All Forum Posts by: Brian R.

I change locks between every tenant.  You don't know who the last tenant gave a key to.  Go with something like what is avalible at www.landlordlocks.com, and you can change all the locks in about 5 minutes or less.

I require the previous tenants to have the carpet steam cleaned before they move out by a company of their choice and provide a copy of the reciept to me, otherwise I charge them to have it done through their deposit.  I replace the carpet every five years though, and don't require it if is being replaced though.

Is this a commercial or residential property?

I got the 2019 proposed value of one of my residential properties (a 20 foot by 130 foot vacant lot) cut in half this year.  I had to go to the board of appeal and equalization meeting that took place in May. It was made of the city council members and the property assessor for the county.  I explained why I thought the proposed value was too high. A few days later the assessor came out and met with me at the property.  About a week later he called me and said yep, we are lowering it to this value, which was less than the 2018 value.

If I didn't agree with his new value, I could have appealed that to the county board, then to tax court.  

I can't answer for Chicago in particular, but can give my experience in Bayport Minnesota.

The owners of the duplex next to me were getting divorced, and had to sell it.  They were living in one side, and had made a make-shift door in the common wall on the 2nd floor between the two units, to use all four bedrooms.  They were renting out the main floor of one side as a "studio" unit.  It is zoned as a single family, but is two completely separate places, with two kitchens, livings rooms, etc.  They had to sell because of the divorce, and were willing to sell it to me for about $100,000.00 under value.  

I had them contact the city and talk to the zoning people.  They were able to get a conditional use permit that allows it to be rented as a duplex.  Originally they were going to require the new owner to live in one side, and could only rent out the other.   At the public hearing I spoke, explained I was the one that wanted to buy it, and that I live next door.  They ended up granting the conditional use permit, I don't have to live in it, and I got it for about $100,000.00 under value.  

I put drywall up in the "door" they made, and rent it out for about $600.00 a month cash flow.

If the numbers work out, I would contact the city myself.  It doesn't hurt to ask.

I just close a week ago on a HELOC on one of my rentals. It is through BMO Harris bank. 30 year term, 10 year draw, 3.99 percent for the first year, and then goes to prime +2(?) percent. (I don't remember now) No closing costs as long as I don't pay it off in full within the first three years, otherwise I owe the $700.00 closing cost they covered.

I don't know if they operate in your area, but that might be an option for you.  I had to call about 10 banks before I found one that would.

I have also been told, and have used, Wells Fargo in the past for a HELOC, but due to personal reasons, I did not even contact them.

I bought a duplex that is zoned single family.  I make the former owners go to the city, and they got a conditional use permit for the property to allow me to rent it as a duplex.  The only stipulation I have from the city is I can't let it one side sit empty for more than 120 days without notifing the city why it is empty for that long.  

I had a lot of renovations that I did a couple years after I bought it.  I called up the person at the zoning office, told her why I was calling, it was going to be half empty for 5 months due to the upgrades I was doing, and she said great, I'm glad your improving the property, extenstion granted.  

I had to go with the sellers to a city council meeting for the conditional use permit, and about 10 minutes on the phone when I was going for the extention, for a total of about an hour and a half, and it has been a great investment. Check to see if a CUP (Conditional use permit) is would work in your case.  A lot cheaper, quicker, and easier than trying to get it re-zoned.

If vinyal has been installed over it already, leave it alone.  Buy the house, and move in like any other property.  Yes, it should have been removed before the vinyal put onto the house, but probably was not done because it would have increased the cost of installing the vinyal about 5-10 percent.  

The absestos won't cause you any harm since it is covered by the vinal.  If you take the vinyal off, that is when you can run into problems.

I agree with Jonathan Smith, this is a large job for a handyman.  And the fact he isn't licensed adds more concern to the whole project for me.  I don't care how great his references are, I would not be using him.  You will have little to no recourse if something went wrong.  You will be responsible  for any code violations that he did, and if anything happens while he is working, damages something, gets hurt, you may be personally responsible and your homeowners insurance may not cover it because you are using an unlicensed contractor.  At the very least make sure he is insured.

If you are in Boulder like your profile said, the fine if caught by the city it looks like is twice the permit fee, plus they can make you remove whatever work you completed they need so they can do the inspections that were not done.

Are you doing the renovations your self or hiring a contractor?  If you are hiring a contractor, MAKE THEM GET THE PERMIT; DO NOT GET THE PERMIT FOR THEM.  If you are hiring a contractor, and they request/require you to get the permit, do not use that contractor. I would question if they are actually licensed/insured in that case.  If you pull the permit, you will ultimately be responsible when they don't do the work to code.  

No matter who is doing the work though, I would get the permit.  It will add a couple of weeks onto the project, a small increase to the overall cost of the project, but in the long run you won't have to worry about things in the future.  

I am waiting for the permit for a small project I am doing.  It is adding about $300.00 onto the total $12,000.00 cost, and about 2 weeks to the timeframe waiting for the permit approval.  

I said, I don't have an issue paying taxes, however I think the value they proposed for 2019 is way to high.  The parcel is not worth anything to anyone other myself.  It is a 20 foot wide by 136 foot deep strip of land.  If I was to stop paying taxes on it, the county would take it as tax forfeited property.  The city/county would then end up having to pay to cut the grass and such, but nobody is their right mind would purchase it.  I would still get the benefit of it, as nothing can be built on it, but it wouldn't cost me anything.  I continued by stating that the $6600 valuation that has been on the property for the past 17 years, I had no problem with.  When it went to $10,000 I wasn't excited, but I didn't say anything.  However the new value I have an issue with.  The assessor told me that the reason the value went up so much on this lot was because they didn't raise the value on the lot with the house.  I told them that wasn't correct, as the value on the lot with the house went up $15,000.   I wasn't arguing the value of that lot, as I feel it is correct.  If I was to add the two together, the value was about $8,000 over what I could get if I sold both lots together with what they are proposing.

Their was one other person at the meeting that had bought a tax forfeited property that was completely land locked behind their existing lot. They paid $2,000.00 for it, and the value has been $1,000 since they purchased it 3 years ago.  The only way to access it is through their existing lot with the house on it.  The proposed value of this lot went from the $1,000 to $30,000.  They told the county that they were going to stop paying as well.  

I received a called from the assessor today in Anoka County about my appeal.  The property had been valued at $6600 since the year 2000.  The value went to a little over $10,000 for 2018, and the proposed 2019 went to around $23,500.  They are dropping the value for 2019 down to $9500.