This was a no-brainer and has a payback of about 3 or so years (probably less with how my tenants use the AC in the summer) plus again, it'll help sell the property down the road.I really wanted to separate the water as I found a few good sub-meter companies but the water lines go every which way and make it impossible to attach a meter to one.

Any information you are willing to share about past projects from addresses, scope of work, estimates, line item breakdowns, materials costs etc.  

The other part of this is that in addition to this, we are borrowing from our home equity line of credit to put down the 20% deposit- so we have that payment too.   

If it is a credit/equity line, you could provide a lender letter that the funds are available immediately for funding - and cured any recission period. 

First, Albany Park is at the end of the Brown Line.

What were the biggest line items?

I don't have a project lined up currently, as I think the project targets vary greatly on the result of this decision since there is so much equity in the condo.

And what is your price point and are you looking for turn-key properties or something along the lines of a "fixer upper"?

Just recently got hit with a 10K sewer line repair.

Set aside a big pile of cash or rely on a line of credit you won't be using.The oversimplified insurance concept is to pay a small premium to cover a large loss.