. He said "selling this lot for $175k would be a fire sale.l, easily worth $200k." Well it turns out that you cannot build on the lot as it is not wide enough. He also said we could rent the basement of the property but due to local laws we are not allowed and he also inflated the cashflow to $2,000$ a month (based on basement rental included). We currently receive  $1,000 in cashflow a month so it is not a total loss.

After talking with some friends and other acquaintances about it, they said that I should sue. One former real estate agent said that they have insurance and I could sue under Errors and Remittances or something like that. 

Considering none of these guys are real estate professionals I wanted to get some input from the BP community about it.

Thank You!

@Vaughn Smith thanks for the reply, we have only owned the building for 5 months. We literally bought it for $1500. So there is not that much equity in it. It could be an option though.

Awesome Michael! Congrats! I am literally just starting out and i hope i can have a success story like yours!

Hello everyone! I currently own a 2 unit building in Melrose Park IL.  The city will not let me rent the basement even if I make it completely legal. The property also came with a 2nd pin for the side lot which nothing can be built on because it is only 26ft wide and their laws state that 33ft is needed. 

My question is this,  judging by the market right now I can sell for about 50-70k profit. Should i get 1 4 unit building or 2 2-3 unit buildings?

I'm leaning towards 2 2-3 units because I believe they will generate higher cash flows. Especially if purchased in Chicago where the rules are more relaxed and I can rent out basements. 

Let me know which you would do.