All Forum Posts by: Izabella W.

I need some help/advice. These are the highlights... Tenant had bad credit which he explained (540-570); I wanted to rent the apt for the winter so I wrote a 6 month lease and explained we could extend if all goes well (lease dates Dec 1 - Jun 1). He qualified with income but only due to lots of overtime and gave me this story that he has an interview for a Sheriff position in a month (never happened).  Fast forward to today, he is "looking" for other job opportunities with better pay, he had someone staying with him part-time that he "forgot" to mention to me, and in general the communication has gone downhill.  In April he said he wanted to extend two more months on month to month (till August) and I agreed to let him stay one more month until July 1. Let's say he paid on time until May 1 and on that day he told me his car was towed in Chicago over the wknd and it cost him $880 to get it that Monday so rent will be late. The next day I served him a 5 day notice (he was trying to avoid me).  He paid on day 3 without the late fee ($50). He said he would pay the late fee on day 5.  I gave him the option to send me a copy of the bill for the towing to waive the late fee.  He did not pay and did not send me the bill and has generally become very unresponsive.  At this point, I think it is wise to move him out ASAP so he doesn't try to "live out" his security deposit or try to sell me any more stories.   Thoughts?

Do I need to give him 30 days starting today to move out? How do I go about this without pissing him off? What happens if I tell him he has 30 days to move out and he doesn't? Can I just go to the Sheriff and have him kicked out or do I need to go to court, etc? 

Another caveat is that this is a condo, association requires a move out deposit of $100 and move out dates for inspection. If neither is provided, there is a $300 fee to be paid by owner.  

Any and all advice is appreciated.

Nick,

I had the same "dilemma" when I started last year.  These were my steps: 

1. Write down a goal. 

2. Find a strategy that will get you to your goal (rentals, flips, etc). Narrow down the strategy (if rentals, what kind of rentals, which neighborhoods, etc). 

3. Talk to a lender (private or otherwise) and find out requirements... unless it's a cash deal. 

4. Find a team: lender, RE agent (preferably one who also invests and knows the ins and outs of your strategy), attorney (investor friendly), insurance agent

5. Start looking for properties with your agent, make offers

After step 5, I would say it is important to make connections with contractors but it sounds like you have that part covered.  I haven't listened to the podcast that @Bill Regan recommended so I'm not sure that this all lines up, but these steps worked for me.  

I'm also located in the SW burbs of Chicago so if you want more info, send me a message.  My strategy is renting condos which has it's ups and downs and I can share what I learned from my experience.  

Use the search feature on GoSection8.com and look for similar apartments in the area.  Once you get the search results up, you can click on the map to get a better idea of where these apartments are located... 

Luke,

As others have mentioned, it's a personal preference because condos and multi-family buildings have different cons and pros and we all have different goals.  In general, condos don't appreciate as much but you may spend less time on maintenance plus they may be easier to sell (bigger buyer pool, less $ down, etc). You have much more control over the building and costs when it comes to multi family but they usually require more of your time (unless you hire a PM) and can be harder to sell (probably not that much harder in this market but the market will change). Another thing to note is if you buy a building, all of your units are in one building in one area, whereas with condos you can diversify.

If you can qualify for a condo, you can qualify for a loan for a 4-unit building (treated as residential loan if you live in one and the net rents of the other 3 will count toward your income, as someone mentioned previously). I can send you a referral for a loan officer who is amazing at figuring this stuff out.  In general for a 6+ unit building, you will need a commercial loan and lenders will want you to have experience.  

Not to scare you but either way you go, there is a lot to learn in this industry and there are a lot of pitfalls. It is a personal preference if you want to start out small while you learn or jump into the deep end. Hopefully, this gives you a better understanding.

I'm in the Condo business and I will be the first to say I passionately hate condo associations and the politics (I used to run one so I know more than the average person) but I haven't had the kind of problems I know others are having and am extremely picky about what I buy.  In all fairness, condo associations would not be so bad if they all didn't have that one crazy owner who feels entitled, does not pay his/her assessments, and breaks all the rules.  Every building has one and they enjoy making others miserable.  The other issue is that most owners do not care about even coming to the meetings and if they do, it's hard to get any consensus on anything.   If you'd like to hear more about the kinds of issues that can come up, PM me.

If you do decide to get a condo, make sure you can rent it out, most of them don't allow rentals (and for good reason).

Thanks for the motivation, Weston! Sounds like your kicking butt and taking names...

Joe, Carl, and James - The first deal is the scariest but we all have to start somewhere.  Knowledge is power and BP is like a goldmine but my advice would be to start networking and building a team. The people you work with can either make or break your dreams.

Personally, I was looking for a multi-family building last year but purchased some condos instead and I plan to get a few more properties this year. 

My New Years resolution is to build a team who will help me find and close killer deals. 

The voucher amount is based on comps from one website (where you can post Sec8 & other rentals): www.gosection8.com. If you're new to Section 8, I highly recommend going to one of the City's free workshops; you can find one and register for free at this website: www.thecha.org.  Hope this helps!

Has this been resolved? I have a new tenant that I was planning to sign up with ERP but after reading this thread, I'm not sure that is such a good idea anymore...  

Thank you both for your reply.

Jenifer,

It makes sense for online applications to ask for credit card numbers if there is an application fee.  I downloaded several free applications for potential tenants to fill out and turn in directly to me which asked for credit card numbers, bank account numbers, loan account numbers and all of the related information.  I only rented twice when I was younger and did not/would not provide this information to a landlord nor was I asked for it.

Michele,

You bring up a good point about collections, I haven't thought about. Would it be enough to ask where the bank accounts are held instead of asking for account numbers? 

I'm a new landlord and have been looking for a rental application and most if not all of the apps I found online ask for bank account numbers and credit card numbers. Is it me or is this really a little too much information to share with other people? I would run, not walk, if I was looking for an apartment and had to fill that out.  I understand how balances and minimum payments may affect the ability to pay rent but what does providing account numbers do for the landlord?  I simply crossed that entire section out for my prospective tenants but wanted to check with you if there is any merit in asking for it.  With social security numbers, addresses, names, and all of the other info supplied (I also don't ask for dates of birth), we are just asking for identity theft.  Thoughts?