All Forum Posts by: Cody Ray

I try to show occupied units, but it really depends on the tenant whether that will work. Just last night I received a nasty 4 page long text message from one tenant who's moving out at the end of the month, all because my leasing agent called them to setup times for showing before she's moved. But it's worked ok with a couple other tenants that I was on good terms with and kept their place tidy. So ymmv. :)

Ooh, the infamous cash-out refi story! Look forward to hearing about it! :)

Looks great, John! I'm definitely curious about how the presenters view risk and liquidity vs more aggressive expansion during times like these.

Fun stuff! I saw a lot of properties come up on East End Ave this year. Couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger on them though. Bought a different south shore property as a bit of an experiment to see if its a fit for me. Good luck!

I'd love to hear some options. I'm also only seeing 5-7 year balloons mortgages for such properties.

Where do you see this trend actually starting in Chicago? I've been curious about this for years but haven't actually seen it done in practice yet.

I'd be curious to hear more about your thoughts on the economic and demographic shifts in South Shore. I'm still torn. People have been forecasting improvements for 3 decades now, and they've yet to really materialize. But it does feel like something is changing, at least on the northern blocks near Jackson Park Highlands.

@Calvin Lipscomb Nice work, look forward to hearing how adding two more units goes. Finding long-term financing for apt buildings is getting pretty tight. The lenders I spoke with for my 6-unit close last month were pretty much all looking for balloons rather than fully-amortizing loans.

A couple other approaches if you're willing to house-hack a bit.

If you're willing to move in and don't own any other property, then you can take advantage of the special 5% down conventional mortgage program. The benefit of this over FHA is that PMI automatically falls off a 78% (or you can request it at 80%) LTV. And sellers often prefer conventional to FHA as there's an easier appraisal process (depending on how much work is required).

If you own a property, and you have a spouse who isn't on the mortgage, then you could explore putting this one in your spouse's name.

Interesting, thanks for the heads-up @Henry Lazerow!