All Forum Posts by: Ryan Rubel

I have a rental home where the village contacted me to do their rental inspection that is required every 3 years.  My PM coordinated with the village inspector to do a walk through the house.  I'm shocked at the amount of stuff that needs to be done.  This is going to require plumbers and electricians and HVAC professionals which I'm sure is going to be very expensive.  Here's the list of what my PM wrote down that needs to be done.  The official report comes in next week which I'm told will likely have more.

1) Electrical in the bathroom is off and causing issues with the lighting and exhaust fan.

2) There needs to be smoke detectors in all 3 berms. Currently there is only 1 in the hallway.

3) The owner needs to supply more outlets in the kitchen as the tenants are using an extension cord and that is against code. One of the outlets houses the carbon monoxide detector and there is no other place to put it limiting the outlets even more. (currently there are (4) duplexes in the kitchen.  IF the tentant is using an extension on one of them why do I need to add an outlet?  IMO i'm providing plenty of outlets for them to use)

4) There needs to be a copper or galvanized steel pressure relief valve blow off pipe on the water heater.

5) The drywall on the ceiling in the utility closet around the duct work for the furnace needs to be repaired.

6) Wasp nest outside back of house in the left corner needs to be taken care of.

7) Check to see if a back flow preventer is built into the hose in the back of the house? If not, there needs to be one installed.

8) The furnace, water heater, gas applicable, and A/C has to be tested and approved by a licensed contractor. The contractor then needs to send a letter to the village stating everything works. 

I understand some of these items are required like the smoke detectors in each room, but things like #3 and #8 surprise me. Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks,

Ryan

Keywords Schaumburg Illinois IL Cook County

What is the difference between "market" and "reasonable"?  I would think that market rent IS reasonable rent.  If I'm way above market (also above "reasonable") Tenants will look somewhere else to live

Hey @Account Closed, Glad to see another Schaumburglar on BP!  
I'm new as well (currently owning 1 rental SFH in Schaumburg) so I'm sure some of the veterans will step in to help answer your questions better.

The Ultimate Beginners Guide to RE was really helpful with learning some of the lingo.  Have you read that yet?

I'm considering buying a multifamily in the NW suburbs of Pyongyang.  What are the likely challenges I'll face?

Kidding aside, nice job on cleaning that up so quickly @Joshua Dorkin!   You guys are on it.

Thanks @Mark Ainley for the response and good information.  It sounds like you have a good feel for the area.  Where would you suggest I start looking if I'm looking for a small multifamily somewhere in the area?  I did notice what you said about Elgin having options but the taxes are just too high.  
Even if I go closer to the city (Jefferson Park) I can't find anything even close to the 2% rule on a duplex.  

I'm doing some preliminary searches for a multifamily property within 20 miles of where I live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago (Schaumburg) which will be my 2nd rental property.  I have a lot to learn, but this website has been a huge help.

I noticed that I can't find anything that satisfies the 1% rule, and definitely not the 2% rule. Schaumburg is clearly out of the question, but even if I search pretty far outside of Schaumburg there's nothing close to hitting the 2% rule.  Anything I can find would need massive renovation, then wouldn't make the cutoff.

Anyways, I know there are probably plenty of investors in my area on this forum, so I thought I'd see if I'm just looking in the wrong places.

Does the 2% rule only apply to very low-end areas?  Sure I can find a multifamily in Harvey or Maywood that meets the 2% rule, but I woudln't want to ever go to the property myself.

Thanks for any insight!

My wife and I are interested in purchasing a 2nd rental property.  A family member of mine works for an RE Wholesaler that deals a lot with cash buyers.  We're in the position to be able to buy with cash, but I'm wondering if I'm better off finding my own deal and financing (20% down instead of 100%, the rest would go to our taxable brokerage account).

I have no experience finding my own sellers, so this would likely be a large time investment.  I also understand the benefits of buying with leverage over cash.  I'm only looking to purchase 1 property at this time though, so using the cash to put 20% down on (5) properties isn't an option.  Really just comparing finding my own deal and putting 20% down, or using a wholesaler to get a 100% cash deal.

This is likely going to be a rehab that we'll live in for a few months and then hold long term for positive cash flow.

Thanks,

Ryan

Lots of good points here - thanks for that.  Since we have some time before coming back from overseas I'll continue to consider our options and decide how much risk tolerance we have.  I'm still thinking that buying 1 more house will be right for us (then live in it for 4-6 months while fixing it up).  I'll definitely be doing a lot of reading on this site in the meantime.  Can anyone recommend a good book for me?

My mom works for a RE Wholesaler finding him leads, so maybe that'll be a good connection to have when I am looking for a house.

Thanks for the feedback so far.

Yes I was thinking for this first one we would live in the new house for 4-6 months while we fix it up ourselves and get it "rent ready".  Then either do it again (if we like that arrangement) or else at that point move back to our original house and see how the new rental goes.  If it works out well I'd like to repeat the process the following year.

I know this is a much slower pace than most here like to do, but it keeps debt and risk at a minimum.  I think if we had a few success stories under our belt we'd be less risk adverse.

Gautam, Thanks for the response.  I think that's much more aggressive than I can handle at the moment.  I'd like to start more slowly with just the 1-2 rental properties for a while.