All Forum Posts by: Nnabuenyi Anigbogu

@Mike B

Welcome to the BP forums. Its good to see another Chicago investor here. If you dont mind could you tell me what areas of the city you are interested in.

As for meetups i have a couple that i have recently started attending (one of them i found out from this site). If you want i can send you some information on them.

Take care

Thank you all for all the advice. I am considering all my options and will make a decision on the best route to take.

By the way I just officially CLOSED this Deal. Time for the fun part.

As for the tenants there are 3 of them. 1 i like and 2 i would not mind getting rid off.

tenant 1 - pays like clockwork and unit is extremely clean. I will have to raise his rent though cause its 250-350 below market
Tenant 2 - older lady with multiple cats (i think 3) whose house is almost a cat shrine. I am going with a no pet policy so would eventually like to get her out but at least she pays on time all the time. Need to raise her rent too.
Tenant 3 - The hoarder. Pays like clock work but unit is like navigating an obstacle course . He is the only one with a sec deposit. Would love to get him out ASAP. Also his rent is 300 below market. His unit is the most outdated (10 yrs) so i want to live in that one so i can slowly update it myself before i move out next year.

I am thinking of combining a couple of suggestions given such as cash for keys and pricing the tenant out by increase the rents to market rate. If i can price them out that would be ideal. I can also see what i can do in terms of helping the hoarder find a new place.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

@Seth Nadreau

Thanks for the response. I chose that tenant to kick out for two reasons. First of all he is a hoarder. I asked for him to clean up the apartment as part of the contract conditions after the first walkthrough a month ago. Just did the final walkthrough today and it is still in shambles (paper everywhere and can barely walk around in there). Im currently talking to my lawyer to see what the best course of action is against the seller. Secondly my fiance prefers a top unit (the two top units are a 1 bed and 2 bed and the 2 bed makes more money so i want to rent that out)

I plan on having all the tenants switch to yearly leases (they dont have a choice on that matter cause my insurance is more expensive if they are month to month). All of their rents are 20-40% below market so they are going up (they knew previous owner and she had owned the building for over 20 years). The guy i want to kick out pays 625 on a 1 bed that is running 875-1K in my market.

The good thing is that i factored all this in and can afford to pay for the building indefinitely if i have no tenants (great w2 job) so i have leeway if they leave and can take the time to get a quality tenant (even though its not ideal for cashflow if they do because i want to buy more property).

Hi all, 

I am about to close on my first multifamily (a 4 unit property this Friday) and become a brand new landlord. I am looking forward to it but im also apprehensive. I have read just about every blog on BP related to landlording and am reading books on it also.

My question is regarding kicking people out or potentially evicting them. All my tenants are month to month right now (all come with building) and the only open unit is the owners unit. However the owners unit is a 4 bedroom/2 bath which is way too much space for just me and my fiancee. Also i can get about 2k a month for that unit in my market (compared to 850-1k or so for the rest of my units).

Because of that i would like to move into one of the 1 bed/1 bath units that is currently occupied. Since the tenant is month to month I learned i can just tell them i am not renewing their lease and they have to be out by the end of June (working with my lawyer to give them the notice). However even though i know this needs to be done i am still apprehensive of doing it (i have been told im too nice to people). The guy is a hoarder also (could barely walk through the apartment) so he probably should be kicked out anyway.

I just wanted to get some advice on how you guys deal with having to kick people out and so forth. I know its necessary but it doesn't make it easier.

Thanks

Hello, Im not fully sure if this is the right place to post this but here goes.

I would like to find a good investor friendly agent in the Kansas city area. I actually reside in the Chicago area but my younger brother just moved to KC. I will be helping him buy a condo/multi down there to live in (FHA with hopefully a first time home-buyer program) cause i want him to househack.

However i am also interested in purchasing investment property down there due to the lower sale prices when compared to Chicago. 

To sum up i want an agent that can help my brother buy a condo/multifamily and can help me invest in the city also.

Thank you.

MODERATOR:   RECOMMENDATIONS ONLY IN THIS FORUM, PLEASE.  PLEASE DON'T ADVERTISE YOUR SERVICES HERE.

@Dominick Hayes

There are multiple ways to house hack but it essentially boils down to living somewhere (that you own) and having someone else pay for most or all of the expenses associated with the property (sometimes they pay above and you make extra cash flow).

My personal example of what i did before i even knew what it was called. I bought a HUD owned 2 bed 1 bath condo that required cosmetic fixes and new appliances/furnace. Because it was a HUD property and i was buying as an owner occupant (lived in the condo) i was able to get it pretty cheap. My all in costs per month for the place was $725 per month (PITI + HOA fees). Since it is my primary residence i of course did all the maintenance myself. A friend of mine was looking for a place to live and i offered him my second bedroom for 600 a month (rents for 2bed around here are 1200). That means i pay 125 a month to live in my condo. (keep in mind i did all this without a plan. it just seemed like common sense to me. That is to say i am no expert in any way on real estate investing. Still a beginner)

Paying 125 a month anywhere in the US is a steal no matter how you look at it. It enabled me to save for the multifamily that i am closing on in the next 2 weeks (putting 100k down). Also because it was a HUD house that i fixed up (only paint and new kitchen appliances because i love cooking) while living in it i have a lot of forced appreciation. Bought the condo for 77k in june 2013 and as of today the bank just valued it at 125K for a heloc i wanted (1bed comp in building just sold for 118K in march). I only owe 59k on it and most of the interest i have paid for 1.5 years has been done using my roomates rent.

Another way people do it (if you dont want a roomate) is to buy a multiunit (2-4 units is non-commercial), live in one and then rent out the rest. There are many topics on BP about that and it is what im doing once i close in 2 weeks.

Hope this gives you enough of a primer to get started.

Good Luck!!

Welcome Dominick, 

You remind me of me about .... 1 month ago. Im still just as gung ho ever since i discovered this place. My only advice (which im having a hard time taking) is to calm down and approach it logically. It can be easy to get caught up and potentially buy a bad investment. Take some time, learn all you can and then decide which avenue to start of on. 

Be careful not to get into analysis paralysis though. Learn but also determine a course of action and run with it. You learn a lot more once you have skin in the game. I really wish i had started this right after college but now is still better than never.

Good Luck!!!

P.S. House hacking is the way to start. I did that without knowing what it was called by having my roommate pay my condo mortgage. It just made common sense.

Excellent. I am free tonight so i will make it a point to be there and meet fellow investors.

@Crystal Smith I have heard about home warranties but have not looked into them. I will explore some quotes on that front. Besides appliances do they usually cover things like furnaces and boilers too? Thanks

Thank you @John Casmonand @Tony Hardyfor your insights.

I will look into the ease of renting out the 4/2 unit.

Also what is the best way to get hooked into that meetup? I have been looking for a way to meet more investors that focus on the city of Chicago itself as opposed to the suburbs. 

I have always been hesitant to network with people when i don't think i have much to offer (in terms of real estate knowledge) and i want to also explore the best ways to do it without just taking but somehow giving back. If it was in the field of Finance/IT then it would be a different thing.

Thanks everyone for all the help

John,

Good call on the parking space utilization. That is something i will have to look into.

For the insurance, those are the quotes that i am getting from geico. It possible im getting those rates based on my past business with them and multi policy discounts. I will double check it.

The 4/1 is actually a 4/2. I did not realize i had put it as 4/1. It was completely renovated in Nov and has not been lived in yet. It is a duplex with 2 bed +bath on top and 2 bed + bath on the bottom (also big dining room, living room and eat in kitchen. All the appliances in it are brand new (tags and energy guides are still attached). Given that do you think i can get higher than market rents?

As for the water i will have to take a look at that. That one is an estimate and if you say its more then i will have to do some more research on it.

Thanks