Run different scenarios, use the information you have and then make it worse case.  

Having said this, you would then be responsible for everything that needed to be re-piped inside the house to run to the new meters and would have to meet with the town/city engineer for inspection. 

Hey @Henry Lazerow - I would tend to agree that most of the NW side of Chicago 2-4 units don't play out perfectly well for BRRRR deals.I always looked at any potential house hack vs. having to rent - if my overall payments were less than the rent I generally considered that a win.For me...the house hack is just the ticket into the amusement park and then the fun rides come after...getting started can be overwhelming and hard so I can see why people might take a discount.I think one of the keys to strong equity creation is square footage creation which is basically what you outlined with duplexing up or down.

So it's up to you if you want to go through the hassle of the court system, then probably going through the process of garnishing wages.  

If they saved you 30k, then you made 10x on your investment.

With a duplex this is all one and then gets segregated in the home

Personally, for SF rentals, I boosted each property's liability coverage to $500K and then had a $2M umbrella policy. 

Then we stayed in our fixer-upper, used HELOC to buy investment property cash, then get a cash-out mortgage and pay back HELOC once rented out with rental history to qualify, and do it again.

Then you can read a more in-depth book like The Book On Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner or The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing by Spencer Strauss.2.

Then there are people who are paid for 40 but actually have 2 or more w2s working from home.