I am a new investor
Hi everyone,I am a new investor in the Chicago area looking to purchase my first multi-family property (2 to 4 units) using an FHA loan. My strategy is to house hack—living in one unit and renting out the other(s) using the CHA Section 8 program to maximize cash flow. I am currently looking at areas like Garfield Ridge (60638) and West Englewood (60636).Since I will be living next door to my tenants, I want to make sure I screen properly and set up systems correctly from day one. I would love to connect with or get advice from experienced Chicago landlords who are currently doing Section 8.A few quick questions for the group:
- How long is the CHA currently taking from RTA submission to the first rent payment deposit?
- What are the most common (and unexpected) things CHA inspectors fail properties for during the initial inspection?
- For those house hacking Section 8, what boundaries or lease clauses have worked best for you to maintain privacy?
Thanks in advance for any insights, tips, or connections!"
Most Popular Reply
My first comment- Ignore the comments from anyone on this thread that questions you living next to a CHA tenants.
It should take 5 to 7 business days after RTA process for you to receive your first rent payment. With that said as a government entity sometimes there's no sense of urgency so get use to making daily calls & establish a friendly relationship with someone at the agency. I emphasize friendly.
With regards to what are the most commons (and unexpected things CHA inpsectors fail- I could give you a long response but I recommend you throw your question into an AI tools and your'll get a response that's probably about as good as I can do. So I'll give you how we operate in our business. We no longer visit properties ourselves when making offers unless we are visting a property on the client side. When we purchase for ourselves we send someone that works for us to take a video and pictures of the property. We also download data from the Chicago Code violation side for the property. Then we throw the inspection report, the pictures, the videos... into one of our AI tools and request a report based on what the AI can see of everything and ask the question- What will not pass CHA inspection rules. We started testing this last year & it was 99% on the money. We then use the results to develop either a scope of work for a contractor or handiman or we use it to help us with an offer. Please note that we don't use any of the free AI tools.
Regarding maintaining privacy- We do not use lease clauses for privacy. We do not let the tenants know that we are the owner. We set up a management company under an LLC and have payment of the rent go to that LLC. If we are using a 3rd party management company then payment goes to that management company. We do not use our personal phone number for any maintenance or discussion on leases. We may set up a special phone number for maintenance that forwards calls to handiman services. You can establish a relationships with a company like My Handyman express or Altus Property Partners (They do property management but they have a service that only deals with maintenance requests.} If you want to maintain privacy then you cannot be the one showing the apartments to tenants- It has to be a 3rd party. If you want to maintain privacy then you can't be the one that deals with tenant evictions- It must be a 3rd party.
Bottom line regarding privacy- The tenants & potential tenants have to see you as someone that just lives in the building & they are dealing with someone other than you for everything in the building.