Straight Up Chicago Investor

You've heard their name tossed around on earlier episodes, and now we have Renovo Financial here to address some of the biggest mistakes they see when dealing with Chicagoland investors. Brandon Moulton is the Senior VP of Lending at Renovo Financial and has been featured on Crain's Chicago People on the Move. Brandon takes on Part 1 of the top ten mistakes Renovo sees in their day to day interact...

Local real estate and commercial litigator, Bibek Das, has spent the last 20+ years educating and protecting Chicagoland investors and landlords. In this episode, Bibek drops a ton of knowledge (and NUGGETS!) to ensure you are running your real estate business appropriately. This includes an overview of Chicago's Residential and Landlord Tenant Ordinance (RLTO) (and what to know if you are a house...

After a successful career in corporate finance, Eric took his skillset (which he originally honed at THE University of Illinois) and transitioned full-time into real estate. Eric is a co-founder of 33 Realty, a vertically integrated company that has the ability to takes its clients through the entire lifecycle of a real estate investment. In this episode Eric discusses the Northside neighborhoods...

John Casmon is a successful Chicago househacker turned syndicator and the founder of Casmon Capital Group. In addition, John hosts the Target Market Insights Podcast, heads up the Chicago Multifamily Club Meetup, and is the co-creator of the Midwest RE Networking Summit (coming up on 7/25-7/26). In this episode, John provides a wealth of knowledge, including his experience investing in Chicago, ta...

One doesn't accomplish $600,000,000 in real estate transactions without thoroughly understanding the ins and outs of the business and which neighborhoods are primed for sound investments. Our guest today, Brian Kochendorfer, has a ton of nuggets to drop from his experience as a broker, passive investor, and managing member of Arc Equity Group, where he is a general and limited partner of $60M in r...

There's a reason Ben Walhood has already been a featured guest on numerous high-profile podcasts, including Bigger Pockets, The Best Ever Real Estate Podcast with Joe Fairless, Target Market Insights with John Casmon, and has been interviewed by CNBC and The Chicago Tribune. Over the last decade, Ben has consistently grown his portfolio in Dupage County by expanding his network and buying the best...

With 20 years in the business, Joe Mueller got his start buying REO (bank owned) properties at auctions. From there, Joe networked extensively to develop a robust acquisitions strategy and eventually implement multiple streams of income. Most recently, Joe started a title company suited for investors who wanted to transact in off market property without a broker.    Joe shares remarkably deep insi...

Investor and property manager Jared Kott lives and breathes the Southeast neighborhoods of Chicago. After leaving corporate America in 2013, Jared enrolled in a property management class the following Monday to get his feet wet doing whatever takes. This experience was the springboard that lead to Jared owning over 100 properties, predominately in the Southeast. Jared gives detailed descriptions o...

Chicagoland is an insanely competitive market, making constant deal flow one of the toughest challenges for investors across the city. As an investor, how successful would you be if you constantly had 80-100 off-market deals calling you each month asking you to make an offer? Through years of hard work, our guest, Blake McCreight, has created that exact infrastructure. Not only has Blake developed...

Price points can be appealing in the Western Suburbs, especially compared to each areas of the city. However, it's not as simple as looking at rental rates and population statistics; our guest today is uniquely qualified to shed light on all the pros and cons that come along with investing in the numerous Western Suburbs East of 294.    John Warren is both an agent and investor and founder of the...

So many people working day jobs want to build wealth through real estate but don't know how to get started. Ibn gives great advice on how to leverage the day job as a springboard to grow your real estate business. Ibn not only oversee his own rehabs and self-manage his tenants, but goes the extra mile to understand his community and create win-wins for everyone.   And where there wasn't a meet-up...

Nothing kills a real estate investing career quicker than a horrendous rehab experience that spirals from the original budget and timeline. In this episode, Bryan Sonn gives golden advise on how to avoid this scenario and ultimately scale your construction process.  Bryan has a skill for people that has earned him a consistent network of quality workers. This network, combined with his proven appr...

Have you considered investing in Lake County? Or minimizing vacancies with a 3yr rent-to-own lease? Our guest today, Bill Powers, has successfully done both of these actions to scale his business to 250+ rent to own properties in the last ten years. Listen to Bill lay out his strategies on how to find the perfect asset, screen each tenant, and assist tenants with lending programs, thus enabling hi...

If you've gone on the Bigger Pockets forums, you've probably seen the wealth of knowledge she shares with everyone, but today Brie Schmidt of Second City Real Estate is getting down to the Chicago specific details for you. Ever wonder why north center has had such a strong population decline while prices have skyrocketed? Or how you can house hack a property yourself? Brie tells it all for you wit...

How can you use your skills from your day job to scale an investment portfolio to 450 units? Listen to our guest, Ron Plonis, explain how he used his computer science background to help him build systems and scale his own portfolio, then sold it off completely. His career has spanned nearly 15 years, and his experiences give insight into how things have changed from pre '08 to now. Things from rai...

Andrew and Angie Taggart, an electrician and a teacher by trade, walk us through how their drive for learning and growth has pivoted their careers into scaling up a real estate portfolio. They give tons of great information on networking events that have been pivotal in getting momentum, the strategy they use and unique rules relating to BRRRR investing that young investors can easily overlook. --...

Originally from Philadelphia, Dan is a great case study of how an out of state investor can crush it in this market. Today he operates in three markets: Chicago, Philadelphia and Atlanta. Starting in '06 as a wholesaler with not much guidance, Dan gives tremendous insight into his journey from those early days wholesaling to today where in 2019 he closed on 223 deals with 5MM in profit for him and...

Mark and Tom introduce the first podcast to deep dive into real estate investing in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. We are going to take a look at specific neighborhoods and specific strategies, dissect obstacles that real investors have dealt and explore the solutions used to overcome them. Listen to Mark and Tom have a candid conversation about how the current environment has impacted their...