Anyway to know if rent will be raised? (lease, unemployed)

[UnderTheLiveOaks]

Originally Posted by Drover

Maybe so, but if you buy a bunch of 'em, then they start to cash-flow. Not to mention a big portion of real estate investment is betting on appreciation, in which case the tenants are mostly there to pay the operating costs.

It has been my experience and basic research that even the two- and three-flats in Lakeview and Lincoln Park (well, mostly Lakeview, I only ever looked at one apartment in LP) were acquired specifically for investment purposes rather than simply being leftover property handed down from the previous generation, even if the owners aren't major management companies. A lot of them are owned by bit players who own a handful of properties here and there, but at any rate a whole bunch of them have turned over within the last 10 years meaning they have big mortgage payments. Rental "bargains" in these neighborhoods are few and far between any more.

Gotcha. Owned as investment properties, yes. I just mean I don't see a lot of 2 and 3 flats owned by big management companies. They seem to go for the buildings with at least 8 or 10 units.

Speaking of, living in an owner-occupied building carries its own load of issues, even if you aren't a noisy person who throws big parties. Some owners are VERY particular about their properties (and rightfully so!), and its good to be aware of that going in.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by CarolinaBredChicagoan

Gotcha. Owned as investment properties, yes. I just mean I don't see a lot of 2 and 3 flats owned by big management companies. They seem to go for the buildings with at least 8 or 10 units.

Speaking of, living in an owner-occupied building carries its own load of issues, even if you aren't a noisy person who throws big parties. Some owners are VERY particular about their properties (and rightfully so!), and its good to be aware of that going in.

Tell me about it. Our building isn't owner-occupied any more, but it used to be. (They still live on the block.) They raised their family in this building in the 70s and 80s and they have a nearly irrational attachment to some of its features. It has some brilliantly awful 70s-vintage wallpaper in the kitchen and dining room. (Fortunately the dining room paper is on one wall only and can at least marginally pass as vintage-chic, but the kitchen wallpaper is just plain awful.) We offered to take it down and paint the walls white at our own expense -- something that probably would have increased the rental value by at least $50/mo at no expense to them -- and they didn't merely decline, but they actually took offense. We've also offered to put ceiling fans for the living room (yes, the living room is big enough to accommodate 2 ceiling fans -- our pad is rather spacious) and leave them here after we leave. No go on that either. They just don't want anything to change about this place. They won't let us hang anything from the walls, which is unfortunate because given the size of the living room and dining room, there's a whole lot of empty real estate on the walls that we simply cannot cover. But it's hard to complain considering how much (how little, really) we pay for this place.

[UnderTheLiveOaks]

Originally Posted by Drover

Tell me about it. Our building isn't owner-occupied any more, but it used to be. (They still live on the block.) They raised their family in this building in the 70s and 80s and they have a nearly irrational attachment to some of its features. It has some brilliantly awful 70s-vintage wallpaper in the kitchen and dining room. (Fortunately the dining room paper is on one wall only and can at least marginally pass as vintage-chic, but the kitchen wallpaper is just plain awful.) We offered to take it down and paint the walls white at our own expense -- something that probably would have increased the rental value by at least $50/mo at no expense to them -- and they didn't merely decline, but they actually took offense. We've also offered to put ceiling fans for the living room (yes, the living room is big enough to accommodate 2 ceiling fans -- our pad is rather spacious) and leave them here after we leave. No go on that either. They just don't want anything to change about this place. They won't let us hang anything from the walls, which is unfortunate because given the size of the living room and dining room, there's a whole lot of empty real estate on the walls that we simply cannot cover. But it's hard to complain considering how much (how little, really) we pay for this place.

My place isn't owner-occupied, but I had some friends who lived in a place that was. They also couldn't hang anything on the walls. However, the big issue was that when they had lived their for a while, the Comcast guy came over to put in cable. He needed to drill a hole.

You would have thought the world had imploded. My friends were threatened with eviction over a hole the size of one piece of coaxial cable that they didn't even put there themselves.

However, they paid 850, I think, for a 3 bedroom place that took up the whole floor of a 2-flat in a great part of Ravenswood/North Center.

So you take the good with the bad.

[LauraS865]

Testing, testing, one two three. I responded to this. Where is it?

[Mel2882]

My landlord goes above and beyond to take care of my building and its tenants, but my lease starts over on June 1 (4 days from now) and I was just informed today that the rent will be increased. It's only $10, so obviously I'm not worried about it, but I'm just curious if it's legal to give such little notice. I just got the renewal papers today too. Was that my responsibility to ask for them before this date? This is the first time I've ever stayed in an apt for over the year lease.

[surlycue]

Originally Posted by Mel2882

My landlord goes above and beyond to take care of my building and its tenants, but my lease starts over on June 1 (4 days from now) and I was just informed today that the rent will be increased. It's only $10, so obviously I'm not worried about it, but I'm just curious if it's legal to give such little notice. I just got the renewal papers today too. Was that my responsibility to ask for them before this date? This is the first time I've ever stayed in an apt for over the year lease.

If your landlord raises the rent incrementally annually it would have been in your original lease. If you look back on it, it should have a percentage that they are allowed to raise the rent by per year. $10 sounds fair and less than the typical raise for the kind of maintenance he performs.

However, we are in a market where many management companies are deciding to forgo rent increases so if you really want to argue it, you may have some footing on the issue.

[Avengerfire]

I found out a few days ago my landlord is not raising my rent for the next year.

It was raised $10 each of the last two years I have lived in the apartment I am in now.

[scarletneon]

thankfully I have an awesome management company and they let me renew back in February for a $6 increase. I can't argue with that at all, since it went up $18 last year.

[Drover]

Who raises rent in $6 increments?

[Avengerfire]

^The Devil ^