All Forum Posts by: Melissa Loupeda

@Melissa Loupeda I wouldn't drive Chicago to get to know the areas. It is a big place! I would rule out the areas you don't want, so you can focus on the areas you do want. Start with the end in mind as they say. Find what you want and work backwards to find the investment areas that fit that. Do you need to be near the airport? Near transit for the loop? North? West? 

Foreclosure comes in different steps. Each provides an opportunity or a disaster.
When someone starts missing their payments and eventually starts getting "Late Notices", that's a good group for creative finance. When it gets to a "Notice to Bring Current" or we will set a Foreclosure date, That's called "Pre-foreclosure and is a good group for creative finance as well.

When it gets having a sale date set, that's called Foreclosure. That's a tough one to work with for various reasons. One, is that there is a lot of money that you need, to bring the loan current and you have very little time to solve the problem. When it gets to the day of the sale, that's called the Auction. In my opinion, it's a very tough time to buy properties because you are bidding against others more sophisticated than you. It's typically an "all cash transaction" and you are buying a house you've never seen the inside of.

If it doesn't sell at the Auction it's called REO (Real Estate Owned) by the bank. They will do their paperwork and a couple months after the Auction, they will put it on the MLS as "Bank Owned". Again, typically "all cash". We focus and teach on the first two with some on the third. And people make a lot of money.

There are “tricks of the trade” on these and we think we are in the beginning stages of this being very lucrative again, in the market. But, it’s also very important to know what you can and what you can’t do and to have your systems in place before proceeding.

@Melissa Loupeda it sounds like you are on an exciting journey, and I think you are thinking all the right thoughts! The main thing to realize is that there are some areas in Chicago that are very cheap because they are bad areas, and there are some areas that are affordable, but they are fine. You really want to focus less on the property and more on the type of tenant you want to attract. If you have a good person as your tenant, then the rest will fall into place. 

In terms of BRRR, it makes sense to find a property with some upside. That is part of what can propel you forward so much more quickly than other strategies. The trick is not to look for an absolute grand slam, but to understand that sometimes you will leave some equity in some deals. The deals still might be worth doing!

I also would encourage you to look for places that need cosmetic rehab as much as possible. Painting, flooring, landscaping, and other minor cosmetics can be done from afar. You won't have major risk with these projects. Doing major renovations is not simple, and in my opinion, should be avoided until you are multiple deals in. 

Hi there @Melissa Loupeda - My first thought is you should move that date up by 6 months ;-) and get that first property sooner!

Chicago is a great place to invest!  We have TONS of multi-family properties that need renovations and there are purchase price points at every level.

When we are looking at value-added properties we either want FULL gut renovations or strictly ONLY cosmetic renovations...nothing in between.  We typically like brick buildings and prefer buildings that already have a forced air system in place if it's cosmetic.

The BRRRR method is always for the NOW, just realize that it may not be the "OLD BRRRR" where you get all your cash back...and that's okay. Getting in the game is more important than hitting a grand slam.

"The key to getting ahead is getting started and the key to getting started is taking your overwhelming task and breaking into incrementally smaller tasks that are far less overwhelming"

@Melissa Loupeda single family with an in-law, live in the in-law. They are all over the boston area, and often in fairly nice locations too. On the MLS you will see words like "excercise room" "bonus room" "finished basement with walkout space" kinda thing. There were a few really appealing ones in Roslindale recently, for instance. It does add a wrinkle qualifying for financing.