All Forum Posts by: Gillian C.

 That would be fantastic, thank you.

Hi all,

We are eyeing a property in West Garfield Park with great cashflow potential. Can any Chicago investors recommend property management companies with expertise working in rougher neighborhoods? We'd be very happy to pay a premium for great management and experience that we don't have. Thank you!

I’m looking to hear from folks who owned multi family rentals in Chicago (or elsewhere, though specifically interested in Chicago) during the last downturn.

- Did rents go down?

- Did you have higher or lower demand for renters?

- Increased issues with non-payment / evictions?

Basically aside from the obvious hit of the resale value, I’m looking to hear about what you experienced from a landlord perspective. Anything wish you knew or wish you had planned for also welcome. We just bought our first multi and with all this talk of a potential downturn want to be as prepared as possible if and when it hits (especially since we are looking to buy another now).

 Thanks for the reply Thomas. I'm not sure if we can increase the rate that we previously gave the tenant due to Chicago rent increase notification laws. I generally agree with the "force the hand" solution you suggest, though they are good tenants so I know there's also a value in keeping a known/reliable renter. Thanks for your advice.

Thanks for your advice Mark. How do you approach the risk of a new tenant at a higher rent vs. the comfort/safety of an existing tenant at a below-market rate? The current tenant pays on time and keeps the apartment clean, but also has 2 dogs, a cat, 4 birds and what seems to be 6+ people living in a 3 bed/ 1 ba. They are pretty low maintenance and we'd be happy to keep them. But if we get a potential tenant coming through at $125/mo more than the existing tenant, with proper vetting do we go with the new tenant?

Someone else mentioned telling the tenant that they can re-sign at the higher rate. I'm guessing that's not allowed given the Chicago 60 day rule - we told them about the first increase within 60 days but now we're past that deadline (unless the rule means you have to tell them the amount increased but not that you have to specify the amount). Thanks very much.

Hello Bigger Pockets folks,

I just purchased a first building with my partner (we are together but not married) via an LLC in which we are joint members. Currently writing up our joint operating agreement to spell everything out to define roles and protect ourselves. Some details:

- I put in the vast majority of the down payment. The loan is a private family loan to the LLC, guaranteed by my assets (not my partner's).

- My partner is a carpenter and is the one doing all the physical work to the unit (I help when reasonable, but am extremely unskilled). We're not doing any major improvements to the building yet as we've been able to raise rents without doing so, but do forsee doing this work, and he would be the one doing it.

- We also foresee buying additional properties with additional LLCs. In fact, we just put an offer on another one this week.

- We are really not interested in nitpick logging all of our work hours and "billing back" to the LLC. That said, he is doing a lot more work than me currently (I do finances and most tenant communications, but he helps with those too).

I am thinking of re-categorizing my down payment money as a loan to the LLC with the stipulation that it gets paid out at a certain minimum rate before LLC member equity is paid out, but also rises to the overall investment payout rate at the time of liquidation if that rate is higher than the loan's minimum rate. I'm thinking of doing this as a way to keep 50/50 membership of the LLC.

1) What do folks think of this internal LLC loan idea;

2) What advice or thoughts to folks have about what to include in the operating agreement to keep things fair and clean without nitpicking or billing back hours; and

3) Any other advice for investing with a partner while also setting yourself up for success and protection for both members is welcome.

Thank you!

Hi all,

New Chicago landlord here. In Chicago I understand that we must give 60 days notice prior to a rental price increase or termination/non-renewal of a tenant's lease. However, looking for some advice on communicating with a tenant who has not decided if they want to stay. Here's the deal:

- Notified tenant exactly 60 days before their lease was up that rents would be going up $100 from $1350 to $1450, and parking would be going from $75 to $100.

- Followed up several times. Asked for a final decision by last Saturday, which was ~2 weeks after initial notificaiton. Tenant communicated that they had not made a decision.

- Informed tenant that unit would be listed (Sunday and Monday).

- Listed unit at $1575 (Tuesday)

- Within several hours, received a request for a showing next Saturday. Told the tenant that we would cancel if they let us know that they wanted to stay (though after the immediate request for showing... feeling pangs of greed, risk/reward...)

- Tenant responded that they are "inclined to renew" but want to look at other options. Also said they understand that we need to show the apartment without an answer from them.

Any advice on how I navigate this? If the showing on Saturday goes well with one or more applicants, they apply and have good credit etc and are willing to sign at the higher price, do we take it and tell current tenants they lost their chance? All thoughts welcome re: strategy, tactfulness, and legality of communications. Thank you.