All Forum Posts by: Sarah Ziehr

What are you withholding their deposit for? Before you go down this road I would make sure your deductions are legitimate. In Illinois if you mess around with a tenant's deposit, they can sue you for 3x the amount, and they will win. 

1. Ask for a list of properties they have sold and personally negotiated over the past 5 years. The "personally negotiated" part is key. New agents or agents on teams will point to their office production. See if their list matches what you see on their Realtor.com profile online. I don't do any advertising at all, and Zillow doesn't pick up every sale unless I manually enter it into their system, but Realtor.com seems to be current. Real estate has evolved into one big referral system, most anywhere online only promotes agent if they are paying for their name to be put front and center, even here on biggerpockets. I might also suggest following homes you like online and look closely at who the listing and selling agent was. Maybe you will see a pattern or feel a connection with someone. Any other place you click to online will set you up with someone who has paid to get your information. That doesn't mean they are experienced or any good. 

2. Where can I see your client reviews? 

3. How do commissions work? How much will I have to pay you?

4. Do I have to sign a contract and what happens if I don't feel that its a good fit? I suggest only signing one that is for a specific property, not a period of time.

5. What is the best way to communicate with you? What are your working hours? 

6. Do you work on a team? Who will be showing me homes and handling negotiations? 

7. Will you be sending me homes that I can't see online? 

8. What is the best way to see new homes fast? 

9. Do you have another job or commitments? How do you manage your time in a hot market? 

Finding an agent is difficult. Don't be fooled by agents that are constantly posting on social media or at open houses, they probably are not selling a lot of real estate, instead they are looking for new clients. Anyone who claims to sell more than 30-50 properties per year has a team and you likely aren't going to have any contact with whatever agent that draws you in. Whoever you end up hiring, make sure you like and trust them. Real estate is a very broken industry but there are good people out there. Good luck! 

I have worked with plenty of clients who I never met in person. You can do everything remotely. 

If you want to free up cash, then the answer is to sell. Also take into consideration what is the outlook in your market for a sale vs short term rental? 

Who is your buyer? Would they move in or is the buyer going to be another investor? How does the property show with the current tenant? Would the tenant go month to month? 

Do the numbers currently work on each property? Since this is a portfolio, I assume there are some winners in there as well as some losers. I would make sure that you fully understand the risks of the losers. Who was managing the properties? You could find out a lot from this person. I would find out as much about the seller as possible. What was their motivation to selling? Are there outstanding code violations on any of the properties? Have insurance claims been filed? What is the crime like in each of the areas? Look closely at vacancy rates and rent rolls. 

Tenants want in unit laundry over central air. Three bedroom units with AC are going as high as $1800 per month nearby. Hope that helps! 

Your best bet is to say you rented to the other family with a better credit score. You cannot discriminate against people for any reason except their credit score. 

As others have said, you could be in very hot water because you absolutely cannot deny someone who has a service animal, it violates the americans with disabilities act and this guy could also argue that you discriminated against him being a veteran. Educate yourself so that next time you do not violate fair housing laws. Also as a landlord you should know that there are spotters out there.

I have sold a few properties with an open violation and it was allowed as long as the buyer assumes responsibility or they were cash buyers. Outside of Chicago, each municipality has their own rules and some are pretty strict. In addition to looking for open violations, I would have checked if permits were pulled for any improvements that were made to the property.  

Illinois is an attorney state, so I am curious why your agent didn't mention hiring one. I have found that many brokers rely heavily on the attorney, and because of this, they may not know what they are doing. When I got started in real estate my broker at one of the top firms told me I didn't need to worry about anything after going under contract because the attorney handled it all. What a laugh! That couldn't be further than the truth. 

I would contact your title company and you may need to hire an attorney after all. 

Keep us posted as to how this unfolds. Good luck!

Unless this is in a very hot, appreciating area or you plan to live there, I would pass. You cannot guarantee that the property will appreciate, and if value stays the same, everything is going to be old in 10 years and you'll start to have to spend money to update and replace mechanicals. In my market its those renovated properties that are best suited for live in investors who plan to rent out the other unit, reducing their living expenses.