Hello BP Family,I have a potential house-hack deal cooking.

@Scott F. one incident, and there have been many, but one that sticks out in my mind is that we had a tenant in one side of a duplex that took out her hearing aids and was cooking on the stove, walked away and the grease started a fire.

However, if the house is truly vacant, would the HOA be able to enforce the appearance standards in order to keep the house looking nice, or would the typical distressed property signs start showing up, I.e. over grown vegetation, newspapers piling up, etc.?

I've been spooked personally by Cook County's tax assessment schedules and high property taxes, as well as crime in some of Chicago's outer areas.

One of the many reasons that FHA loans aren't all they are cooked up to be when it comes to REI by many on this website-- you identified a few other key differentiators. :)

@Raeshelle Cooke how are duplexes in your market?

You know that your dinner will always cost more at a restaurant but you go because they cook it for you, serve it to you and clean up afterwords.The question is what are you looking for in your life right now?

Well at least if you talk to an attorney, make sure you get one that handles security deposit issues all the time in Cook County.

I agree with Marc both on having a landscaping company replace the vegetation and having an attorney review your lease and this situation.

Chicago is in Cook county and that is one of the worst counties around you'll find in terms of landlord laws. 4 to 6 mos for an eviction is not unheard of - thats the norm.