All Forum Posts by: Scott Forney

@Stephen Jones I agree. I have a hard enough getting contractors to commit here, I think finding good contractors will be the biggest challenge as you get further away. Hopefully a PM can help with that! Good luck in your search!

@Stephen Jones I invest in central illinois, cash flow is good, but always had the plan to get my feet wet in my back yard then get into an area with more appreciation. In my opinion, as the world becomes more virtual and people can work from anywhere, Illinois will see more people leaving due to low job growth, taxes, and a poorly ran government. I've kept my eye on Iowa and Indiana as well.

I would be up for a meet up on a regular basis too!

Anyone have recommendations on property management companies in the area? Preferably near spring valley or lasalle.

@Diana Dorantes yep I called rock solid home inspections, he's going to do a walk through with me for $100/hr. I thought that was reasonable!

I had a time finding a termite inspector though, finally found Quik-kill out of Streator!

I am buying a 4 unit is Magnolia. It's about 25 minutes south of La Salle. Does anyone have recommendations for a home inspector and foundation specialist?

@Sally Carr Hi Sally, I was surprised to get this alert but ironically I'm local. Local carpenters are hard to get commitment from. Not sure if you've contacted winkler construction or not but they are local, just a little more pricey.

@Emanuel Ohunwu

I just hired a management company that prefers to offer "Say Rhino." They charge a $300 reset fee instead of a deposit and the tenant pays about $12/month for a $3,000 policy that covers damages or rent if they don't pay. Apparently this has saved tons of landlords recently. There may be additional benefits that I'm not aware of, but those were the two that stuck in my head. Definitely attracts a bigger tenant pool to your rentals as they don't have to have such a large deposit.

@Rui Zhang hey Rui, I'm currently buying a 9 unit in Chillicothe. Would love to hear about your experience so far.

Looking for some input here on regular maintenance of rental properties. We just purchased 4 units from a retirement home, where they primarily housed elderly and disabled individuals. We have inherited 2 tenants and they have gotten used to the retirement home replacing furnace filters every 4 months for them.

I don't think this is a terrible idea to have this scheduled to change these filters 3 times per year, it would save wear and tear on the furnace and a/c, and I would know that it is being replaced. Also would give me excuses to get my eyes on the rest of the unit.

Anyone else do this, or is this an expense I should be avoiding? Furnace filters get pricey when you are buying 8 at a time! Also, as we grow the portfolio, I could see this getting to be time consuming.

@Tony Angelos thanks for response Tony. It helps to have an optimistic view of the area. I've often thought that investing in a small community would give you that option to "curb" the market by sort of setting your own market rent as long as it is reasonable.