All Forum Posts by: Mark Cios

Tried searching for a wholesaler on the forums but most posts are old. How do you go about finding a good wholesaler in your area? I live in the southwest suburbs of chicago and would like to find someone who specializes in this area. Advice?

@Matthew Marcelissen, any updates? I stumbled upon your post and liked the detail you provided. I guess since it was only a month ago you probably haven't even closed on it yet huh? 

My wife and I bought a so called fixer upper. A house to live in post marriage. One month til we sell and close on our next purchase.

$165,000 purchase

$30,000-$35,000 renovation

$260,000 sale

If it wasn't for the wife and a kid on the way, I would be living in a small condo and flipping houses. Unfortunately I have to satisfy her needs and now the babies so I will live through the stories of others haha.

Keep us updated and Good Luck!

We are taking a second mortgage out on our house to purchase another home. Backstory is we wanted to buy a new home and had to sell our current to make this happen. Put in a contingent offer on a home and got accepted, except we weren't able to get an offer in time on our house before our offer expired (didn't know there was a time limit). They did not want to take another contingent offer from us for fear it would not sell by their wanted closing date. We then figured out how to take out a second loan to put a down payment down. For this loan to work, we needed to take our home off the MLS. We did this and my agent texted me today to take the sign down from the front yard. Now we have been off the MLS for maybe a week and it was the first time she mentioned that it needed to be pulled. Figured it was her job anyway. But, I'm not that kind of guy and will do it when I get home, we are cool with our agent so no worries. However, she said that she got fined or could get fined (not sure which because she texts in a slight broken English) $1,000 for having the sign in while not on the MLS and if the bank drives by they could also deny our loan. My only question to this long drawn out story is what body is it that would fine her? The state? police? or her agency? It just sounded absurd to me that she could even be fined for putting her property in my yard. I mean, were both consenting parties. I've also heard that they can't have a sign in the yard at the time of photos being taken of the house? She meant her sign couldn't be in the photos. Anyone care to shine a light on this? Just curious.

@Bob Floss II Thanks, that was helpful. So they go off of the area/property, thats good to know.

@Rosie Geller Check out the show "The Deed - New Orleans" it is On Demand on Comcast. Its not your conventional house flipping show but rather a more detailed representation of most of the steps in partnering with someone to get a flip done. The host is an experienced property developer/investor and each episode they have a sit down and discuss how the profits will be divided and why. I think many people overlook the importance of the person that only provides the loan and no work. Without them, there is no flip and often times they will still provide some form of expertise in the process anyway.

@Ibn Abney, I planned on putting boots on the ground and checking out the area before I buy. I think my concern is that I am just more hesitant than anything. I can't really see buying a house at such a low cost as being a big risk and so I am trying to see if there is anything that I am missing in my calculations. For instance, Buying the cheapest condo on the market in Chicago Ridge will run me over 60k and have less of an income than a house in Park Forrest for 40k. Seems like common sense, I am just skeptical. Is there a benefit to having a section 8 approved home in the sense of being able to have a higher rent asking price? I assume I cannot raise rent for section 8 people just due to that, although I have heard that landlords make more money from section 8. I want to maximize my income without discriminating and so that is why I ask.

I have been looking at the market almost daily for the past half year as my wife and I are currently selling our house as part of a contingency on another property we are planning on buying. After remodeling, we should have a substantial amount of money in the bank with which I planned on starting to invest with. We live in the southwest suburbs of Chicago and I have been looking at possibly condos to rent out but more recently I began to look into cheap houses. I am not entirely familiar with the areas that I am looking at, although a $30,000 home is very affordable. How do you determine what areas you want to stay away from and where you are good with working in. I am particularly looking into the Park Forrest/Chicago Heights areas which I do not believe is very violent. Does section 8 housing play a role in your decision making? What am I looking for in these areas to know it can make money? I am fairly confident in my ability to inspect a house and know how much money I would need to put into it, just not sure how to determine how much is too much in a low-income area.

I agree with Brian. I have 2 car loans at the moment. We did buy them used but they were both about a year old with around 20k miles. I do this so I can still have the new car feel without the off the lot and first years depreciations which tend to be the greatest. I plan to get many years out of our purchases so that we dont have to continue to pay the loans. Leasing is best for the type of person that would otherwise sell a newer car just to have a brand new one. Which means a loan that lasts forever. If you are content with keeping a car longer than about 5-6 years, then buying a slightly used car is the better option in my opinion because you are eventually paid off while the other route just keeps adding up. 

If someone offered to put new floors down in one of my units I would let them. I would make sure they are putting in a superior product though and make them hire a professional of course. But if they want to upgrade my unit on their dime, they can go right ahead haha.

Not a bad application story but an odd one to say the least. My parents had a tenant that was a single mother. She was in her 30's and came with her parents to look at the apartment. We ran credit checks on them and it all turned out good. Her parents paid her rent I believe. She was a cancer survivor so we felt compassion. Turns out shes been cancer free for like 7-8 years but just played the role as if she never got better. I think her parents were legitimately good people and were trying to help their child. She would ask for help carrying her groceries up (3rd floor) and I flat out told her no. She started claiming that another tenant (who she befriended but things went bad because of how weird she was) was breaking into her apartment and stealing stuff so she started using the chain latch to close her doors for extra security. She managed to lock herself out of her apartment TWICE because the chain was on both the front and back doors. The first time my older brother was home and put a ladder up to her living room (second floor) and got in through her window. The chains were on BOTH the doors with no one home. The second time she convinced my little brother (maybe 12-13 at the time) to do the same to let her in again because no one else was home. At this point I was beyond furious and completely cussed her out for putting my little brother in that situation. To this day we cannot figure out how she managed to chain both doors as she left her house.