All Forum Posts by: Sam Sav

Thanks for your input guys. I'm definitely wasn't looking to rob them of their security deposit as they were decent tenants. I'll see when I do my final inspection if there is anything else that needs fixing that's beyond normal wear and tear. I didn't really look around much only reason I noticed the railing is because I went to go check on the furnace and grabbed the railing and saw it was broken. Never really looked around the house for anything else. Hopefully nothing else is broken, I don't mind giving their security deposit back if they took care of the place. After all that's what the security deposit is for

Hi everyone. Just thought I'd ask to get more opinions on what's a fair amount to deduct from my tenants security deposit? I've had them in for almost a year now. April 15th is when they'll be moving out and I will be moving in as I am getting married in May of this year. The house is a 1,200 sq ft split level house with 3br/2bath. I can't complain about the tenants they were pretty great. Always paid on time and are pretty clean. Besides the fact that they have a lot of furniture and unnecessary clutter from what I saw. The time they've been here I had to replace the furnace because it kept breaking down and there was a big flood in the neighborhood last summer that caused a flood of about 5 inches in the basement. I had all new appliances in there besides a used washer and dryer. According to them the dryer stopped working after the flood but they never told me that until after a month of the flood. But I went ahead and replaced it with another used one. 

The only thing I've seen broken is the handrail going down the stairs. It will need some plastering and painting.

So I'm just kind of wondering how much out of the security deposit is it fair to deduct. Considering  the handrail and I guess repainting the whole house since they have a lot of clutter that I'm sure scratched up the walls

Jeff Valentino hey Jeff I'm in the southwest suburbs too. Around oak lawn area. And looking for investment properties too. Would be interested in connecting with an investor friendly realtor

I was in a similar situation as you where j bought the house last year and needed to rent it for a year and planning to move in it after the 1 year lease is up. After purchasing the property I had my RE agent put it for rent. He charged first months rent. I'm sure I could've saved some money doing it myself but I definitely don't regret him doing it. I didn't need to do anything. He ran all the backgrounds showed the house to many people and he just told me about the promising ones. After I agreed to accept one we just met at his office with the tenants. Signed the contract and the tenants gave me a check for first months rent and security deposit and I wrote my agent a check and that was that was that. He got the house rented in 2 weeks after my closing and I didn't have to do a thing. He got over 20 phone calls and showed it over 10 times. I'd say it was worth it

So I went ahead and tried to get a preapproval as I saw a turnkey SFH asking 169k so I wanted to put an offer on it and if it worked out I would end up moving into that house and keep my current burbank house as mentioned above for rent. And they got back to me. And said I only got approved for a 150k FHA loan. Which is a bummer and I was expecting a lot better than that considering my first loan I got approved for a 5% conventional loan and I had a way lower paying salary than I do now. I changed jobs just last year mid year for a more than double income so I don't see what the problem is. They say because I haven't been at this job for awhile. But obviously makes sense to change jobs if you get more than double what you were making before. My only other issue is I'm on workmans comp right now. Had surgery on my hand and still doing therapy and he said I wouldn't be able to close on a house until I show proof of at least 2 weeks of subs after returning back to work. I've never heard of this before. Can anyone shed some light on this? I get just about the same amount every week as I would get working so what's the problem. And there are people that are on workers compensation for quite awhile so does that mean you can't buy a house?

Alvin May thank you for the invite. I won't be able to make it to the feb 28 meeting. I would definitely like to attend one in the future. How often are the meetings and do I have to register anywhere?

Mark Doyle thanks for your opinion. I know HOA plays a big factor in condo investments. And my initial plan was to rent a condo but it seemed to me if I can make a good profit flipping and selling I can then move on to flipping a SFH. I guess I have to reevaluate my numbers and see what works best. Do you have any other investments in the area? I will most likely only be investing in these areas close to me for now such as burbank, oak lawn, worth, and hickory hills. They are all very close distances from each other and nice little safe neighborhoods. Definitely not warzones. Any other tips to look out for would be greatly appreciated

Mark Doyle this is what I've been searching for. I live around the oak lawn area and I see some what seem to be good deals. I've seen condos in oak lawn and Chicago ridge (which is right next to oak lawn) for sale between 25-45k. I have been very tempted to jump on a 38k condo in Chicago ridge that I would flip. 10k in rehab work will make it good as new and potentially sell for 80-90k as there are similar condos that aren't even up to date selling between that price range. I've been wanting to get insight from a local investor that has invested in condos in this area j want to invest. Are there any problems you've had it is there anything in particular that I should watch out for? Any tips or recommendations would be greatly appreciated

I actually just saw another SFH on the market that's turnkey. And at a lower price that I bought my first SFH too. Was thinking to try and get it with a 3.5 fha loan and move into that house and keep my current one with the current tenants. arr there any cons with going this route?

Originally posted by @Mark Ainley:

@Sam Sav Welcome Sam!  Great to hear motivation.  Do it when you are young and congrats on the new soon to be wife!

 Thanks for the warm welcome from me and the fiancé. Looking forward to learning from seasoned investors.