All Forum Posts by: Jerry N.

Thank you @Vanesa Gonzalez, @John Warren, @Henry Lazerow and @Mark Fries.  Mark, do  you have properties in Chicago?  

It has been a while since we have actively advertised apartments for rent and are surprised to see sites that now charge for advertising, when so many used to be free.  We tried Domu once, maybe three years ago, to see if it yielded anything different.  Domu was very new then and advertised all over the el.  There was nothing memorable about it except it was the first time we had paid for advertising. Craigslist and Zillow both charge now, not much but when you are used to free advertising...
Wondering if this is a recent change/trend and what I'm going to find looking at other sites we've used in the past. 

Where are you advertising these days?  

@Charlie Clough That seems like a pretty high estimate.  Boilers can last a very very long time, and a good company or plumbing heating guy can really help. You should be able to find the model, serial # info on a plate somewhere on the unit and find out more about it's expected life.

@Peter Halliday Who have you used and what size unit/efficiency is that?  We are connected so fell free to PM the info if you don't want to post here. Thanks.

@Byron W. Our advice would be to do everything you can to negotiate that down or away.  We did a flat roof locally in 2017 with a decades old company, good reviews, etc., licensed in Chicago.  50% down balance upon completion.  They finished it just a couple months ago, and 2017 is not a typo.  We wrote about it extensively somewhere, I'm not willing to put their name on here publicly.  There were two things they needed to finish and didn't finish the job due to winter weather because they started 6 weeks after the date originally promised (and that was waiting for them for 8 weeks).  Now that we are close to freezing temps consistently, unless someone is going to do a torch down, it may not even get done until the spring.  The day they 'finished' saying they would come back in the spring, we got the invoice for the balance.  We didn't pay it.  There is a lot more to the story but we will never put that kind of deposit down again.

@Paul Sandhu We read a lot of your posts, what is the paranormal entity?

Interesting suggestions on here.  Thanks to everyone who has posted, mainly commenting so we can find these names in the future.  At one point, we thought we wanted to get more established with a local bank and made a multi unit purchase with Byline - a few years back when they were quite a bit smaller.  Our loan officer passed away during the process and it seemed like no one took over his portfolio.  With normal calendar time, we originally didn't notice because the process in general has down time to the buyer.  After about 2-3 weeks and when we were expecting something, we couldn't get anyone to tell us anything.  NO answers to phone calls or emails. Our lawyer couldn't get any info either.  Byline's phone system was bad then too.  We ended up only learning of his passing after visiting a branch and asking why we hadn't heard anything.  There was quite a delay ultimately with our closing.  Fortunately, it didn't cause a problem with the seller. 

I don't think this would happen today, they are much larger and have taken over/consolidated a couple other banks since then.  

Not an appraiser, however, have had a few appraisals done on multi units in the city.  This is general info based on our experiences, only.  Based on what you asked, if it is solely the 3rd floor unit space, why not remove the locking doors?  No question of whose space it is then.  Although maybe not understanding your set up or layout.  

If it is a recent purchase (can't really say for sure how long) that you have fixed up, the appraiser will look to see if there were permits, otherwise they will figure that the building is still worth what you purchased it for EVEN if you have new leases with higher rents.

If it is a recent purchase and there is any question on the legal number of units, have a copy of the Zoning Certificate of Occupancy (which will hopefully match the number of units).

Have copies for the appraiser of all the leases (ideally with new, higher rents for the increased amount of space).  Even thought the bank/finance company has them, this seems to provide more legitimacy.  You can redact any tenant info.

There are often appraisers, agents or other investors who chime in on the forums that suggest having your own comps.  Every time we've tried that, it has not worked, even though we are very realistic about what we select for timely comps. 

Good luck.  

I would be very wary of the guy who will buy the house for you and then finance it. It may be a very one-sided contract, you come up a penny short or a day late and he keeps the house and everything you have paid.  You definitely want your own lawyer, not a referral from him or your agent that referred you to him. The finance guy (this middle man your agent introduced you to) has restrictions that do not apply to true owner financing.  By law he, the middleman, is considered a lender and needs to follow lending laws. Details about that are in the last two links I included below.  You can never be 'sure' any non tradition lender is legit.   They may be able to do the funding, but the only thing you know for sure is that they are interested in making money.  

I think most people here were suggesting to offer the current owner/seller, not the middleman, the 12% 2-3 year term. If you consider the fact that your best deal currently available is about $35k as a 3 year total, you can easily sweeten the deal with the current owner/seller.  If you had to pay the seller $30k all in over a 2-3year period and you got title at closing with the seller having a note that gives you the best position to keep from being burned. Be sure the offer from your agent is presented as we will pay you X ($28,000 or $30,000) and here is when/how you get it ($5,000 now the balance monthly over 3 years, or whatever you can negotiate).

Attached are links to a few articles to give you some background.  Whatever path you choose be SURE to use an independent lawyer from the other parties involved.  You need a lawyer who is looking out for your interest alone.  The Note and Trust Deed seems like the go to solution for Oregon seller financing. The first to links give info on the Note and Trust Deed.

It seems like a good path forward would be 1) get the seller to agree to extend closing (if not already done) 2) sweeten the deal as much as it takes with the seller (it provides you the best protection and should still be the lowest cost option that this point).

It isn't clear where the property is, but below are a couple links for Oregon and a couple on federal lending laws.  Different states have different rules.  

https://certifiedrealty.com/wp...

https://oregonsellerfinancing....

https://www.nar.realtor/the-sa...

http://www.heltzel.com/resourc...

@Chris M. Your agent probably is frustrated, but guess what?  It's their job to help close the sale. Their commission on this particular sale isn't huge but a good agent would recognize that maybe you'd look for another deal in the future.   Don't over complicate things even more now by trying to go around him/her or you might end up with legal problems too.  I don't think you would find many people at all on these forums who could say they've had a sale with absolutely no issues.  There are always 'back and forths' and almost always ups and downs. 

Good luck, it sound like you are doing something nice for your mom.

Did your inspector say anything about it codewise?  You probably wouldn't believe the number of these in Lincoln Park, Bucktown and Wicker Park, and not just in basement apartments.  With a 1/1 in that area (guessing that it is a basement that is not a legal unit), it probably isn't worth it to frame and/or drywall the ceiling from an investment only perspective.  The payback on the rent is probably multiple years rather than months.  For someone looking in that area who would rent a basement unit, if the rest of the unit is nice enough, the ceiling won't matter. No replacement panel will ever make it attractive.  Just an opinion,, curious what others think which I why I read the post.  With that big of a multi unit though, consider who might rent that unit and who might rent your other units in the building.  You want to think/hope all the tenants would get along and respect each other.  If that unit is considerably less desirable than the others, you may want to take that into account too.  Also know what if anything you'd be limiting easy access to.