A real update? Wow!
Hello all...
First of all, I may not have responded to many posts in the last week, but know that I have read each and every one of your posts. It killed time in Chicago.
Here is a bit of a rundown for you. But, as I am often requested to do, I will supply a
Chicago:
I was in Chicago for almost a week. HATED IT. I was about 25 miles north of Chi town, and let me tell you, the weather was abysmal every second I was there. I think there was maybe a total of 12 hours when it wasnt freexing rain or snowing. Thankfully my rental car handled very well, and they did an excellent job on the roads, but overall, it was miserable.
The class itself went extremely well however. It was very well planned and taught, and I learned a lot.
The hotel as ok, but all of the chicago suburbs seemed to eb nonsmoking. I had to go out the back door of the hotel to smoke and freeze my tail off, and during the class, I had to walk 25 feet away fromt he building into the middle of the parking lot with no shelter. If I continue feeling like I do (as if I am getting a nasty cold), things are gonna be bad this week.
House:
Things are progressing nicely with the house. On my third day in Chicago, the seller and I finally came to an agreement. In reality, the seller's real estate 'played' my guy, but its ok. I didn't overpay or concede too much. I did get one thing I wanted - the ability to choose my own carpets and flooring, which was important to me with it being a new place. Settlement had to be moved to later in the month (March 30th), and therefore I am still trying to figure out when I will be moving and with whom. An email will be coming out to some people soon about it. :) And those recipients will be shocked at just how anal retentive I am and how into 'planning' I am. hehhehe. :)
I did the walkthrough of the place yesterday, and I am so excited. There is still about 2 weeks worth of construction left on it. Its a great feeling to think that I will be the first person to live here, ever. Exciting!
Grandmother/House:
As some of you may have read in previous posts, my grandmother is living alone in the house since my grandfather passed away. Well, her security has been a major concern for me, and being landlord of the apartment behind the house has been a major hassle for us. My brother has come up with a very nice idea, and it looks like its the direction we may move.
Really, we have three options....
1. Find somewhere for my grandmother to move to, and then sell the property. This would be expensive, time consuming effort, and use up most of her monthly income. However, we would be able to sell off the property and be rid of the hassle forever. Given what I am doing with my own house, it is NOT something that I can deal with right now.
2. Leave everythign as is. She stays put (pays the real estate taxes), and we continue to get rent from the tenants. However, we are barely treading water on that.
3. Final option as presented by my brother yesterday.
Anyone even get this far yet? :)
Today, I am relaxing after my trip, and hoping that I don't develop a cold. Tomorrow I am going to pick out carpeting/flooring, get spackle, and fill in the holes in my apartment. Through this week, I get boxes from the mail room at work, then next weekend, start packing slowly.
Fun!!!!!!
First of all, I may not have responded to many posts in the last week, but know that I have read each and every one of your posts. It killed time in Chicago.
Here is a bit of a rundown for you. But, as I am often requested to do, I will supply a
Chicago:
I was in Chicago for almost a week. HATED IT. I was about 25 miles north of Chi town, and let me tell you, the weather was abysmal every second I was there. I think there was maybe a total of 12 hours when it wasnt freexing rain or snowing. Thankfully my rental car handled very well, and they did an excellent job on the roads, but overall, it was miserable.
The class itself went extremely well however. It was very well planned and taught, and I learned a lot.
The hotel as ok, but all of the chicago suburbs seemed to eb nonsmoking. I had to go out the back door of the hotel to smoke and freeze my tail off, and during the class, I had to walk 25 feet away fromt he building into the middle of the parking lot with no shelter. If I continue feeling like I do (as if I am getting a nasty cold), things are gonna be bad this week.
House:
Things are progressing nicely with the house. On my third day in Chicago, the seller and I finally came to an agreement. In reality, the seller's real estate 'played' my guy, but its ok. I didn't overpay or concede too much. I did get one thing I wanted - the ability to choose my own carpets and flooring, which was important to me with it being a new place. Settlement had to be moved to later in the month (March 30th), and therefore I am still trying to figure out when I will be moving and with whom. An email will be coming out to some people soon about it. :) And those recipients will be shocked at just how anal retentive I am and how into 'planning' I am. hehhehe. :)
I did the walkthrough of the place yesterday, and I am so excited. There is still about 2 weeks worth of construction left on it. Its a great feeling to think that I will be the first person to live here, ever. Exciting!
Grandmother/House:
As some of you may have read in previous posts, my grandmother is living alone in the house since my grandfather passed away. Well, her security has been a major concern for me, and being landlord of the apartment behind the house has been a major hassle for us. My brother has come up with a very nice idea, and it looks like its the direction we may move.
Really, we have three options....
1. Find somewhere for my grandmother to move to, and then sell the property. This would be expensive, time consuming effort, and use up most of her monthly income. However, we would be able to sell off the property and be rid of the hassle forever. Given what I am doing with my own house, it is NOT something that I can deal with right now.
2. Leave everythign as is. She stays put (pays the real estate taxes), and we continue to get rent from the tenants. However, we are barely treading water on that.
3. Final option as presented by my brother yesterday.
- Take a mortgage for the max amount on the property in both our names and list it as a rental property. This pays off the first mortgage (the one with my moms name on it), which is important to me. Mortgaged as a rental property counts better on our taxes than if we list it as a residence. He and I both take a small chunk of cash (possibly pay off higher interest cars,etc. or invest)
- Hire a property management company to manage the two residences.
- Treat the house that my grandmother lives in as a rental property. Instead of her paying the taxes (which we will roll into the mortgage), she pays "below market" rent to the property mgmt company. The two rental incomes each month pay the mortgage and property mgmt company with a little leftover.
- The property mgmt company deals with the required repairs etc. and bills us. This is where that little extra we make per month covers things, and a small reserve from the mortgage payout will cover.
- When my grandmother passes away, or chooses to move somewhere else, the property mgmt company finds a new tenant and rents it at fair market value. The amount of money received per month increases dramatically per month, and this allows us to "sink" more money into the property for repairs, etc. for looking towards the day when we sell the property.
- One day, down the road, when we are ready, we sell the property. Because we mortgaged it at about 80% of its current appraised value, and with repairs and appreciation, we walk away with at WORST, breaking even after paying off the mortgage. At best, with a nice payout to split.
- I told my brother I would only consider this if we do two things - 1. Install a security/alarm system for my grandmother's place. 2. Make sure that our homeowner's insurance covers us for any potential lawsuits that may arise from the tenants.
Anyone even get this far yet? :)
Today, I am relaxing after my trip, and hoping that I don't develop a cold. Tomorrow I am going to pick out carpeting/flooring, get spackle, and fill in the holes in my apartment. Through this week, I get boxes from the mail room at work, then next weekend, start packing slowly.
Fun!!!!!!