It was exasperating but caused me to cook my heels.

@Jesse Byrer I had great success with Tom Raleigh at Halsted Law Group and thought the fees were quite reasonable, but it was in Cook county.

Lots of people enjoy condo living due to the convenience of managing a smaller living space, but being situated in a downtown core.5.) the strata rules can help you - if you don't want smokers, pet owners, short term rentals, hoarders, etc in your rental unit then it might be nice to have these rules in the strata bylaws so that you can refer the tenants to them or blame the reason why on the strata. 

Hi all BPers,I bot this house from a smoker and rehab it recently.

It's also productive fun- I also like hobbies where I make things (knitting, sewing, cooking, fixing up things around the house, etc), but the sense of accomplishment at the end of spending 4 weeks solid knitting a scarf is not nearly as... well, fun... as spending that four weeks putting together a deal.And once you stop needing the money to live on, it starts going to interesting projects and things you care about- I try to donate money to science research I find interesting, but tends to get ignored by the big grant institutions- I could happily, happily, spend $100 million on that and never get bored.

Just seems like the taxes in Cook County really kill any room for buy and holds.

Besides what others have mentioned about the Cook County landlord laws, the nice or even average parts of Chicago are very expensive places to buy property in.

The Cook County Sheriff says he will no longer evict homeowners or tenants from properties that are involved in a foreclosure.

Last year when I advertised for my rental I stated "No smokers, no pets".Applicant stated on his applicantion that he does NOT smoke.

So I pay my cooking gas and electric for my apartment as well as the heat and hot water for the whole house.