All Forum Posts by: Edward Mccracken

Kevin, 

You should be tired of installing that tile.  Once you install a allure floor, you will be set for a long time and the best part about it is that it installs soooo fast.  I would not take up the floor beneath it.  If the tiles have chips and cracks in it heat it up, pop out the single tile and put any tile in there that is the same thickness or you can use some type of filler for the crack.  I have never had any success with the filler stuff.  If its a little chip you will be ok. Like tracy said, its very forgiving.  I have installed 1000's of square feet of this stuff.  I would only take up the floor if it had multiple layers and was very uneven.  Time is money, so I wouldn't take up the old floor.  Thats the best part about allure.  

Don't buy the ultra stuff.  I have heard nightmares about that stuff in big rooms.  Small rooms, you would be ok.  

One last thing... Make sure you roll the glue seams when you are done.  Quit messing with that other crap you are installing :) 

I hate going to the restore for stuff.  They have a bunch of over priced crap.  Some people get lucky sometimes.   The only time I go with laminate is if the sub floor isn't perfect.  I don't think I ever buy it cheaper than .99, that cheaper stuff breaks apart too easy.  You would be crazy not to use allure.  I use that on everything! The extra money you spend on that saves you time on installation and remember time is money.  Like Darren said if a piece goes back you can swap it out.  

You don't have to give a reason.  Tell them you're moving in there or something if they want to know.  What does your lease say?  Typically its 30 days.  I have a 60 day notice written in mine.  I don't know if that would be valid in Chicago's tenant bible (Chicago RTLO).  Then, I don't even know if the RTLO is valid in your area.  Let us know when you find out. 

I have your answers, from experience in dealing with CHICAGO.  I have both of your issues happen to me, but I didn't lend any money.  I will explain...

First, filing a Chapter 13 is such a great idea.  It buys him a couple of months and putting off the foreclosure proces.  Then, a judge dismisses the case because he didn't even show up to the hearing.  He just had to pay the filing fee and if he is a bum, he can get the court fee waived.  Then, once the case is dismissed he can refile him self again.  When people say the judges / trustee's wont put up with that, that might be the case in other states  but here in our particular city you can do it how ever many times you want.   I know this from personal experience.  I rented to a tenant that had great income but a Chapter 7 was on her record.  I thought this was great because all this means is that she cant file again for 7 years and list me as a creditor, which has been done to me before.   So I rented to her, evicted, her and started to garnish her wages.  She then filed a Chapter 13  5 times in a row.  Finally, a trustee bared her for 180 days.  You know what happened after the 181st day??? She did it again.  After it was dismissed every time I would just resubmit the paper work to her company to continue with the wage deduction.  She finally gave up.  

If I were you I would hire an attorney to go to the BK hearing and either possibly lift the automatic stay if this loser keeps on doing this or ask the judge to bar this guy from filing for 180 days.  

Eveyrone is right about the foreclosure process taking some time here in Chicago.  I will message you my attorney who knows both sides of BK, evicting, foreclosures.  He is a specialist in all of the things I listed and he has played both sides of the coin.  

Both.  I made more through my employer that sponsors my 403b and my rentals.  I do not have a SD401k set up yet.  

My plan was to use the money down the line to purchase real estate (rentals) in the SD401k.  My thinking was, to start building up the money in the 401k and temporarily barrow from it when I need it.  I can use the money now but I was thinking of the savings I would from the tax side.  Then when I'm ready to use the money, make a decent size purchase from the SD401k, use the money I put away to purchase it.  

Through my employer I have a 403B.  I don't have the much money in there.  I'm probably going to be paying a decent amount in taxes this year, I made a lot more than last year.  What I was thinking was putting in a lot more money in there until the year was up.  Then if I needed it, I would take a loan on it.  Does this make sense?  Or should I just start a self directed 401k and pump some money into there and stop contributing to my employer one.  They do not match anything.  

I gave up on getting educated on Cook County taxes.  Seriously, who knows this stuff, besides the corporations that does this full time?  This information is not public knowledge, which it should be.  This is why I hired a lawyer who knows this stuff.  Good luck finding one, there are not many out there.... 

I would not buy in the City of Chicago because Chicago has too many rights for losers.  I buy in the suburbs of Chicago because it has a different set of rules than the city of Chicago.  Mike is right it can take up to 5 or 6 months for an eviction but in the suburbs where the prices are great and the neighborhoods are bad, that's where your experience and education come into play.  I have had evictions go bad before, but I paid the price and learned from it.  Screen, screen and do some more screening.  Go to court, see how the judges are.  Find out the tough judges and see how they treat the certain lawyers and then get the lawyers business card that they like.  I'm far from perfect but as my screening process gotten better, so did my tenant pool, and so did my life.  I don't know where else you can buy a house for 20-30 and maybe put another 10 to 15 in it and make an AMAZING return on it.  If those areas are around me, someone please let me know.  As of now, I'm still buying as much as I can in the suburbs.  Its sounds like a lot of work and it is but the skills I developed of sorting out low quality tenants now makes everything else somewhat easy.    

You're exactly right. When I spoke with her she said the bank wouldn't do a deed in lieu.  

I think I need to bark at the attorney because if I'm wrong then I need to see some proof.  So I know not to do this type of non traditional deal.   Everything thing I read points to me being right, if everything we read on the Internet is right :). I have a foreclosure attorney who specialzies in this type of deal. I picked up two properties this way before.  The banks would rather walk away from the area I'm in instead of going through the foreclosure. The house is probably worth 20. The loans for 100.