All Forum Posts by: Nancy P.

Ditto Ray Johnson,  and I'd add:  If you have a W-2 job that keeps you pretty busy,  condos are a bit less work,  because as stated,  exterior maintenance is done for you.  Dealing with houses is for people with managers or people with some time to spare.

We own 5 2 BR and 3 1 BR condos, in a Chicago suburb with excellent schools. We also own 2 3-BR duplexes. On paper the 1 BR do the best ROI, we rent for $975 two TINY (525 sf) condos, nicely remodeled, and people jump at the chance to live in Naperville for under $1000. There's a couple other complexes you can get in that cheap, but they are sketchy and ours are not. I will say turnover is pretty high, especially couples realize it's pretty close quarters. They're the size of a 2 car garage. But I will get 20 people or more in a one hour open house and 10 will apply. They've never gone even a week without being re-rented.

As far as who allows rentals and who doesn't,  that is subject to constant change,  always confirm with management before making an offer.  Listing may say rentals allowed but in reality  it's capped and you're not going to be able to rent anytime soon,  or you have to live there for two years first, or whatever.

Ask around about the board/management company.  Some of them are freaking nightmares!  I could tell some stories,  mostly from a vacation condo we owned in Park City, Utah.   Go to meetings, try to get on the board,  at least make your voice heard.  I have successfully fought some nonsense like some board member's "friend' getting paid to clean the common areas and she simply didn't do ANYTHING, except collect the checks.  Overall, we are happy with our decision to mainly be invested in condos.

I own two condos in Aurora,  IL,  (Second largest city in Illinois and is in four counties.).  When they started this,  they gave owners six months to get an addendum signed by my tenants that said they would not commit crime (despite the fact that my lease already said that,  it had to be the Aurora version) and that they would agree to a yearly inspection.  You also have to have a nearby property manger/emergency contact if you live more than 15 miles from the property.   I also had to attend a four hour class.  They were very upfront about it...it's a crime reduction program.  If all the housing stock has to meet code,  it's less likely to be rented to people actively engaging in criminal activity.  They named the city that started in,  I want to say it was in Arizona but I could be wrong.  There is a couple month's notice before the inspection,  and we are assured that no drawers are opened.  (Closets and cabinets might be opened to get to check valid code issues.)  I or the tenant has to be there.  It's a fine for not allowing the inspection,  and we would get no rental certificate.  One of my properties was vacant when I received the notice,  one has a long term tenant who is a bit of a PITA.  New tenants had no issues,  old one bitched a bit but it was a condition of renewing his lease,  he signed.  Inspection/certificate fee is $75.  If you cancel or he has to come back,  $300 fees.  In the class they taught us how to look for gang affiliation,  what to have on hand to fix things on the spot in the inspection (light bulbs, fire extinguisher, batteries for smoke alarm).   Both my properties did well enough that I was given a one-year waiver,  including the fee.   That was 2.5 years ago and I haven't heard about any new inspections.  I did hear in the class that the city was pretty overwhelmed trying to keep up.  And I'm sure inspectors tell the cops if something looks "off" to them.  Many other cities are apparently jumping on the wagon.  Will be interesting to see the effects of the push back.

We had elderly neighbors on our cul de sac.  Loved them.  He lost ability to do stairs.  We pointed them towards a condo that is totally handicapped accessible.  They said they couldn't afford it.  (Apparently still owed money on their house despite being there 37 years.)  We bought the condo and said "Rent is $1700".  They said "All we can pay is $1400.  We did it anyway.  Found out they had no money because they gave it all to a son in law with cancer for treatment.  We will never raise their rent,  either.  We can afford it,  it's our version of charity (yeah, I know not tax deductible.)  But that's a choice we made together.  For people we know and love.  And rent is a week early every month.  (We paid cash for the property so not a negative cash flow situation.)  But this...is her sister's boyfriend's COUSIN.  Way way beyond helping "family".  I'm guessing they wouldn't even pass the background check.  Hard no for me,  and I'm a bleeding heart.

This was before AirBNB existed but we owned a condo in Park City, Utah.  Great skiing and home of Sundance Film Festival.  We netted at least twice as much money as a nightly rental. That's with someone advertising in magazines,  handling bookings, and cleaning it for 35% of the income.  (Yep,  that's how it was done just 25 years ago.)  Got trashed in the 2002 Olympics,  management just shrugged and said they didn't know who did it.  Since most furniture was destroyed,  we emptied it and starting renting it long term.   Paid only 10% for mgmt.  We were disappointed with the returns,  it's just an entirely different market.  Ending up selling for other reasons (poor condo mgmt.)  As others have said,  if it's a good location WITHIN Austin,  I'd totally go for it.  

Zelle,  Venmo,  and one set of tenants in their mid 80's pay by check,  and we send them a SASE with the receipt for the next month's check.  But then they were my neighbors before they were my tenants and like second parents to us.

And to those saying we are "wasting money".  Why in the world do you care how I spend MY money?  Do you run around judging people who buy nice cars,  travel the world,  get massages?  Merry Christmas.  I hope you have the actual capacity to be merry...sometimes on here it seems that many of you don't!

We bought a 1/1 in a complex where we already owned a 2 br.  It's a popular development but  we KNOW parking is an issue and that it came with only  one spot.  (And you can't park on city streets overnight.)  Husband ran the numbers with lower rent and higher vacancy than normal and still wanted to buy.  Paid cash,  closed 7/31,  it needed only carpet and blinds,  it was ready in a week because the carpet was measured the day of closing.  ($30 to measure,  risk worth taking.)  And then it sat.  It's also an upstairs unit,  private door but all that is downstairs is a coat closet and then a flight of steps to a 1-level condo.  Granite,  SS, new deck, huge closets, very nice.  Pool on property.  Comps from that same development telling us $1300 was the right rent.  But every single tenant would show up asking if there was SOME way I could finagle another parking spot.  Or they'd see the stairs (which are mentioned in the ad but apparently ads aren't really read) and balk at hauling furniture and groceries up.  We got a qualified (barely) tenant in there last week.  So it sat empty for over 3 months.  We offered him $1225 if he'd sign a 16 month lease which will get us back into spring.  (winter is a tough sell in Chicagoland).   I'm not convinced we will ever get the "going" rate for the complex between the second floor location and the one parking spot.  And I won't be buying anything else with only one parking space.

Dennis,  you have no idea what a tenant thinks when they get a gift.  We give $25 gas cards.  H's W-2 job is in oil and gas. But two of our properties are across from a competing company and we give those tenants THAT gas gift card because it's right there.   We've gotten candy,  Starbucks,  sweet handwritten thank you cards, homemade bread,  a lunch with a tenant,  and fifteen referrals in 11 years of doing this.  (We are admittedly small at ten units.)  Not all the referrals have panned out,  but I absolutely believe we have gotten our money's worth.  And I've suspected for a looooong time that the S in Thomas S stands for Scrooge.

If you have 25 or more units on contiguous properties,  you also must pay interest on the security deposit.  If you can't get an original move-in report,  I'd not try in Cook County to charge for damages.  Cook County is a bit too tenant-friendly to be worth the effort.  https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/illinois-s...

I allow both,  but 8 out of our ten properties are condos and there are usually size limits.  I never allow more than 2 animals.   Which I know is because of waste/yard damage but everyone knows it's the little dogs who bark all day.  I do ask them about hours worked. etc.  If they have  dog but work 12 hours a day I try to find a reason to DQ them....a bored unexercised dog is far more likely to be a problem.