All Forum Posts by: Christopher Malone

I’ll be there!

@Jeff Jones I would have to agree with the recommendations of @Mark Ainley. Mark and his team manages properties in the Chicago Metro and Suburban areas for many out of state owners. You two should connect if you haven’t already.

Hey @Carmela Hunt, @Mark Ainley with GC Realty may be able to help. When it comes to property management in the city, he knows his stuff.

Thanks for the mention @Mark Ainley!

Hey @Angel Marquez! Like Brie, I also use www.mysmartmove.com. I have also used www.rentprep.com, but I like the detail of MySmartMove's credit reports. RentPrep and MySmartMove partnered up, so you can purchase the BG and Credit check from RentPrep if you like. The only downfall is you don't have the ability to send a link that allows the applicant to pay for them directly like MySmartMove allows you to. 

Hope this helps! 

@Randy Gillon

After some back and forth we reached an agreement on the purchase price on June 18th and closed on August 22nd. Keep in mind this was a short sale and even with an experienced Short Sale Attorney and the bank accepting my final counter offer, it still took some time to get the final bank approval. After that, Demo started the first week of September and the project was complete at the end of October. I marketed it Nov 5th - 10th, had 18-19 showings give or take and selected my current tenant. 

I agree that the season greatly effects the sales as my 2 prior properties were purchased and rehabbed in the fall and winter, but rehabbing in a Chicago winter can be a bit of a pain. On my last rehab, the roof had a leak around the base of the chimney that was missed as the roof was covered in snow. When May came around and we experienced heavy rain, the roof started to leak, ironically in the laundry room over the HVAC system, wetting the motherboard and burning it out. The first month the property was occupied I was hit with a roof and HVAC bill. Also, the tuck pointing was a pain as the masons were consistently having to take breaks due to the cold.  

@Mykhail Bolden Thanks for commenting! I currently have a search setup for small multi-families, but I have yet to come across anything that makes sense. In my opinion it seems as if prices are inflated from a cost per unit prospective given the condition that most of them are in. They make sense from a tax per unit prospective, but I cannot justify paying over $60K per unit (mostly 2 bed 1 bath) for a multi-family that is distressed and still has radiator heating each unit. Feel free to reach out if you need a search setup for your criteria, I'll be glad to help!

@Randy Gillon Thanks for commenting!, i'm glad you found my outline to be beneficial! The south side can be challenging as some of the neighborhoods vary block by block, but there are also a lot of sound neighborhoods that have upside. It does take time, but it's worth it. If you need help navigating through the neighborhoods, feel free to PM me. 

@Philip Coiro Thanks for commenting, I'm looking forward to see the details! 

@Daniel F. 

Thanks for asking! All of my properties are located on the South Side in the City of Chicago. I target working class neighborhoods with a moderate to high percentage of home owners. PM me if you are interested in looking at properties on the south side. I'll be happy to help!  

@Mark Ainley

Great idea! My goal is to have 20 SFR's by 2020. After re-evaluating that goal, I jammed myself up in a couple of areas. First, the start of my real estate journey did not match my destination at the time. Back then the goal was to just get started and I was not prepared out of the gate to scale. Second, I have come to realize that even using the BRRRR method, your capital will eventually run out, especially if you keep fixed CapEx reserves for each property like myself. With that said, 20 SFR's is still the target, but the modified goal is to get better at, and start using creative methods to acquire properties such as seller finance and partnerships. As you recommended, I will get more detailed in the near future and outline timelines on my path to growing my portfolio.

Thanks everyone!

@Brian H. That's correct. The property taxes are a little less than $1,800, $800 for property insurance, 10% for Property Management (I self manage, but still budget for this), 5% for repairs (Given the performance of my other rentals, this is about my annual average), and $75 per month for the Water, Sewer, and Garbage.