All Forum Posts by: Michael L.

Just noticed my property tax for Duplex#1 jumped significantly this year.  Anyone else experience this to?

2015: 2/2 - $1,111; 7/10 - $961

2016: 2/3 - $1,140; 7/13 - $1,595

No exemptions in either year.  My escrow balance is now negative as well, which is concerning as well.  

 PM'ed you my contact.

 Hi Stan, the tenants are sent notices at certain intervals, with 'elevating' urgency.  As long as the tenant has the intention to pay and eventually keeps paying, I (and the PM it seems) do not have a problem.  However, with this recent increase in the tenant portion, I will be monitoring it more closely and contact the PM if it gets out of hand.  For this tenant specifically, I can see on their tenant page, they have called the PM to indicate they intend to pay on X date when they get their paycheck, or something similar.

With the late fees, the PM takes their 8%, and the owner receives the rest.  I've never got to a point where I had to start the eviction process.  Would be interested if other folks have had that experience. 

 Quick update on this...

The tenant is consistently late, but is making attempts to catch-up.  For the 3 months the new split's been active, the tenant's paid $700, with about $900 still due (includes late fees).  On a positive note, the other tenant that tends to be late has been on time lately :).

 Thanks for the feedback Gallagher!  I just realized this thread is getting super long so hats off for going through the whole thing :) . 

I explored some of the popular turnkey markets (Indy, KC, Memphis, Atl, Cincinnati), but I liked the allure of a major/global city like Chicago.  The major factors were numbers and the operator.  I explored a couple of operators in each city and Elite's (PFR back then) operations impressed me the most.  Moving forward I'm open to other cities, just need to find a high quality provider I can trust there.  One challenge I've seen is that once a high quality provider becomes better known, the profitability becomes less attractive.  Elite's prices have been creeping up, but their numbers are still better than many other markets.  

So I folllowed up with the PM regarding the previously mentioned repairs.  I green lighted the repairs, and they will come with a 6 month warranty.  The Elite's crew will be performing the work but the PM did give the option to get outside quotes.  After doing a quick search for costs on these type of jobs, their prices are more than fair.

As @Petra G. mentioned above, the steps deteriorating so quickly seemed suspect, but likely it wasn't redone during the rehab, which makes sense (a lot can happen with those Chicago winters)  The PM's agreed to cover the costs of the steps, which is much appreciated.  The hallway painting and gate are understandable as they likely see heavy use.

With rentals it's prudent to allocate ~10% for maintenance and 10% vacancies.  I haven't checked my exact numbers on those items so far, but will try and post a detailed summary when I get a chance (vacancies have been $0 so far).

Not the best email to kickoff the holiday weekend:

Quick update:  noticed one of my tenant's rent portion jumped this month.  It was originally $154 (CHA covering $931) and now it's $497 (CHA covering $588).  That's a huge jump!  These increases are typically due to a rise in income, so hopefully my tenant is prospering these days. 

This tenant is one of the habitually late payers, so it'll be interesting to see how it goes moving forward.

 Whoa, those youtube videos are horrifying.  I suppose its good they do that though.

The inspections I paid for around the 1 yr mark were CHA inspectors to verify the units are in acceptable condition.  I'm assuming it'll be a recurring thing since CHA is footing most of the rent.

Awesome perspective.   I try to keep tabs on the Whole Foods, and I like what they're doing for the community.  Both my properties aren't too far from it and also really close to the Aldi's, which was a factor in my selection.