All Forum Posts by: Ruth Garcia

@Jonathan Klemm thanks for the note back! 

I've been in sales for a long time and I know that it is always a safer route to work directly with the business than with the individual. Less risk of not getting paid, so when looking at real estate investing, I wanted to bring that same mindset and start with MTRs. I'm not opposed to working with LTRs as well, just depends on location and what option is going to make more sense. 

Hi all! 

New to the game here as a first time investor in the Greater Chicagoland area and I absolutely love the MTR strategy. Bought my first SFH 3/1 in Antioch and I am trying to do some market analysis. No Level 1 or 2 hospitals within a 30 min and there doesn't seem to be a many corporations either. I don't know much about the insurance space and hesitant to invest in design, furniture etc. Might just covert into a LTR if I can't justify the expense.

Does anyone know much about this area that they can share?

Thanks!

Hello all! 

I am new to the group as I am just starting out as a MTR investor. However, @Luke Stewart hopefully I can add some value here regarding your question about Chicago winters and getting more bang out of your rentals. 

I've been in the hotel business in downtown Chicago for over a decade and I can tell you there is A LOT of business here. Summer or winter it doesn't matter. The key is not necessarily to fill your MTR with true leisure business coming in, go after businesses that have business travelers coming in and out of these downtown offices. Since you are focusing on 30+ days walk into the lobby of an extended stay hotel (Homewood Sweets, Extended Stay America, Choice Hotels with Extended stay etc.) and look for the reader boards. These are boards in the lobby where they will put the name of companies that are having meetings in the hotel. They will generally put the name of the company on there and you can use that as a target list and start dialing for dollars. 

Another thing to consider is the compression that is coming into the area. For instance, Choose Chicago (I used to work for them) is the marketing arm for the city and they drive huge pieces of business that will drive hundreds of people into downtown selling out all the hotels and driving prices crazy high. I've seem people pay $700+ a night over Lollapalooza. This also happens in the winter as well, just depends on what is going on in the city. The sales people will layer these types of conventions so that the hotel community stays full as much as possible. There will be gaps of course, but I would suggest that you use this to your advantage to max out your rental potential in advance. 

Hope this helps!

@Jamie Banks Congratulations, great win! I'm new to this space and would love to connect with you to learn how to work with ALE. I've been trying to connect with them via LinkedIn, but if there is a better way I'd love to pick your brain

Hello! 

Although I have been following the Bigger Pockets crew and gaining much needed knowledge over the last year, I finally pulled the trigger and bought my first investment property. Super excited and a little freaked out all at the same time. I'm getting started in trying to build my network in the Chicago area and connecting with like minded investors.  

Due to housing prices being so high in Chicago, I ventured out to Antioch to buy my first property. Trying to gather some knowledge on the market as I am VERY interested in turning my property into a Mid-Term rental, however, I'm not sure that there are enough businesses looking for housing in this area and considering traditional LTR instead.

Any advice/guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Ruth