All Forum Posts by: Lucas Hammer

I'm actually house-hacking on the NE side of Little Village between California and Western near Cermak. I went there simply because of the cost of living on the NW side. I was a renter in Albany Park and prices went high enough that I couldn't find any deals that came close to making sense. Now I have a 2-unit in LV with practically no money down, but I luckily inherited a tenant who takes really good care of his unit from what I've seen so far. LV made the most sense to me because I personally like the neighborhood already and it was the lowest cost of entry with an all-but-guaranteed profit.

My wife and I just closed on our first deal and it's pretty dated. We're wanting to do a full rehab, but we're doing it with our W2 income so it'll be in stages. We've never done anything like this, so we're really striving and hoping to find a designer that help, but we won't need them for the entire process. Before we even move in (we'll be living there for much of the work), we need to get floor stain, cabinet colors and paint color. We're going to be refinishing the floors and want to complete it before we move in, but we really need a plan.

My question is, how do you find design ideas or a designer to help you with your plan? We're going to probably go back to them a few times throughout the project for different things (bring them back for the kitchen, again for the washroom, etc.), but we're just kind of stuck on selection criteria or how to get started so we can move in.

Gotcha. Yeah, I inherited a tenant when I bought the building and we already have his deposit and I was trying to figure out the best way to handle that while he's still there.

Hmm, that's the part that I wasn't sure on. The best position for taxes would be per unit as my unit is actually a little bit bigger and it would very much simplify everything just cutting it in half instead of making it something like 43% of the common expenses being deductible.

I just closed on a 2-flat that I'll be living in and renting out the second unit. I'm tracking all of my receipts currently and trying to categorize them as well as I can. I've read IRS pub 527 a few times and I'm wondering if I can just divide all of the expenses in half. 

My unit is slightly bigger, but has the same number of bedrooms and things like foundation and yard work affect both units equally. Is that considered a reasonable way to divide up the units? It seems reasonable to me, but the last thing I want is to end up on the wrong side of an audit my first year in REI.

Sorry to jump on an old thread, but I found this while searching and was wondering if maintenance was the same idea, 50% each for the yard and a garage if it's shared? 

Also, for anything that is for both units, do I also cut my mileage in half for write off purposes?

Oh nice! That makes everything easier. Huge thanks for the info!

@Frank S. Awesome, I'll let you know if we make it down this weekend. We're also prepping our current place to move out next month, so we haven't figured out which place we're working on and which days we'll be there.

As far as the rents, they're definitely increasing. A lot of the ones closer to $400 seem to be long-term residents living in buildings with landlords that are afraid to raise the rent. With Pilsen prices going up and up, it seems like the rents are climbing along the tracks. 26th is still lower than the Pink Line from California going East, but the price increases are heading that way. Having just found out that there's a 24-hour bus that goes from 26th to downtown will probably help that trend also.

So, my wife and I just closed on a 2-flat in Chicago and we'll be house-hacking, so we're only using one of the units currently. I understand that cost basis can be one of the harder things in determining depreciation and I want to make sure I capture it, but with all of the paperwork, I feel like I could probably do this myself, at least until I rent out the second unit or buy another property. Has anyone had experience doing this without a CPA?

If I have to get one, I will, but I'm going to have to keep it as cheap as possible since my income on this single unit isn't going to be huge. On that note, does anyone know of a cheap, reliable CPA (either Chicago or Remote) that won't cost me an arm and a leg for a single unit?

Awesome, thanks for the reply! We are planning on eventually moving out and renting out both units, so we were planning on following it, but some of the things (deposit held in an Illinois bank) seem to be more of a pain than it's worth since all of our current accounts (at least the free ones) are only through CapOne360. We're eventually going to find an Illinois bank to hold deposits in, but so many charge fees now. Thanks again!