All Forum Posts by: Ryan Canfield

@Kenneth Cowan Hi Kenneth, I will attend.

@John G.  Hi John - on both of the properties I have bought, my insurance broker was able to shop around for the best price before purchasing.  I continue to use him to shop yearly to see if there are any better rates available.

Hello,

Does anyone have a Chicago based real estate lawyer that they would recommend?  I am looking for someone who I can discuss asset protection strategies with and potentially use on future closings.

Thank you in advance.

@Kreighton Reed  - That's what I was looking for Kreighton!  Thank you for the suggestions!

I wear whatever I have on that day. Depending upon what I wear to work that day it is jeans or business casual. My wife will show units in her scrubs and other days it's jeans. In spring/summer we will show in shorts.
We get a strong rent compared to our area and I do not feel that going over the top in our dress will have any bearing on how we are perceived by the prospective tenants.  We treat everyone respectfully and fairly.

@Matt Boyle  Hi Matt, one property is in the Portage Park neighborhood and the other is in the Old Irving Park neighborhood.

@William Huston  Hi William, my personal opinion is also to strongly look into a 3 or 4 flat if it makes sense in the area that you intend to buy.  My wife and I are house hacking our second 3 flat in Chicago and we've really enjoyed the experience.  We are fortunate enough to invest in an area of Chicago that we can attract good tenants who are not high maintenance and who have so far not trashed our properties.  I also think that it will give you valuable experience in the event that you want to continue to expand and trade up to larger properties.  I have not owned a single family rental but I feel that if I can continue to demonstrate to myself that I can manage a multi-unit property, I could no doubt manage a single family home.  I say give it a try and see how it goes!

@Thorney Gibson  Hi Thorney, like some of the comments above, I also think it depends on your area and personal financial situation.  For instance, my wife and I live in Chicago where there are a lot of 3 flats.  For us, we want to live in Chicago for the next few years and for us financially it makes more sense to invest in multi-family homes where we live in one unit and rent out the others and try to repeat as many times as we can before we maybe eventually move out of the city.  In our general area, there are not many single family homes that sell for under $150K and those properties wouldn't generate enough rent to make the investment worth while.  My personal opinion is that you really analyze your personal situation and make the investment that best suits your needs and capabilities.  

@Phil Janasac  Hi Phil, I agree with what @Nancy Curran said. I would just go ahead and do it. Many properties in Chicago have a basement unit that is similar to this. I would say that if you do this without the proper permits, you may have issues when you sell the property and try to claim it as one entire unit. Assuming lender restrictions stay the same, if you were to get a cash buyer or someone using conventional financing - non FHA, it wouldn't be a problem.
The property my wife and I just bought has a duplex up situation that was marketed as a 6 bedroom and 2 bath duplex.  They were 2 separate units except for a 3/4 wall that was open on the top floor unit.  My wife and I framed out this wall to completely separate the units for our privacy as we are living in this unit.  If/when we sell this property we would have to address this if we were to get an FHA buyer and assuming the FHA criteria did not change.  We would have to take down the portion of the wall that we put up.  Our thoughts are, we would deal with that if/when the time comes.

Hi BP,

I'm looking for some advice, if I plan on going into a few local small banks over the next few months in hopes of building a relationship or two that I'm hoping to need about 9 months from now; what documents should I be bringing along to show my credibility?  

What would be the best way to layout/present the information for the bankers?