All Forum Posts by: Paul De Luca
Paul De Luca has started 18 posts and replied 1807 times.
Post: Seeking Recommendations for Managing Brokers in Chicagoland Area
- Real Estate Agent
- Chicago, IL
- Posts 1,857
- Votes 1,504
I think you, rather than your brokerage, are responsible for your education.
Today information is widely accessible with a few clicks at minimal cost or for free, so I don't really think there's a valid excuse for not being an autodidact (self-learner).
I think I understand what you're saying though. Ideally, you're looking for more formalized training taught specifically by your brokerage, right?
I would argue that's pretty unnecessary these days. Almost everything I've learned as an agent has been self-taught. Also, I think some things can only be learned through experience.
Post: Brand new to rental property investing
- Real Estate Agent
- Chicago, IL
- Posts 1,857
- Votes 1,504
Depends. What kind of career in real estate appeals to you? Do you want to work at a commercial real estate firm in some capacity like asset management, property management, brokerage, financing, or development? Or do you want to focus on residential real estate? Why or why not?
My advice is to take some time to dive deeper into your specific interests. Research those fields and potential career options available to you. Since you're in college, see what learning opportunities there are for you to connect with like-minded people that have a mutual interest in real estate. Maybe there are clubs or career fairs you can go to?
Post: Landlord Insurance for multi familu
- Real Estate Agent
- Chicago, IL
- Posts 1,857
- Votes 1,504
@Account Closed
Calling that quote insane or absurd is an understatement...
If you want a second opinion, I can give you my insurance agent's information.
Post: How Much Money Do You Need to Buy Your First Property?
- Real Estate Agent
- Chicago, IL
- Posts 1,857
- Votes 1,504
Check out my recent forum post about three recent Chicago house hack case studies. It's doable with $15k-$20k.
Post: Should I accept or reject this tenant?
- Real Estate Agent
- Chicago, IL
- Posts 1,857
- Votes 1,504
Personally, I like to see 6-12 months of employment history at their current job. I don't like to see applications where I only get a job offer letter or they just started a month ago.
On the subject of a lack of rental history, I don't necessarily consider this a negative. I've had several first-time renters who were amazing, respectful tenants. Especially these days it's become increasingly common for people in the 20-30+ age range to live with family longer than in the recent past.
What's his credit score? Does he meet the minimum requirements? I would also ask him about his student loan repayment situation.
Verify his employment history, check social media, and background check. If he meets all your rental criteria and he has the best application you have, you should probably move forward. Hopefully you can get some more applications to have options. How long has the property been on the market?
Post: Looking for a real estate broker on the South Side of Chicago
- Real Estate Agent
- Chicago, IL
- Posts 1,857
- Votes 1,504
Thanks for the tag @Aaron Zimmerman!
@Robert A. Hillier II - where are you picking up most of these properties? Our team is listing a number of properties in the south suburbs.
Post: Well water at rental?
- Real Estate Agent
- Chicago, IL
- Posts 1,857
- Votes 1,504
Like @Bruce Woodruff said, be sure to get an inspection. Below is the language regarding a well/septic inspection from the multi-board 8.0 contract so you could use that when submitting offers.
Post: New to House Hacking - in Chicago!
- Real Estate Agent
- Chicago, IL
- Posts 1,857
- Votes 1,504
Welcome and nice work getting your first house hack under contract! Hope everything goes smoothly.
For a Chicago-specific real estate investing content, I recommend listening to the Straight Up Chicago Investor Podcast. For general real estate knowledge, I highly recommend the books published by BiggerPockets. Lots of great general real estate investing education, particularly for someone getting started. Be a sponge in general and have a growth mindset. Listen to the podcasts, read the books, go to the real estate meet ups.
If you need some contractor referrals and real estate meet up recommendations, feel free to PM me and I'll share those with you.
To piggyback on @Aaron Zimmerman's point, always be looking for opportunities and be skeptical of anyone making predictions about mortgage rates and the real estate market broadly. People are very bad at predicting the future.
Post: Chicago rents up 8.1% YOY
- Real Estate Agent
- Chicago, IL
- Posts 1,857
- Votes 1,504
Man, Chicago has been on a tear with some of the strongest growth in rents and home prices lately and even stretching back a few years now. Good news for those that already own.
Yesterday I was looking at median sale prices for 2-4 units in Chicago over the past 10 years.
2-4 units
June 2015: $178,000
June 2020: $290,000
June 2025: $425,000 (+138% from June 2015; +46% from June 2020)
Pretty eye-opening stats
Post: Where does house hacking still work in Chicago?
- Real Estate Agent
- Chicago, IL
- Posts 1,857
- Votes 1,504
Quote from @V.G Jason:
Quote from @Paul De Luca:
Quote from @V.G Jason:
Quote from @Paul De Luca:
Quote from @V.G Jason:
The risks of self managing and disrupting family/independence just isn't worth the material risk for anyone over 25, maybe 28 years old.
House hacking is the low hanging fruit to get in. But people never explain those aforementioned risks.
Think most of us want to find properties that exhibit intrinsic valuation or aren't terribly deep OTM and show vast extrinsic applied to it. That's really showing something if you can get that. This is just kind of expected and can be done anywhere, pay the least down, get the most rooms then rent each room.
Still likely overpaying for the property once you consider it's at market, and if you had to use a DSCR or a normal conventional way you would not qualify.
What are the risks of self-managing? If you're saying house hacking as a family with children can limit your privacy or be less desirable than owning a detached single family home, I don't disagree. However, many families rent or owner-occupy apartments in 2-4 unit buildings, condos, or townhomes. House hacking is essentially the same situation with the exception of the owner/landlord aspect to it. For me, I would rank house hacking as a more desirable situation than any of the above I laid out. What are these material risks you're alluding to?
Setting the age limit for self-managing or house hacking at 25-28 seems pretty arbitrary as well. Many people are now delaying buying homes or starting families until later in life (30s or even 40s+).
What risks are there for self managing? The grandest of them all... liability. This is why most RE agents shouldn't be giving advice, they never see the blind spots.
Do you have any specific examples of greater liability when self-managing?
Do you need examples? Or do you not understand what you're asking?
Yes, that's why I asked.
Are you talking about only self-managing while you live in the property or are you talking about self-managing any properties in general, whether owner-occupied or not?