All Forum Posts by: Tim Coppola

@Rich Hupper @Marlen Weber

Thanks for the responses. Rich, I certainly hope you're right about this being an overreaction but all signs are pointing to it's not. Restaurants in major cities across the country are closing, if not because the local government is forcing them to then because they are trying to protect their guests and employees. Which means those people will be unemployed for the time being. And if anyone thinks 100% of the restaurants will reopen they're wrong. Restaurants operate on extremely slim margins. Some of them may be able to reopen eventually but they certainly won't be hiring back the entire staff. When things get back to "normal" there are going to be a lot of unemployed people out there.

I'm not trying to attack you here but please do some research on this. Just because your area isn't being affected right now doesn't mean it's not a real threat. And even if it does slow down come summer (which experts aren't all agreeing that it will) the economy is going to suffer because a lot of people won't have money to spend.

Thanks,

Tim

@Rich Hupper @Rod Hanks

Thanks for the replies. I think I'm just going to move forward with the refinancing and if it doesn't go through then that's fine. At this point I need to start prioritizing because no one has any idea how long this will last.

Greetings everybody,

I had started my refinancing of a 3 flat that I own about 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately I work in the restaurant industry in Chicago which means, as of today, I have been placed on furlough by my restaurant. We are still receiving health insurance but not getting paid. I've been told I can apply for unemployment while on furlough so my question is, will this directly affect the refinance process? I don't want to disrupt that process but I am not expecting this to end any time soon and at some point am going to need some sort of income.

Thanks in advance for any help,

Tim

Thanks Walter. I am looking to permanently close these. There are no returns in the basement, just the supplies so I don't think I can just close it at the trunk because the ducts share vents for both floors. If I did that would't I be stopping airflow to the entire duct, including the first floor?

I've found these rubber covers which would block the air from going into the basement but I'm not sure that would be good for the furnace in the long run.  Ideally I'd like to have no registers in the basement ceiling so I don't really want to have to use these though. 

https://www.amazon.com/Rubber-include-Airflow-addi...

Greetings all,

I live in the basement unit of my building which shares the same HVAC unit as the first floor. It is completely controlled by the first floor tenants but has six vents that are directed to the basement unit. I am going to move out soon and want to close those vents off completely so only the first floor receives the heat/air. There are baseboards in the basement unit as well which provide ample heat.

I've read before that closing vents in a room that doesn't get used actually isn't good for the system and was wondering if closing off the vents entirely will actually negatively affect my HVAC system or if this can be done.

Thanks,

Tim

@Calvin Lipscomb

Fortunately they ended up moving out without me having to evict them. That being said, I did have a lawyer all set up and let the tenants know via a written letter that I would start the eviction process if they weren't moved out within a month. Maybe that scared them enough to actually find a place. 

Good luck with your place in Chicago!

@Thomas S.

Thanks for replying. I thought about just offering to keep them on MTM going forward, however the apartment is in an area with a lot of schools and I aim for tenants that are families going to those schools. As I mentioned above the idea of them moving out in November or December and having to try and find tenants to move in then feels like a nightmare to me.

@Joe Villeneuve @Weston Harding@Matthew Olszak @Ashour Rehana

Thanks for the responses, I really appreciate it. I agree that I need to keep emotions out of it and just keep my best interest in mind.

I like the idea of having them sign a new lease with a 2 month security deposit, however, I don't like the thought of possibly having to sign a new lease in January or February simply because I feel that it would be much more difficult to keep having to find tenants in those months.

I think I'm going to give them two options. The first is to let them stay for an additional month, which would put the new tenant lease starting in August which isn't a bad thing for me. The other option will be the new lease allowing them to sublease when they move out. 

If they do sublease this will be my first time dealing with that. From the other experienced landlords out there, is there any specific advice you can give me to help me avoid putting myself in an unpleasant situation?

Thanks again for all the advice so far!

Greetings all,

I have tenants that have lived in one of my units for 3 years now. There have been no issues whatsoever with them and they always pay rent on the first of the month. I talked with them yesterday because their lease is up at the end of June. They mentioned that their kid was accepted into a school near the south side of Chicago and are looking into purchasing a condo downtown to be closer. They haven't been able to find anything yet and aren't going to be in town for the next three weeks, which makes it September or October until they would close on a new place and move in.  They mentioned that they would be happy to sublet the apartment if they signed a new lease and moved out early but I don't let my tenants sublet because I prefer to find new ones myself. 

I was thinking of just doing a 6 month lease for them but even if they moved in September or October and paid the remaining months I'd still be left needing to rent the place in January. I'm pretty sure most people in Chicago don't move in January, especially the kind of tenants I'm looking for. 

I could just go month to month with them but, again, that could be November when I'd be looking for a new tenant which is probably worse than finding one in January. 

Another option I considered is doing a 9 month lease, which would go through March. Then depending on when they move I could try to find someone for the remaining months and work on a new lease starting in April. I'm just not sure how likely it is that I'd find anyone wanting MTM during those months.

I could also just tell them no and make them move at the end of June. I'd prefer not to do that though because they have been great tenants for three years and have made my landlord life easy. If l can return the favor and make this move easy for them it would be nice.

If anyone has any advice or more ideas, I'd really appreciate hearing them.

Thanks,

Tim

@Neil Thakkar I will just be switching out the existing units. There will not be any duct work done.