All Forum Posts by: Diana Dorantes

Welcome Hunter,  this is a good place to meet others with similar goals.  Ask questions to the forum when anything comes up.   Glad you took the leap and got your first rental.   Is it in Joliet also?  Hope to see you at one of the meet ups in the area.

@Wesley McDavid I feel it's not a bad deal IF you have a good partnership agreement in place. As you said a short-term rental is a lot of work. Yes you could hire cleaner and handyman but then you have to manage them. Depends on your time. We have done something similar, we put the money down for a small commercial property. Our partner was in charge of PM ,AND pay for all small maintenance. We both were in charge of bigger items like parking, roof, water heater and such. After 5 years equal partner. We did make a good partnership agreement prior to purchase. Good luck with what you decide.

@Ben M. I will say they do matter. When I'm looking to buy, I'm looking for poor quality of pictures in MLS, then I drive buy, if I like the area then I'll go see. I can usually get it for less since others see the not so nice pictures and don't even bother to offer or even go look at it. In other words get professional pictures.

@Gia LaForge, we have several property managers in various areas of our state. Just replaced 2 of them. I kept wanting to give them some time because of family illness but with me calling as well as emailing and texting, and them taking days if not a couple weeks to get back to me.... time to move on. You may want to talk with them. I like showing up at their office. If you don't let them KNOW your expectations they might not have your property on the top of their list.

I’m not seeing the easier to use part.  So full disclosure I’m not the most tech savvy person but if something takes me more than 10 minutes and I’m still having trouble.  I’m done.  Maybe I’ll try again in a few weeks.

@Sam Shah My husband and I just purchased this exact type of property. 2-4plex next to each other. We purchased under our LLC. We do not want to be vulnerable under our own names, even if we pay a little more in interest. We were able to get 3.25% because we have used the same banker for most of our purchases the last 3 years and I asked if he could lower it anymore. Originally it was supposed to be 3.75. I guess it really depends on your comfort level. The bank could call the note since you the person have deeded to another entity HOWEVER, I've only heard of it happening 1x. Get the best rate, you can still shop around. Call every smaller bank within 20 miles.
Best of luck!

@Scott Forney Hi Scott, I didn't see your post until now. Did you find someone for the inspection? It's probably late now but we found a good one in the area Craig Martin from Martin home inspection. Price was reasonable and detailed.

@Anthony Bellesbach you could try Ottawa Savings Bank or Federal Savings Bank. They both work well for investors. Good luck!

@Jim Bryant, @Anthony Bellesbach Thanks for updates from where you are.  We closed on a nice 8 unit in Germantown Hills at the end of April.  Things are falling into place nicely.  

@Scott Forney Congratulations on the 4 plex!

@Katelin Eberhard Thank you for the update, what day and are we meeting at Jameson's Pub?