All Forum Posts by: Bob Floss II

@Bruce Brotine The northern burbs can be tough for finding a good deal. I work a lot on the south side of the city and further north more towards Wisconsin. The rentals in the north shore are more for getting a secure investment with a nice rate of return, but you won't build a lot of wealth.

@Tom O. I would be interested in networking and talking over lunch. I have no preference on a day.

@Jordan Bradberry You can have the seller sign an assignment of lease over to your or your companies name. Typically we have this signed at closing and then post a notice for all the tenants with the new owner information and way to pay rent within 24 hours of closing.

Even then, it's not uncommon for tenants to spin yarns that they forgot and sent the rent to the previous owner and tell the previous owner that they already paid you. They use the confusion to buy a couple weeks without paying rent. You should have received a proration of rent for July, so you should hopefully only be out ten days of rent. If she's already a problem, it might be best to tell her you expect her to be moved out by Aug 1.

@Ryan Dunn Sorry to hear about the bad news, I always hate to see an investor lose money and potentially sour on real estate. I'm a bit shocked to hear they are still operating, I heard rumblings they were having serious problems a couple years ago. 

I've never dealt with this company personally so I can't speak to their ongoing business practices. I had a couple clients approach me about investing with them several years ago and reviewed the offering memorandum. There were enough discrepancies and red flags that I advised them to run from the deal. The only specific item I can remember is an issue with the purchase price. The package sent to the investor stated they had purchased the building for well over $200K, but when I pulled up the building records, they had paid almost half that amount. I've dealt heavily with investment buildings on the south side of Chicago and know the neighborhoods well. In my opinion, they bought buildings in pockets with a history of horrible rent collection, but when you do a pro forma rent collection on paper, they look like a gold mine. I'm guessing most investors never toured the properties and didn't hire someone local to give them a second opinion. 

I would hope somewhere in your agreement was a clause that gives you the right to examine the books or request detailed financials for the building. Before you make any decision, you need to know the status of rent collection, any outstanding building code or city violation cases on the building, rehab or construction at the building, and exactly how much money and how many investors are attached to the building.

@Larry Green Seems like a solid plan to house hack and when you move you can rent out your unit. I agree that Illinois has problems but that shouldn't be the defining factor to prevent you from moving forward with real estate investing. Waiting a couple years to get started won't benefit you.

@Shelly F. Congrats on getting off the sidelines! If you need some coaching through analyzing your first deal and setting up your partnership, please reach out.

@Kevin Pruitt You need cash in hand to bid on sheriff sale properties so you have three options. 1) Find a private money lender that will advance the money (very unlikely), 2) Use your own money and immediately look for partners or hard money lenders to pull your money back out once you have deed recorded in your name, or 3) talk to a hard money lender that can approve you for a line of credit and take a draw to go to auction. 

@Satish Subramanian Congrats and good luck with inspection and review.

@George Ozoude I'm personally a fan of narrowing your investment strategy so you have a clear plan of attack. When a property pops up that fits within your framework, you know exactly how to value it, put in an offer, and carry out your investment strategy. 

Considering any deal that "makes sense" sounds nice, but you get caught in a cycle of analysis paralysis. The amount of time it will take to evaluate the deal, find people with knowledge of the area, and consider your options with the property will leave you exhausted. Focus on areas and properties that allow you the opportunity to take advantage of information, manpower, or capital that competitors may not possess.  Find a niche that is successful and find a way to rinse and repeat.

@Richard Moro Please contact me if you have not already reached out to a real estate attorney. Even though its your family members, you should really protect yourself and your family in the event something goes wrong. You are having trouble finding the contract or legal documents because there is not a blank form to fill in and address the potential problems. If you can spare about 20 minutes on the phone, I can take through all the options.