We have secured our financing for the upstairs renovation. We close next week- now all we have to do is get permits and get the tenants out-ha-ha.
Seriously, we aren't sure what we will do about the tenants. I've started writing on the calender every night that they disturb our sleep. Yes, it's getting that bad folks. We are going to get some area rugs and put them in the bedroom above ours. I wrote them a long emphatic note that I gave them on Saturday also. We also consulted a real estate attorney about what we would need to do to get them out legally.
Some here have suggested bribing them to leave, but I think that it would take more than one month's rent and then the apartment isn't rentable in it's current state. We may just have to "go zen" and deal with them for a while. I really need to grow more spiritually anyway- you know?
We are getting quotes now for the upstairs work and we will be commencing getting the permits. I'm sure I'll have a story or two about that. Dealing with the City of Chicago buerocracy should be interesting. We've just seen way too many "Stop Work Order" signs around here to even risk not getting permits.
We know someone in our neighborhood who completely gutted their frame home and she drew all her own plans and got it approved. We are going to talk with her and a few others before submitting our plans. Permits must be issued for the electrical, plumbing, and heating and we have to hire licensed contractors for these trades.
Anyway, I haven't really posted about the whole upstairs project much, but we've been working on it quite a bit.
7 comments:
Permits. hmmm. Ever watch that showon A&E called "Flip This House"? that guy does everything without permits. And when he gets caught, he just waits till the inspector leaves ad has his people start working again. I had no idea you could do that.
I will send you good house wishes this week. Hopefully your renters will run away and join a loud commune. Or something.
You may not have to hire the work out. Here, if you live in the house then you don't need to hire the work out. You can do it yourself. As for the wiring and heating, you should be able to run electrical cable but may need an electrician to install the sockets and connect to the breaker box. You may need a plumber to connect gas pipes to the furnace but you should be able to run the ducts yourself. Don't ask me about plumbing, I may get into a long rant....
A lot of places you can work on a single family home, so a 2 flat wouldn't be single family anyways. I've heard Chicago is different though.
Our city office have something called "homeowners night" where you can go down and get advice & permits for whatever work you are doing on your home. They bill it as a "one stop shop." You might check to see if Chicago has something similar.
I have yet to have anyone from the city some out and inspect anything on my house for which a permit was pulled. You pay the money and thats the end of it. Nice little scam....
Here in Chicago, if you are caught doing work withour a permit, you are fined and a "Stop Work Order" sign gets put on your building. I am sure removing it or continuing work, you'd be heavily fined.
I would NEVER mess with the City of Chicago Buildings Department.
They would NEVER get away with that here.
And they come and check the work- that is part of the deal. That's also part of the fear because you never know what they might decide to make you "bring up to code"etc...
I suppose we could work something out where we run wires etc... to save money- but we simply don't have the time to do this fast enough. It costs us $ to have the apartment empty and we both are working full time. So, here we are now ready to have experience with hiring a big job out- should be interesting...
Good luck, guys. I'm sure you'll work it out in the best way possible. Everything you've talked about on your blog has seemed very level-headed and responsible.
Off topic question for you, Jocelyn... I've noticed that your house and our house have very similar window and door trim. We've figured out how to make almost every part of the trim except the top crown? piece. We're missing moulding in a few places on the house and we'd like the new moulding in the basement to match the rest of the house, thus the need to replicate it. We've checked antique stores to no avail. Any info you can provide would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Amanda
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