All Forum Posts by: Stephen Brieloff

Thanks, @Jake Fugman for the thoughts. I agree, I'm seeing a good balance of value and cash flow on rentals there; however, this, of course, is just on paper. The unknown variable for me right now is the quality of tenant piece and management. Would be great to connect with anyone you know who has experience investing in the area.

Does anyone have experience investing in Berwyn or Cicero? I'm starting to look into some deals for rentals in those areas and am seeing some solid numbers. For those that have invested in those areas:

1. How has it been finding tenants?
2. What property managers do you use to manage the properties?
3. What challenges have you faced in managing the properties?

@Jeff Burdick thanks for the input! Thinking of it as 11 months of rent in revenue is a good way to go. I'm looking into Berwyn and Cicero right now (a bit out of the city), as well as Hermosa. Where are you looking?

See you've got a Spartan shirt in your photo - I'm a Spartan too! Go Green!

Thanks all for the input. For now, we're OK with just cleaning it ourselves. We charge a cleaning fee for each guest even when we clean it ourselves so we're essentially banking up this money for times when we're out of town and have to pay a cleaner to do so.

Will keep in mind the advice on getting a friend/person in my network involved to assist. Haven't gone down that route yet and hoping I don't have to, but good to have someone at the ready.

@Shawn Mcenteer the landlord pays the fee to list the property on the MLS. What is the realtor fee in your area? Since in my area it is 1 month's rent it seems unreasonable to push that cost onto the tenant.

Hi everyone!

I'm located in Chicago and am looking at investing in a multi-family this year. In my market, and I assume many others, if you want to list a place for rent through a realtor on the MLS, it costs 1 month's rent. Of course there are other ways to go about advertising for new tenants, but this gives the widest exposure.

How do you factor the cost of advertising when running their numbers on potential investments? Do you simply take the cost of one month's rent and divide it by 12 months? Or do you consider the lifespan of an average tenant (example, 1.25 years) and factor that in? The cost of advertising and losing a full month in pretty steep, so curious to hear how people think about it and keep it in mind for their calculations.

Thanks! 

@Calvin Lipscomb why did you select this neighborhood for your investment? Curious to hear about that as well as what you think the numbers will look like (if you're willing to share).

My wife and I Airbnb our guest bedroom in Chicago and have been doing so for about a year and a half (it has been great - we love it). We travel quite a bit and are continue to have guests stay with us while we're gone. The only issue with this is if we are gone for a week or more, we are not there to clean the guest bedroom and turn it over for another guest, meaning we are losing out on potential income.

Obviously, hiring someone to turn the room over, clean the sheets, bathroom, etc. is the way to do this so I'm not missing out on potential income. Does anyone have experience finding a cleaner for just one room? All of the options I've looked at have only provided options to clean an entire place, which costs $100+ from what I've researched. 

@Mark Kappelman Seems like a great event - unfortunately, I will not be able to join. Will there be additional events in this theme in the future? I currently operate an AirBnb and would love to learn more and meet others doing the same thing.