All Forum Posts by: Ryan Canfield

Can anyone recommend a great estate planning attorney in Chicago?

Thank you in advance!

@Michael K.   was your building rehabbed prior to buying or did you rehab?  Is $1500 market rate or voucher tenant?  What do you think of the west side of Little Village or did you primarily look on the east side closer to Pilsen?

Has anyone successfully rezoned a legal 2-flat into a legal 3-flat in Chicago?

Outside of mailing a letter to all homeowners within 250 feet of your property, what else did you have to do?  What criteria is needed of your property to successfully complete the rezoning? What will help your request and what will negatively impact you? 

@James Zettelmeyer  Thanks James - that makes a lot of sense

@Zack Karp Zack - thanks as well. To better clarify about structuring from the start, it probably would have helped. June 2015 we purchased a 2 unit as a primary residence with a conventional 15% down, May 2016 was when we purchased our current primary residence via FHA financing. I'm not hellbent on completing a refinance and obviously do not want to commit fraud or do something that could be perceived as fraud, I was just curious from a lending perspective if that idea was viable or not. Assuming I do not refinance and leave the current loan as is, couldn't I still make the argument to use another FHA loan due to my family size increasing and needing additional space?

Hello BP,

I've lived in an owner occupied 2 flat with an FHA loan since May 2016. I'm hoping to refinance into at a minimum 95% LTV conventional loan in the next month or so. Say I'm able to complete the refinance, I would then like to immediately apply for a pre-approval with the intention of buying another property as an owner occupant via FHA financing as my family size will be increasing in 6 weeks and I will need more square footage in my living space.

Is this something I could do?  What challenges could/would I face?

Hello,

Does anyone have an accountant they can recommend?  Someone based in the Chicago area or northern suburbs would be nice but not necessary.

Thank you in advance.

@Bonifacio Capuyan  Hi Bonifacio - my personal suggestion is to find a good agent and stick with them as long as the relationship is good and you both are obtaining each of your goals.  I think it would be ok to use two if for example one was working to find you residential properties and the other was working to find you a commercial property.  If their specialties didn't overlap I think that would be ok, otherwise I would use one.  A good agent is worth their weight in gold and I personally wouldn't jeopardize a good relationship over a deal or two. 

@Bao-Chau Tran Hi Bao - I think it depends on what your intention for the property is and what your goals are. Are you going to live in it for a few years then move out and turn it into a rental or just to lower your monthly living expenses? I believe you would be able to use an FHA loan - have yourself on the mortgage then rent a room to a roommate, that would further reduce your monthly living expenses. Is your listed $1,635 income fully rented without you living in a unit or with you living in the building?

@Gustavo Lopez Hi Gus, First I would ask if you are going to purchase residential or commercial properties.  I do not have commercial experience so I will not comment on that.  On the residential side, it could depend on your lender and each of your financial capabilities.  Ex., you want to buy a $200K property but you personally only qualify for a loan of up to $100K, you would need to have one of your partners on the loan who could qualify for the balance of $100K.  Maybe each of you have money to put down and you can work with your lender to structure 3 deals where you all have ownership on each of the properties.  I would suggest reaching out to a lender to determine what they will require.  Good luck.

@Kenneth Cowan I would love to talk further about my experience with my flats.  We currently live on the Avondale/Old Irving Park border and our pure investment property is in Portage Park.  I look forward to talking further in a few weeks!