All Forum Posts by: Mark Doyle

@John Mathewson @Shawn Holsapple Thanks to both of you.  John, I will PM you.

Looking for a very investor friendly realtor in Northwest Indiana - Merillville, Schererville, etc.  Any help would be appreciated.

@Michael Xiong used the term to show his ratio of NOI to value on a rental property. By telling us that his cap rate was 3%, it conveyed information to us. It was not unprofessional, nor was it incorrect. Your unfounded accusation otherwise turned hostile what is normally a pleasant forum space.

The worst part is @Michael Xiong didn't get his question answered.  Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for him.  Anyone else?

@Account Closed A little harsh.  "Capitalization rate (or "cap rate") is the ratio between the net operating income produced by an asset and its capital cost (the original price paid to buy the asset) or alternatively its current market value." He wasn't referring to a "cap rate" for condos in a general area. He said "my cap rate is only around 3%". I'm assuming he meant his NOI divided by the purchase price (or market value) is around 3%. That would be his "cap rate". Sounds to me like @Michael Xiong  is educated on the term just fine.

@Jake S. I live about ten minutes from Joliet in Frankfort, Illinois.  It is a beautiful area with a lot of high end homes.  You can also find deals if you look hard enough.  Joliet is hit or miss, and the schools aren't great.  If you plan on actually living in the house you buy, I would look to the nicer suburbs just to the east of Joliet, like New Lenox, Frankfort and Mokena.  They all have fantastic schools (but high taxes), making the homes easier to sell.

HOA fees do kill the numbers on a large percentage of condos. Many of them wouldn't be worth it for investing if you were given the unit for free. However, if you can find a market where the HOA are manageable and the numbers make sense, then condos can be a lot less headache than SFH. The exterior of the property is 100% managed and maintained. You only have to worry about things going wrong within the unit itself. Plus, they are very cheap to insure. Don't dismiss them outright, but make sure you know the numbers and always read the decs and by laws before you buy.

Thank you to everyone for your suggestions.

@Brie Schmidt @John Weidner Thanks for the response. The Amazon materials were what was confusing me. I read the reviews of the flashcards for example, and apparently they are for a broker exam, an appraiser exam, etc. and people were having to sift through and pull the ones they did not need. Some were saying only 50 cards out of 500 are useful for a broker exam. Brianna, I did order that Illinois book you linked to already. It comes next week so we'll see what that covers. I'm skeptical considering the title of the book gets the name of the exam wrong. It is the Illinois Real Estate Broker Exam. There is no "Illinois Real Estate Sales Exam". Seriously, if you are going to write a book, at least get the name of the test right!

I may have to bite the bullet and pay the $160 for the Kaplan materials. Ugh.

As an investor, I've decided to take the Illinois Real Estate Broker Exam so I can view properties on my own (among other reasons). I'm an attorney, so I don't have to take any courses or anything. I can just sit for the exam. I registered to take the exam 30 days out in a Chicago suburb. I went to start studying and am finding it difficult to come up with a study plan. They sell books/flashcards for national questions, but it appears they contain a bunch of irrelevant information. They also sell books for what appears to be the Illinois portion, but I can't tell if they cover what you need to know for the national portion as well.

When non-attorneys take the real estate courses, I'm sure you get a pretty good idea of what you need to study, and probably already have the material outlined. So I'm assuming that is where I am at a disadvantage. Can anyone recommend good study materials that will be the easiest to cram enough information into my head to pass the exam - more importantly, cram the RIGHT information into my head.

I'm down to 29 days, and I work full time, so I have to figure this out pretty quickly!

I am sorry to tell you this Samson, but you'd have to be crazy to commute from the city to Bolingbrook every day. I've done the long commute thing and in this city, especially when you are talking about dealing with I-55, it sucks.

We have an excellent Metra system to get you between the suburbs and the city. But the train schedule is only convenient for living in the suburbs and working in the city. Otherwise the train only runs once an hour or once every two hours. And there is the fact you have to find a way to get to the Metra station downtown from wherever you are living, and a way to get from the station to your work building. With a reverse commute, the train is not even be a viable option. So you will be forced to make that painful drive.

Chicagoland has some fantastic suburbs, many of them very close to Bolingbrook, with downtown areas and restaurants. When you want to hang out in the city, then you can make the drive. I doubt you intend on going clubbing every night of the week. To me it makes more sense to have a nice easy drive to work five days a week, and then only have to make the more difficult trip downtown every once in a while when you have a reason to go.

Then again, maybe I'm just a biased suburbanite.