When investing in multi-family properties, how do you avoid what feels like a free-for-all scavenger hunt? The key to success is timing your purchase to the location, seasonality, and market trends. Here are the ways to navigate each. Region For the whole country, the spring and summer months are generally the most popular time [...]
Bruce Springsteen once sang a song called “From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)," which included this stanza: They bought a house on the hillside Where little feet soon would rock Well from small things Mama, big things one day come. That had nothing to do with real estate, though it could have. And indeed [...]
When R.E. Barber erected a five-story office building in downtown Joliet, Ill., late in the 19th century, his sanity appears to have come into question. One recent report quotes an old-time newspaper story (sans attribution) as saying Barber, a lawyer and businessman, had “gone mad” for constructing a building that was completed in 1887 [...]
Florida-based real estate investor named David Oberlander was surprised to learn three years ago that one of his rental properties was falling just short of a five-star rating on Airbnb. As he related on the website biggerpockets.com, one of his tenants called to tell him of the comings and goings at an adjacent property -- [...]
The CNBC headline, from July 2017, still stuns: “There Are More Renters Than Any Time Since 1965.” The piece, which cited a Pew Research Center report, goes on to note that in 2016, 36.6 percent of U.S. households were headed by renters, the most since 37 percent did so in 1965. The other bullet point [...]
As is the case across the country, the real estate market in Chicago is ablaze, for the simplest of reasons: Demand has outstripped supply. That is, of course, great news for agents and brokerages, who are moving more properties at higher prices, and doing so more quickly than is typical. There are challenges, [...]
Securing a multifamily property is a wide-ranging proposition, a matter of locks, lighting and landscaping, of entrances and elevators, of fencing and fire escapes. Things like concentric circles of protection and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) must be considered. And then a fine line must be walked, between what looks good and what is [...]
For any real estate professional, the competition represents more than a sign in somebody’s lawn, and more than a website. It represents opportunity. Opportunity to learn, to gauge, to grow -- to recalibrate one’s own approach to the profession. Competition, far from bad, makes you better. It reveals weak spots and gives you a chance [...]
The ancient axiom about real estate, accurate (it seems) since the dawn of time, continues to hold true in the booming multifamily housing market: It’s a matter of location, location, location. That said, potential residents are seeking far more in the way of amenities from such properties. And high on the list are secure common [...]
The challenge facing the owners of rental properties was underscored by a man named Jimmy McMillan, who once ran for governor of New York on the-rent-is-too-(darn)-high platform. In fact, that was what he dubbed his party: The Rent Is Too (Darn) High. (Footnote: He was later evicted from his rent-controlled apartment in New York City [...]