All Forum Posts by: Ronan M.

@Jacob LePretre   Send me a colleague request and lets stay in touch. You say you are couple of months from making a move. I have a few properties on the Southside and many good contacts there so I may be able to offer some help or guidance.

I admire the fact that you work with under privileged kids..and the fact that you are not afraid to pick up a paint brush. Good qualitites. 

If I can be of any help to you let me know.   Best of Luck.

@Naeem Barbour I see you are in Chicago Heights. Before you go west also consider there are some decent areas north of you. Chatham for example. Decent enough area. Stay close to the expressways and/or the trains.  Folks that like to live near the expressway or the train tend to have somewhere to go...such as into the city for their job !!!    Big plus in this business.    

@Tara T.

Sent you a PM with a lender referral. Thx

No I would not. Its not Beverly Hills but its not a war zone either.

1. What's the best way to screen section 8 tenant? Is that even possible?                                                                                                                           Screen them like everybody else without exception. Previous landlord references, evictions, credit scores and sufficient income (over and above their voucher amount) to show their ability to cover their part of the rent if applicable.  
2. What's the section 8 market in Chicago like? I've heard section 8 tenants are unappreciative and won't take care of the property but like anything else, there are good tenants and bad ones, whether they are section 8 or not. That's the nature of the business right?                                                  In my experience folks on vouchers are no better or no worse then regular tenants. The are rumored to be more needy and demanding but I do not find that the case. Folks I have on vouchers don't tend to need any more attention than anyone else and I have not had a place trashed like many stores you might hear.  I also have many Sec 8 folks who have been long time residents.                                                              Now the CHA folks themselves (in the office)  will make you jump through hoops for initial and ongoing inspections. They will fail you for the smallest of things and I have actually been told by the inspectors that they are expected to give a fail first time round or they are not considered to be doing their job right. You wrote in your post the property needs rehab so you might already proactively address some of the repair issues that cause older building to fail...BUT...do not expect an easy ride regardless.    Ditto with their paperwork. Very slow and tons of things you need to provide them. Expect about 2 months for tenant placement or at least to get the first payment from them.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       The upside of course is when you clear all the hurdles its guaranteed rent on the 1st of every month and that's a BIG plus in some areas where getting the rent on time and in full is like pulling teeth.  Remember however if you fail an annual inspection the rent payments stop until you repair the issues and pass the re-inspection.             One potential problem I foresee with the program is they are not issuing any new vouchers or so i am lead to believe. So there is a finite number of voucher holders for now. If you buy an investment property with a business plan of 100% Sec 8 renters and your plan/numbers relies on that for success what happens if you cannot achieve that because their is not a sufficient number of voucher holder in the market looking for apartments ?   Will the plan still work at regular market rents ?   Then what about rent collection etc ?  They are not issuing new vouchers to new people to expand the base, so factor that in to your plan if necessary.       
3. Do you advertise through section 8 website or through craigslist other ads?                                                                                                                           I have had ZERO success with the Sec 8 website. Thought it would be home run but I get no leads from it despite many listings.  CL and the other websites are better and you can advertise vouchers welcome.                              Hope this helps.

Intercoms are a good upgrade if your building does not already have them. Intercoms with the door buzzer thingy.

Especially for young people because:

A) - they hate to go out and buy stuff they prefer it all arrives at their door in a big brown truck

and

B) when their stuff does arrive in the big brown truck they hate just a much having to answer the door or go down the stairs to let the guy in and to retrieve their stuff.

They basically want to be able to order bubble bath from their bath and have it delivered right to them there in the tub.

Adding the intercom/buzzer system if not already there does justify an nice rent bump come renewel time.

I have a property in GC. Overall its a mixed bag but their are some positives. Such as...

People who know and live in the area claim it has much improved in the last 10 years.

90/40 runs right through it so its offers easy access to and from the city for residents who commute by car.

The train runs along 90/94 so it has good train service to and from the city and to connecting lines.

All major roads from 63rd to 79th have good bus service and also feed the train lines. So residents/renters have good options for public transport. 

To the south is Chatham, a decent area with great housing stock, nice neighborhoods and good commerce with malls and shops offering both employment and social amenities. 

To the west is Englewood which has been much touted by the City and the press as an area for positive redevelopment. 

A big consideration would be what type of rental property are you considering ?   2 Flat, 4 Flat, a big Multi ?    That would make a big difference as to the type of strategy you need to adopt.

And as other have mentioned if you are not from the area or familiar with the area you need solid local management that can check both of those boxes.   

I have a property in GC and while it has had its challenges so far I have no big regrets. But I have a great local team and  very specific guidelines and criteria with regards to the type of properties that interest me. 

Get a booking deposit. That's what I do so they don't bail before their stated move in date. That means they have skin in the game and are less likely to be ignoring your calls come the 24th.

I usually take a $200 booking deposit to hold the apt. When we move forward (at lease signing & move in) then that $200 gets applied to their SD.  If they do bail on you they lose the booking deposit. 

So if the full SD is $1000 and they paid $200 to hold the apt for a few weeks then they only need to come with 1st months rent and $800 to round up the SD at move in time.

For that area $950 to $1000 for a 1 bed is a stretch.

@Schneur Yecheilov Was it the listing agent that told you that ?