If you are a tenant who is also serving our country as part of the military or national guard, you may find yourself in a situation where you are called to duty unexpectedly. The good news is, under the military orders clause of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (“SCRA”), if you are called to active duty for more than 180 days, you can terminate your residential lease. No sense in paying if you’re not staying, right? In order to terminate the lease, you will need to notify your landlord that you have been called to active duty. You must actually provide your landlord with a copy of your military orders. No matter what time of the month you give your notice, and regardless of when you move out, you are still responsible to pay the rent for the rest of the month you gave your notice in, as well as… read more →
A national apartment-search site, Zumper, did a study last December which concluded, among other things, that Chicago has the ninth highest rent in the country, despite an overall 3% decline in rental prices. In fact, because of the decline in rental prices, Chicago actually dropped down a slot in the rankings. We used to have the eighth highest rent in the country. Who has the highest rent? San Francisco, of course, followed by – no surprises here – New York City. Boston, San Jose, California, and Oakland, California round out the top five, followed by Washington D.C., Los Angeles and Seattle. Zumper even separated out Chicago neighborhoods by rent prices. The most expensive rents in Chicago are in River North, Streeterville, the West Loop and in the Rush and Division area. By contract, the cheapest rent can be found in the neighborhoods of Garfield Park, Hermosa, Chinatown and Gage Park.… read more →
You took the plunge, you bought a home! And now you’re going to be filing your taxes for the first time as a brand new homeowner. Make sure you take advantage of the tax benefits you are allowed as a homeowner. Some example of tax benefits for home owners are: 1. You get to deduct your property taxes. You know that huge bill that comes out twice a year from the county? Yep, you get to a claim a deduction for property taxes, as long as you claim the deduction the year you actually paid the taxes. For example, in Cook County and the collar counties, we pay our taxes twice a year, but the bill is for the previous year. You paid 2015 taxes in 2016, and in 2017, you will pay the taxes for 2016. So when you file your 2016 tax return, you can claim the taxes… read more →
The Illinois Housing Department Authority (IHDA) has recently stepped up its programs to make home ownership more affordable. One example of this is the new IRefi program. To qualify for IRefi, you must meet the following criteria: Your credit must be good enough to qualify with a participating lender. If you are applying for a VA loan, USDA loan or conventional loan, it must be at least 640. If you’re applying for an FHA loan, your credit must be at least 660. And if you’re applying for a conventional loan where you’re putting down less than 5%, your credit must be at least 680. Your existing mortgage must be current during the last 12 months. Before IRefi’s assistance, the loan-to-value ratio of your home must be 110% or greater. The goal is for IRefi’s assistance to bring the loan-to-value ratio of your home down to 90-97%. That means you would… read more →