All Forum Posts by: Eric X.

Congrats on the first flip! Did you do the work yourself or hire it out? I used to work at the old GE(now sabic i think..) location.  

 Of course the seller's agent doesn't want a buyer agent.  He wants both side of the commission.  While dual agency can work in some situations, it is not in the best interest of seller or buyer in most cases. 

Get an agent. It doesn't hurt you in anyway and you know they will more than likely be working in your best interest as long as you find a good agent. 

 There are also cases where the client/buyer is completely unreasonable/difficult to work with.  I have gotten rid of clients in the past for being difficult to work with.  Sometimes clients are just not worth the headache. Not saying that is the case in this situation.

Hi BP members! I just want to get feedback on which is the best route to take. I typically pay for properties cash and I usually leave the cash in the houses I get unless I need the cash for another project (Think of it as a delayed BRRRRR) I have fairly strict criteria so I don't pick up 20+ properties a year but I usually try to to get anywhere from 2-5 annually.

My question is whether I should take cash out of my primary property (no mortgage  ~ 550k value ) 30 year at 3.635% or if I should cash out of some of my rentals (180-250k give or take depending on which one) 30 year at 4.125%.  

I can't deduct interest from my primary but I can from my rentals.  Is it as easy as just taking into account the interest deduction? 

Not really in need of the capital but want to make sure I make the right decision when the time comes.

@Forrest Williams

Have you tried the grip strip? It really isn't glue down.  The planks stick to each other.  Have had better results with that than the floating.  

@John Warren

That is the exact flooring I get.  The grip strip makes it much easier to change out piece by piece and while it might be slightly more expensive than other brands or with sales, you can count on that model to be there if you ever need to do a large repair.

180k for 6-7 bed homes has to be in a rough area(south or west side of downtown)

Don't underestimate the difficulty of managing rentals there as well as living there.  The returns on b/a class properties in illinois/chicago are not great.  Better than Boston but not great.  

15 degrees is the temp threshold for cook county/chicago.  Sheriff won't evict if it is below that temperature.  Also no evictions between Christmas and new years.  

Kwikset is better than most store brands.  I have kwikset and even crappier brands like gatehouse and defiant on all of my rentals and very few have issues.  You probably just got a lemon. 

The elitists will tell you schlage is the bare minimum.  

I've had plenty of decent cash flowing deals in Illinois but non are multi units.  New investor straight into large plex is jumping in the deep end. Property taxes are high in Illinois but that's why rent is also high.