All Forum Posts by: Austin F.

After fighting with people no showing, or walking through and not applying I switched to "Showings only after approved application"
Haven't had a no show since. I have a whole folder of pictures and video walk throughs I send prospective tenants before they apply. Some are turned off by this, but many aren't.

6 months on a cash out refi with 80% LTV max double check with your lender on the LTV, it may vary.

I read today there is a loan product that will cash you out immediately, but will not pay over purchase price plus closing costs so if you just want to make a competitive offer and rehab isn't that much this could be worth looking into.

Quote from @Anthony Parsons:

Quote from @Austin F.:

Post your question here, be specific but succinct, use numbers and locations. You'll get a variety of opinions but at the end of the day it's up to you to decide what is best for you.

Thanks, Austin.  This kind of supports my point that folks don't engage in person.  But thanks.

This is my fault, I didn't answer your question.

I would talk to a qualified financial advisor/planner.

Surely one will chime in here shortly, pay them and ask away. A quick Google search turned up several in my metro some with big institutions backing their names. Their agenda will be to give you good advice, and possibly they will want to manage your assets, YMMV.

If the financial advisor route doesn't suit you you could try reaching out to someone here who is a mentor. But my guess is your questions are very specific, and not aligned with the goals of most mentors here.

Post your question here, be specific but succinct, use numbers and locations. You'll get a variety of opinions but at the end of the day it's up to you to decide what is best for you.

I switched from Venmo, Docusign, and Rentprep for leases, rent collection, and tenant screening to Innago. Those three apps combined into one is pretty convenient, and auto late fees, easy billbacks, etc.


Oh, and it's free. The tech support is very responsive, and I have gotten prompt reply's to any issues I have had, my fault or not. As an added bonus rent is usually in my account next day.

Quote from @Tina Miller:

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 What does your lease say? Probably nothing, but more importantly what does your state say about security deposits? There are usually very strict laws regarding this type of stuff, follow them exactly. 

In my state (DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH) The landlord has 30 days to provide a tenant with a WRITTEN schedule of damages and charges along with a check for the remainder. The tenant then has 45 days to dispute this IN WRITING. Then the landlord and tenant can mediate or in 45 days it goes to court.

Here is the exact verbiage from my lease:

Maintenance: All normal household maintenance is the responsibility of the Resident(s). This is broadly defined as maintenance under $100. Maintenance cost is $65/hr. Resident(s) will be charged labor and materials for all maintenance requests. If Resident(s) fails to make repairs or replacement, Landlord may do so at Resident(s) expense. Should a maintenance contractor have to be called Resident(s) will be billed at invoice price of that contractor. Landlord reserves right to choose which contractors resident uses. All costs will be added to rent payable on the 1st.

In another line it is spelled out that all plumbing issues are the responsibility of the resident. Generally if it can be bought at a store, and a normal homeowner can deal with it it's the Residents problem. If you have to have skills to deal with it, its the land lords problem.

Quote from @Kevin McGuire:

Quote from @Austin F.:

Every time the forums get "easier to use" I have a harder time using them....

 Austin, do you have specific usability feedback on the new forums?

Kevin I gave it some time and now I have some feedback. I am primarily a desktop user, which will make a difference.

-I click a topic and it takes me to first post every time, or most recent. Taking me to my last read post is more useful so I don't have to scroll around finding what I've already read.

-On other forums I have the ability to mouse over a topic and quickly see the first sentence or two of the first post. Here I have to click to see if its a topic I have any interest in based only on the title.

-Organization is hard to follow. The centered justification is weird and makes for cluttered post boxes.

-Possibly my biggest gripe is that there is little differentiation between poster name, payment status, title, location, and when they replied (phew!) from the main message body. I find myself reading all of this information first whether i want to or not, then the reply. This should be broken off into a specific section so it is still available but can be 'filtered out' by a reader trying to follow a topic

-Vbulletin style forums have been around forever, and continue to be a favorite amongst forum people for a reason: they're easy and intuitive. No clutter, no nonsense. All of my favorite forums are Vbulletin of some shade or another. They probably lack the ability to add the features you want, but the style and layout are classic and (in my opinion) a great template. 

Long story short my sister is having a child and my mother wants to purchase a place close to her so she can help with that.



We (mother and I) are looking to make this an investment opportunity instead of renting, most of my

investments are high cash flow SFHs in Michigan, but I have recently begun stepping into apartment complexes. I grew up in the

Chicago area, but left 15 years ago, so the Chicago real estate market is a totally new animal for me, and I'm not sure where to

start. Looking for connections and opinions on how to proceed. Seems that cash flow is a tough ask here, and I personally don't

see Chicago as a big appreciation market but I may be wrong?



The area we are looking in is north of Glenview and south of Northbrook, somewhat near Tecny. Sorry if this is a bit wandering,

just learned about all this this morning, so haven't fully put together my thoughts. Thank you for your responses

Edit: Can't find the Chicago local forums now so this is just going in general

Every time the forums get "easier to use" I have a harder time using them....