All Forum Posts by: Steve Peterson

Great job and thank you and your family for your service!!

You definitely have rights and can go after the seller if they did not disclose that there were leaks and they were aware of them.  Did you do a final walk through?

I would start by the looking at the big name real estate offices (ReMAx, Coldwell Banker, Century 21).  Typically their website will have the agents and bios for each of them.  Choose a few that you think you could work with and then start looking into reviews on-line other than their companies website (very biased).  I hope that this helps, good luck!

Hey guys and gals, quick question....I feel like I have read everything under the sun as of late, what good/great books are you guys reading or have you read recently?  Any and all input welcome (non fiction preferably).  Thanks in advance!

Being a licensed real estate agent there is really nothing initially that we can do prior to seeing the home that you can't do online.  Agents can provide you with a detailed market analysis by simply putting the criteria in a program and then generating a report, but you can also do that yourself.  You, being local to the area, will have a good feel of what the homes are selling for and what they should be valued at.  I suggest you pick a brokerage that has a good reputation and call it.  When you call it ask for the best agent.  They will be more than happy to help you or will point you in the right direction to an agent that handles investors.  The negotiation process on the agent is where we make the money (I suggest calling another agent other than the listing agent of the property that you are interested in,...dual agency can be tricky).  Good luck!!

Agreed on the challenging part but not impossible if you are willing to put some sweat equity into the property.  I will keep and eye out for you and I am also available if you ever want to see a property.  I am based out of Bolingbrook but work in Chicago and Oak Brook frequently.

If you can afford the down payment as well as have reserves it is never a bad idea to purchase a rental....as long as you can get a decent ROI. What is the average rent in the zip code that you are looking at? What would your mortgage look like (PITI)? Maintenance/Upkeep? Utilities? Can you afford the payments if you have no tenant? This all plays a major factor in deciding if the deal is good or bad. More info would be great

I had this same problem so I decided to get my RE license.  It was one of my better decisions and couldn't be happier with the results.

Sounds like a good set-up to me.  The only question that might be of concern is, What happens if you no longer have any renters?  Can you afford the mortgage and utilities by yourself?  Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the response and those are good points. The HOA seems like it is good shape, it has 4 months reserves and just replaced all windows and a put on a new roof in 2016. There are also no restrictions on rentals for the unit.