All Forum Posts by: Chris Merchant

Excessive noise means any unnecessary noise which persists for ten minutes or more; such period of noise need not be witnessed by enforcement personnel if the occupants of two or more separate housing or commercial units certify that they have experienced such period of noise and describe with particularity the source

Excessive noise means the presence of sound, as measured by standard testing devices, of a volume or in quantities and for durations which endangers human health, welfare or safety, animal life, or property or which unreasonably interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property in the County or in such areas of the County as are affected thereby.

There is 2 "legal" definitions of excessive noise

Just realize also that if you do ever accept partial payment it will greatly hinder, and make the eviction almost impossible, I personally refuse to accept partial payments on advice from my attorney.

If all else fails, contact a place like ServPro they specialize in smoke/fire/water damage remediation 

Good question, my answer would be this: I am very sorry your father died, I will send you flowers and a card however your rent is due and if you do not pay it by ____ (whatever the grace period is in your state/lease) then you will incur a late charge, and the process for eviction will be started promptly.

My advice would be, DO NOT let them think they can push you off and pay you later, it will become a constant thing.  Why don't they tell the electric company, cable company, cell phone company and car loan lender their father died and they will just pay next month?  Because they know those places won't care what their reason is the payment is due on the due date or there are penalties.  I realize it seems cruel but if you open that can of worms they will understand and feel they can push the rent off if they just have a reason as to why.

Not sure about Chicago but I can say that around here it is generally extremely difficult to get the city to approve those types on improvements to existing structures, and as stated if you can the cost is usually so much so that it's not cost effective to do so. You should run the numbers of ROI for the project once you get a few quotes.

 I have not as of yet, look forward to it though, where do you typically hold the meetups?

@Nicholas Creahan You should be able to use FHA I know of for sure as long as it is used as your primary residence for the first 12 months, being a triplex you can live in 1 of the 3 units and rent the other 2 units out and then after the 12 months you may rent the 3rd unit and use another address as your primary residence.

As for the VA loan requirements I believe they are very similar to FHA but not positive on the 1 year primary residence being mandatory.

I would suggest you do not rent it out until it is legal to be rented out.  It can just make things worse down the road for you.

As for the cat odor I would say your best bet is obviously rip out any flooring and sub flooring and probably 4ft high row of drywall around the entire place.  As those will be the most concentrated areas of urine and odor.  I know there are paints and primers that mask odors but I am not sure of the effectiveness on cat/urine odor.  Another option is tear out any damaged material and ALL carpet and then see if you can get a place like ServPro to come in and mitigate the odor, they have ways and devices that pretty much fumigate the building and introduce a deodorizer to the building, not sure they can/will do anything for cat odor but it would never hurt to ask, they are a nationwide company and specialize in smoke/fire damage remediation.  If they don't deal with animal odors they may be able to point you in the right direction.

Hello BiggerPockets community, I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself.

I am currently investing the Connecticut market and have built my portfolio of mostly single family and small multifamily houses.

I work for a landscaping/excavation company in a supervisory capacity and have experience in sewer and drain maintenance, repair and installation from my last full time job.  I have also done some other contractor rehabbing and demolition in the past.  

Just wanted to say hi and let everyone know if you have any questions in any of the areas I have listed as areas I have experience in do not hesitate to PM me on here.

Happy investing!