All Forum Posts by: Josh Sexton

I'm very excited to say that we just launched our new real estate investments website at http://gslowinvestments.com/  We currently have 17 houses for sale in Chicago that are rehabbed and income ready.  A couple of these properties already have a renter in them with positive monthly cash flow.  Under the "Inventory" section of the site you can look at the properties and read through the pro forma for each.

We have been working with large investors for the past few years and are rolling out this site to make the properties available to every-day people who want income property.  Our construction team has already rehabbed each unit and city permits have been pulled for all work.  We also have a full service property management team who handles finding renters and managing the properties.

That's such great news!

Welcome to BiggerPockets!  It's always nice to hear from someone else in Chicago

Your safest bet would be to just stick it in a 1 year CD until you get back. Starting out is usually very hands-on.

We do over 200 properties on Buildium. It's great.

I use Mission Signs to make it and Oakley Signs to put it up on the property.

I have a basic familiarity with Profit from Rentals, as I work in the Chicago market. It doesn't seem like they're telling you anything incorrect or trying to be dishonest, although his professionalism leaves much to be desired. The fact is, most people don't pull R&R permits and they never have any problems. With that in mind, I would definitely request it for any property that you plan on holding for a while.

Speaking from personal experience, when we were doing full gut rehabs in Chicago, the city decided to change their permit process last year. It took us months to re-permit our current projects and put us pretty far behind. Now, this isn't likely to happen with you, especially if you're just doing a basic "lipstick" rehab on the property. However, I do feel it's better to be safe than sorry. You never know when the city is going to change their mind or come take a look and it's best to avoid the hassle.

I would also say that I wouldn't want to work with a company that doesn't invest in protecting its clients. It isn't expensive and only takes a day to get the permit so why not play it safe? There are certain things you want to make sure you receive from the company. You want permits. You want photos. You want a pro forma. If they aren't willing to provide you with these things then I would look elsewhere. This business is risky enough and if they aren't willing to work in your best interest, it isn't worth it.

What are you doing to market to overseas investors currently? Are you posting on international listing databases? Take a look at Juwai.com. The host listings for Chinese investors. (English is on the top right hand corner of the page).

The 2% rule definitely doesn't work in Chicago (or many other major metros).

For some areas, the Section 8 cap rate is usually a good guideline to follow. It is tough to get more because there isn't a great market rate tenant base. Depending on the home and the area, this might be at or slightly above 1%. We rent just over 200 homes, most of which are on the south side, and they all rent around 1% of the ARV give or take.

For those A and B areas you're lucky if you can get 1%. Unfortunately, you're stuck with what the market will support and trying to price it at 2% is unrealistic.

Does your marketing right now consist solely of Craigslist and REI meetings? You want to have as much market penetration as possible and that means you need to be putting time and money into many different marketing outlets.

@Gary Mariencheck mentioned Postlets which is a free product I've used before with some success. It definitely helps more your Craigslist ads more appealing.

Posting on the MLS is hugely important as well. Do you have a website that you drive traffic to in the hopes of promoting your services and ultimately moving property? What about social media? Do you have a presence? What content are you putting out that would be useful to investors and potential clients? Most importantly, try not to be short-sighted with your marketing efforts. Many companies take months or years to build a following and develop a buyer pipeline.