All Forum Posts by: Ravi P.

@Eugene Rogachevsky Yes taxed are paid for the previous year. However you should have received a credit at closing for any taxes that were the Seller's responsibility. My experience with appealing taxes is limited to leaving it to an attorney. I can recommend 2.attorneys to you one is an inexpensive flat fee tax appeal attorney and the other is a percentage based on savings. Shoot me a pm I can provide you with both their numbers. At $14,000 you have nothing to lose. Also keep in mind Real estate taxes in Chicago and Cook County is a racket!

@Sean Autry What is included in the price? Is $3,500 / unit for labor and material. Does it require demo of existing floor, most waterproof laminates don't require an underlayment, so make sure it is not included, if it is not needed. Are the units occupied and does it require moving of furniture. Are they doing all the units at once. I would expect to pay $1.50 a square foot as low as 1.00/sq ft if there are multiple units, install only. It sounds like you may be dealing with a flooring contractor that is marking this up significantly. of course I have no idea about the details. If you have the time you should try to do it, laminate flooring is a snap to put in. (no pun intended), paying per sq ft would really add up. If this is install only then I can see them knocking out 1 room a day. Ask the Home Depot pro desk if they can recommend someone. Try to find a very good Handy man you may be able to save more if you can find someone that you will pay by the day, assuming they are efficient. Today I just met an employee of an exterior contractor. His boss is going on vacation so he made the whole company take a vacation. So he has no work for the next 2 weeks. This employee will be installing 14 windows for $23.00 /hour. All the quotes I received were between $125-$150 a window. he said it should take 1.5-2 days So it should cost me under $400 in labor, as long as everything goes smoothly I plan on giving more than the $400.

@Torrey Brandt Have you invited any bankers to the property tour to show this is a legitimate business? ; )

@Torrey Brandt Have you invited any bankers to the property tour to show this is a legitimate business? ; )

@Jon Crosby having worked in the Hospitality field. This happens on a weekly basis. Atleast they had to decency to contact you ahead of time. Sometimes the group double books and forget they had a reservation at your place, they see their charge the following day on their CC and call you after the fact. When something like this happened, I would do the same thing you did. Offer a credit or free night at a future date. It's amazing how many times the guest changes their mind once they realize they will not be getting a refund. Occasionally you have to bite the bullet and choke it up as the cost of doing business. I hate to say this but eventually you will become numb to these request and have a standard response that you wouldn't feel guilty about.

@Jesse Scott Throw some hardware on the cabinets and drawers and call it a day. If I have to recommend anything the flooring does not blend to well with existing scheme. Most importantly, how are the other rentals you would be competing with offering. As others have mentioned the kitchen is in good shape. You need to figure out what your payback period would be for any capital improvements. You can calculate Payback Period by taking total cost of improvements and dividing it by incremental rental revenue. Just to Clarify, lets assume you can get $1,000/month in rent as-is. If you replace the countertops to granite and it cost you $1,200. but then you can increase your rent rate to$1,100. You can calculate the payback period by taking $1,200 cost and divide it by the increase in rental rate of $100.00. Based on this example it it would take you 12 months to recover your expense ($1,200/$100= 12). hope this helps.

@Joel Owens Based on the OP question regarding the cap rate on a vacant property, I am assuming he is interested in franchising a McDonalds and opening it in the vacant lot. If my assumption is correct, then there is a lot more to it, than finding a location and opening a McDonald's.

@Witold C. Your first line of advice should be your Realtor, then Attorney. But to answer your question, you should go to the Village and complete a FOIA form requesting whatever documents you may need. Depending on the Village they may or may not be so helpful, so ask them what dept. and information you need to request to address your concerns.

@Ethel Weaver Did you have a home inspector out to check the condition of the home? If you did and he documented it in his report, it could bite you in the rear. If you didn't have one performed it can still come back to kick you in the rear, because you must have waived the right to a home inspection. Finally, if you purchased this as-is then you get what you see. as for verifying this you may want to check with the Village and see if the previous owner pulled any permits in the last 5 or 10 years. To be frank this should have been part of your DD before acquiring the property. You can still pursue legal actions but there is no guarentee you will end up in a better place than you started. You need to do a cost benefit analysis to see it is worth pursuing. to rewire an entire 3 place would be quite expensive.

@Jackson Tate in order for you to determine how your property will be taxed on the sale will primarily based on your intent when aquiring the property. To my knowledge the IRS does not have a required holding period for rental properties. A common misconception is that investors are require to hold a property for atleast one year, not true. It is strictly a recommendation. This one year holding period is required to determine between LT and ST holdings for stocks. This is probably why many in the tax world use this 1 year holding period. But in your case you say it is a flip, so you would be considered a dealer and have no right to qualify for the tax deferment, regardless of holding period.If your intentions were to Buy and Hold, then it would be a different story. Hope this clairify like-kind exchange holding periods.