Podcasts about second city real estate

Welcome back to the Balanced Growth Show! Today we are excited to be joined by Brie Schmidt. Brie is the managing broker of Second City Real Estate, a full-service brokerage working with investors in the Chicago market. She is also the owner of BBS Apartments and the co-founder of the MidWest Real Estate Networking Summit, a weekend education summit for real estate investors. In this episode, Brie talks us through the journey that led her to find more flexibility in her career through time and energy management. She discusses outsourcing, learning to optimize your time, setting healthy boundaries in your industry, and much more. Don't miss out on this impactful conversation packed with practical advice, as Brie empowers your to take control of your future!   Join us today as we discuss these things: 1:29 – What led Brie to real estate investing 6:46 –  Brie's struggle with balance and her decision to make changes 8:50 – How Brie learned how to outsource and optimize her time 12:58 – The importance of energy management 18:57 – The impact of the word “no” + finding your ideal client 24:37 – Brie's advice for other entrepreneurs     RESOURCES Learn more about our Brie:  http://www.secondcity-re.com/agent/brie/ Email: travis@travisparry.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC46ekvB-U-CJDdsd7aqJMuA  Get Travis' newest book!  

Want to earn more and work less? You up for the challenge? Sign up for the 20x Profit Challenge hosted by Neil Timmins at www.20xProfitChallenge.com To access a FREE collection of resources, go to www.RealGritVault.com   Are you looking for ways to scale your investment portfolio faster? We got one of the experts today, Brie Schmidt. In this episode, she'll share best practices in managing and diversifying real estate businesses, twists and turns of growing properties, and navigating various forms of investments. Keep tuning in for more!   Key Takeaways From This Episode The value of designating the right property manager or company Why having a brokerage firm is valuable in selling properties Is it a good idea to buy multiple properties at the same time? Ideal team structure for distinct types of business investments Potential benefits of joining networking events for investors What qualities investors must have to achieve personal development   References/Links Mentioned BiggerPockets MidWest Real Estate Networking Summit May 2023 https://www.midwestresummit.com/   About Brie Schmidt Brie acquired her first investment property in 2011 and left the corporate world in 2014 when she become a full-time real estate investor. Her portfolio includes 2-4 unit properties in the Chicago and Milwaukee markets, with just under 100 units. She is the Managing Broker of Second City Real Estate, a full-service brokerage working with investors in the Chicago market. Her team sold over $60 million in 2021 and is one of the largest boutique brokerage firms that specialize in investment properties.  Brie is a Co-Founder of The Midwest Real Estate Networking Summit, a weekend educational summit for real estate investors. The event provides new to experienced investors with the tools and connections necessary to build a real estate business. Her other passion is travel and in the past few years, she has been to Albania, Costa Rica, Croatia, Colombia, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Macedonia, Morocco, Portugal, Scotland, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Thailand.   Connect with Brie  Facebook: Brie Schmidt LinkedIn: Brie Schmidt Instagram: @chicagobrie BiggerPockets Profile: Brie Schmidt   Neil J. Timmins is on a mission to make a deep personal impact in the lives of his team members and business partners through his work as a real estate investor and mentor. He started as a traditional real estate agent where his team was recognized by the Wall Street Journal as a Top 100 team. Eventually, he made the transition from Realtor to full time investor.  Over the course of his career, Neil has been involved in over $300,000,000 in real estate transactions. Neil's portfolio depth includes assets ranging from houses to industrial properties. Recently, Neil and his team launched the Legacy Impact Partner Program where they partner with fix and flip investors from around the country. Neil's team brings capital to fund and fix rehabs, operational expertise, and years of experience catapulting their partner's business to new heights. Want to partner? You can learn more and book a call with Neil at www.LegacyImpactPartners.com.   Connect with Neil Website: Real Grit LinkedIn: Neil J. Timmins Facebook: Neil Timmins

Tom Shallcross is a born and raised Chicagoan specializing on the North and Northwest side of Chicago. Tom is director of Acquisitions and Operations at Drexel Properties, which owns and operates over 500 units on Chicago's Northside, a licensed realtor with Second City Real Estate, and an avid investor/flipper himself. Tom is also the co-host of the Straight Up Chicago Investor Podcast and an active father of four.    We talked to Tom about his flipping strategies, and how he uses them to grow his multifamily portfolio, the importance of relationships, and his podcast “Straight Up Chicago Investor”.   Announcement: Download Our Sample Deal and Join Our Mailing List   [00:01 – 03:33] Opening Segment  Tom talks about his background. How he got into house hacking accidentally; And how he moved forward to private lending [03:33 – 11:12] Flipping to Grow He talks about why he chose the private lending space. Some of the six-figure flipping projects they worked on. He breaks down their flipping strategy. How Tom is using flipping to grow his multifamily portfolio. Some of the unique strategies Tom uses to find leads. The importance of relationships. How he chose his partner. [11:12 – 28:13] Building Relationships and Credibility  What to look for when acquiring. The importance of having credibility. Some of the lessons learned from buying a larger property. Tom talks about the value he found in his podcast. Some of the ways that Tom helps investors. How one deal can snowball into many.  [28:13 – 33:38] Round of Insights Apparent Failure: Doing cold calls when he was in college.   Digital Resource: AppFolio   Most Recommended Book: Think and Grow Rich   Daily Habit: Getting up early.   #1 Insight for Investing You've got to understand what you are looking for.   Best Place to Grab a Bite in Chicago:  The Gale Street Inn   Contact Tom: Click here to get to check out his podcast “Straight Up Chicago Investor”.   Tweetable Quotes: “If you want to vouch for it with your mouth, you need to really be able to see it with your eyes.”   - Tom Shallcross   Thank you for joining us for another great episode! If you're enjoying the show, please LEAVE A RATING OR REVIEW,  and be sure to hit that subscribe button so you do not miss an episode.

Brie Schmidt acquired her First Investment Property in 2011 and left the Corporate World in 2014 when she became a Full Time Real Estate Investor. Brie is the Managing Broker of Second City Real Estate, a Full Service Brokerage Working with new Investors and Seasoned Investors Looking to Expand their Knowledge of the Industry and their Portfolio. In this episode we talked about: Brie's First Steps in Real Estate Switching to Real Estate on a full-time basis 2021 Portfolio Review Capital Deployment The Difference Between Chicago and Milwaukee Property The Active Investment Strategy  Property Management 1031 Exchanges Regulatory Environment from the Landlord-Tenant Prospective Mentorship, Resources and Lessons Learned Useful links: http://www.secondcity-re.com/agent/brie/ Transcriptions: Jesse (0s): Welcome to the working capital real estate podcast. My name is Jesper galley. And on this show, we discuss all things real estate with investors and experts in a variety of industries that impact real estate. Whether you're looking at your first investment or raising your first fund, join me and let's build that portfolio one square foot at a time. Hey, my name is Jesper galley and you're listening to working capital the real estate podcast. We have a special guest today that is Brie Schmidt. Brie acquired her first investment property in 2011 and left the corporate world in 2014.   When she became a full-time real estate investor is the managing broker of second city real estate, a full service brokerage working with new investors and seasoned investors, looking to expand their knowledge of the industry and their portfolio. I had the special pleasure of being on a panel with Bree in new Orleans at the bigger pockets conference. Bree, how are you doing I'm   Brie (54s): Dan. Great. Thanks. How are you?   Jesse (56s): I'm doing fantastic. Well, I appreciate you coming on the show. I thought just, you know, we were talking before the show. I think it would be really interesting to have you on because we talked a lot, but you know, across that panel and I think it would be a treat for listeners to talk not just about multiple larger units when it comes to multi residential, but to talk about the mid and lower size units or smaller size units and kind of approach it from the perspective of the kind of unique markets that you're in. So maybe to kick us off, why don't you give us a little bit of a, of a background for yourself, for listeners, how you got into real estate?   Brie (1m 35s): So I always say I used to be a normal person. I used to have like a normal job and normal, you know, grind go to the grind kind of goals in life. So I used to work in advertising sales. I used to work in business development and advertising sales never really saw myself doing anything different. You know, it was really had aspirations of being a female CEO one day. So I live in the Chicago market, which we were talking about before show is a somewhat unique market, as far as housing stock.   There's very few cities in this country that have a large portion of two to four unit multi-units. So depending on the neighborhood in Chicago, it can be between 50 and 70% of our housing stock is two to four unit properties. And they're generally about a hundred thousand dollars, less than a single family home. So at the time I was think I was just getting engaged and my fiance and I were talking about, and you're like, what are our life plans? They're like, well, we want to, we want to buy a single family house, but like, we don't need, we don't need that sort of space right now.   So that was our plan was we bought a three unit property. We did a quote-unquote house hack, you know, standard FHA loan. And our plan was, you know, at some point we would need more space. We could, you know, take out a wall, move a staircase. Now we took up two of the three floors. And then at some other point we'll need the other space. We'll just, you know, get and take out a wall and move a staircase. And we'll eventually just take this house and convert it to a single family home. So that was our hundred, like end all be all goal with real estate investing. About three months after we bought the property, my father was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer and he passed away a few months later.   And the thing is the day before he was supposed to retire is when he passed away and we already planned his retirement party and it now became his wake. And it really resonated with me as, because I would just think back of all the things my dad would say, like, when I retire, I'm going to go do this. When I retire, we're going to go to Thailand. You know, I'll retire after you get married or I'll retire when your brother had finished his PhD. And like, he always had all these dreams and goals that he never got to see because he never took action on it.   So here I am, 28 years old, you know, working 60 hours a week, traveling all over the country for somewhere else. And I'm like, this sucks. You know, like this is a terrible life. I've got, you know, 30 plus years till retirement. And I'm going to be in the same position as my dad. You know, I've always wanted to go to Italy. I've always wanted to go do these things and I've done nothing with them because I was too focused on work. So it really changed my perspective on life and decided to reorientate things.   And that's how I got into real estate investing. So you'll, you'll figure out, you know, I just go, I'm a bull in a China shop kind of person. So within the, we bought our first property in 2011, we bought another property in 2012. We did it again in 2013, that 2013 property was a renovation property. We bought like a 1960s house and completely renovated it, you know, pulled cash out. And that is when I found a website called BiggerPockets, which I'm sure you know about.   And it completely changed everything that I was doing. I had never talked with another investor. I had never read a book about investing. I was just kinda, you know, winging it. And it opened up this whole new world of possibilities. So we were sitting on a decent chunk of cash and now I had all these possibilities in front of me and opportunities to learn. So we went full forward ahead. So we looked at other markets to invest in while I love, love, love Chicago.   It's not really a cashflow based market. It's more of a balanced, you know, similar, not as expensive as California, but you know, similar sort of market, New York as well. You're just not going to be retiring off cashflow here. So I, I took some time. I looked at Milwaukee, Kansas city, Indianapolis spent some time in those markets, learning those markets and we decided to invest in Milwaukee. So for you guys that don't know it's about an hour and a half drive, so it's a, you know, easily commutable distance.   So in, let's see, 2015, we bought 10 properties and then 2016, I bought another eight. And then I had partners. I worked with that. I bought another 10 in 2016. So we went quite all in and fast growth trajectory on our acquisitions in those markets. So that's kind of my, and then I started a brokerage firm here in Chicago that was started in 2014. We are the largest boutique brokerage firm working with investors in the Chicago and market. And then I also do the Midwest real estate networking conference where the largest conference in the Midwest for real estate investors.   So everything, when I say I used to be a normal person with normal hobbies, that's what I mean. Like I used to be able to small talk and chit chat about sports or shopping. And now my whole life has become real estate, which is fantastic, but it's all I want to talk about. Cause it's all that meal. It's fun for me. So it was taken over my life in a very, very good way.   Jesse (6m 56s): Yeah. Well the, the energy didn't go out and I noticed when we were, we were at the conference and it's, that's great to hear it. When, when you made that transition, I'm always curious because it's not a dissimilar story where we have guests on that had a quote unquote, normal life or normal job, normal, whatever. And then they move into real estate investing. What, at what point in that kind of, you know, 20 11, 20 12 was the point where you said, okay, let's go in full time and, you know, get, you know, not, not continue to pursue the, the day job.   Brie (7m 26s): So it wasn't like a, it wasn't a pre-planned conscious decision. To be honest, the plan always was I was making great, you know, I had a great salary. I actually loved what I did. I had spent nine years building up my career. I did, it was not something that I wanted to walk away from. So the plan was never for me to leave my job and do real estate full time. Real estate was always going to be a hobby on the side. So it was when we were looking at doing our first set of properties in Milwaukee, that I started to realize like one day it was like, well, I always wanted to make sure that my real estate investing never got in the way of my day job.   And then one day woke up and realized that my day job was getting in the way of my real estate investing show. But I'll tell you this story. I used to travel a lot for work. And we were at the airport, it was a 6:00 AM flight to Atlanta. So it was like five 15 in the morning. I'm staying at the airport with my boss who just had a baby. She was like, I don't know, baby was like four months old. So we were flying down to Atlanta and then we had to get a car and rent a car to go to Columbus, Georgia, which was like a two hour drive for a two hour meeting.   And then drive back to Atlanta to take an airport plane ride home because she had to get home. She had a newborn and I remember sitting in the airport with her at like five 15 in the morning. It's like the butt crack of Dawn. And I get a travel alert on my phone. Like, so when it comes to travel, like Istanbul has been like my number one bucket list place. And there was a flight alert. It was like 400 bucks to go to Istanbul and I'm staring at us and I'm like, oh my God, I'm going to go to Istanbul. And she's like, what one? I'm like, I don't know, there's 400 bucks. Like I'm going to go whatever. And she started going through, like, this was April.   She starts going through my calendar while you can't go this month. Cause you've got this and then you've got this. And then like at the end, she's like by October, like, yeah, you can take a long weekend. And I was like, screw this. Like, this is not the life that I want. Like if I want to go to Istanbul, I want to go to Istanbul. So between it was around the same time that we were mid acquisition with our properties. Like I said, we were buying five properties. I remember calling my commercial lender and being like, Hey, if I quit my job, is that going to affect my ability to acquire more properties?   And as soon as you said, no, I was like, great. I'm giving my notice. And that was it. So it was like a two week, like, Hey, is this gonna, are we going to completely blow ourselves up by doing this? Or no? And the answer was no. So we just did it. I just did it.   Jesse (9m 51s): Yeah. I feel like the, there is this point where people, especially like yourself that have a job that has a good income. There's a beginning stage when you're investing where it is an asset. Obviously the W2 income, T4 in Canada, where, you know, lenders are looking at that. But you do get to a certain point where the assets are become more important than you as the individual. Did you experience?   Brie (10m 14s): Yeah, exactly. But if it wasn't, we were already past the point of doing residential loans. We were already well into like the commercial loan process and that was pretty much what we would be doing moving forward. So as if you don't know, as a us and Canada might be different, you know, those are two very different processes. So it was important for me to know that the commercial under that we were working with, I said, I've done, you know, 23 loans with him. You know, they, they were very strong as far as like backing me personally and financially, as long as he was okay with it, I was ready to go.   So I said like, this was probably mid April. I left my job at, and by the end of June, I was, I quit and done diminish doing real estate full-time ever since.   Jesse (10m 60s): Right on. So what take us up to 2021? What, what does the portfolio look like?   Brie (11m 5s): It's less so, yeah, I've actually sold, I didn't sell anything in 2020, but 20 18, 20 19. I sold some properties about half of my portfolio. So this is also a very interesting story. I was at a conference, very similar, like the bigger pockets conference we were at new Orleans. And I remember the first session, the first morning was an economist. I was actually in Philly with Dave Vanhorn's conference. So this economist is on stage. And he's saying a lot of big words. I don't know, you know, yield curves.   And I don't know, I'm writing things down. Like I should Google that later. So at the end of the conference, the, there was a charity event and the economist had had was the auction off three hours of his time. As for this charity fundraiser. I'm like, this is a perfect opportunity for me to learn, right. What he's talking about. Because while I understand like real estate economics, and while I understand the market economics that I'm in personally, I don't understand on a national or global level, right? How all these other things that are going on are going to affect my market.   That's why I wanted to learn. So I bought his time as part of the auction. And one of the things he did was he wanted to go through my entire portfolio with me five years back, right. Looking at my cashflow, my projections, something that I hadn't done. Like every year I would view my portfolio, right? Like we all do, but I never really like went back and looked at it from a high-level five-year perspective. And he put on all these different calculations and I don't even, I still don't even understand half of them that he did for me. But one of the things that we looked at is what was my three-year average cashflow and my five-year average cashflow, what would I get if I sold the property less than the fees and how does that, that profit relate to annual cashflow?   And I realized quite quickly there was some properties that like, there was just always something, right. There was always something going on with these properties. At the end of the day, if I sold the property, I will be getting like 15 years cashflow up front. I'm like, well, that makes stupid for me to keep these properties. So that has become for the last three years when I'm part of my process is every year I not only review my pre like in my, or what we did and what our numbers were this year.   I also look at my three-year, my five-year. And then since acquisition numbers and reevaluate my portfolio every year, I hire a local realtor in Milwaukee, even though I'm licensed there, I don't, I'm not super active there to do a CMA on my properties. And I rebalance things and I re reallocate things and see, Hey, is this the right? Is it keeping this property, the right thing to do? Or at what point does it make sense for me to sell? So that's, that was a learning experience I took from a med economist. Yeah.   Jesse (13m 54s): Yeah. And it's sometimes it's like, you get that second opinion or you just to get something that, not that you weren't accountable, but kind of high level taking a look at your portfolio. I found a very similar thing happened with me earlier in my career, where there was very similar to you just cap X that would happen. So, so technically your P and L looks good. It looks okay. But really at the end of the day, your cashflow statement is getting hit with these large expenses. And, you know, 1960 would have been a newer pro property. Like one of the first properties we bought was in the early 19 hundreds.   So, you know, stone foundation, knob and tube. And what I was finding was that there were particular properties that were just these cash, like just pits, because you'd just be dumping in. And, you know, even if you average out capital expenditures, if you pick properties that have, you know, a lot of maintenance, you really gotta be careful about how you're smoothing that out over the, the time that you hold. And, you know, sometimes there's an inflection point, whether that's five years in seven years in it's, like you said, it just makes so much more sense to sell it and redeploy somewhere else.   Brie (14m 56s): Absolutely. Yeah. It was a very interesting exercise for me because I always just looked at things. I said, like, I looked at things on an annual basis. I never went back and looked at things from the beginning or the last couple of years and was like, wow, you know, this property is not produce thing. Right. And since I bought it, the values have gone up, like I would make, I had one property. I was going to make like 33 years cashflow I'm like done sell it now. So it's become an interesting exercise.   Jesse (15m 27s): So I want to ask the, the question that so many investors are asking today is w we see it from sellers, but just in general, that number one, you know, where do you, if you do sell a property, where do you even deploy capital? Because the market is so competitive right now, I'm curious, was Chicago, Milwaukee, was this something where you did sell properties in Chicago and then Milwaukee kind of looked like a, a place where you deployed or were you guys doing it at the same time? How did that, how did those two locations come about?   Brie (15m 57s): Yeah. So everything in Chicago, we acquired from 2011 to 2013, and we have not sold any of those properties. Everything in Milwaukee was pretty much 2014 to 2016, and we've sold about half of those properties. And so like, our portfolio was about 31 properties before we started selling anything off. And our newest property was built in 1910. So when you talk about old, like that's just the market, you know, like these, these were older 1890s, 19 hundreds, 19 times are when the properties were generally built.   Jesse (16m 34s): So sorry, the, the property, like the, the move to actually continue investing. When you deploy that capital, wha what are their active investments that you wanted to put them in? Was it, was it the strategy to put it into the properties that you currently have? How did you deal with that once you had that windfall?   Brie (16m 51s): I'll let you know when I figure that out, it's been terrible.   Jesse (16m 56s): Well, we were just talking about this before the show. They're just talking about the inventory issue in all of north America.   Brie (17m 3s): Yeah. I think I'm like, I, this, you know, this may or may not be the right decision, but I really I've gotten this far in my investing career by trusting my gut and nothing. Nothing has been interesting to me since, you know, I've, I've looked at some like multi-family investments, but very few actually piqued my interest, mobile home as well. It's like, I'm dabbling into that stuff, but nothing that's been like, Hey, this, like the doors have opened, I see the light.   This is the path forward. So really put, put the cash in the market and let it sit until I decide what to do with it.   Jesse (17m 43s): Yeah. Fair enough. So, can we talk a little bit, like I said, at the outset, I think investors would get a lot from this, you know, two to five unit world that you live in, especially in these areas. Can you talk a little bit about why an investor would go into say a three, a triplex or a five unit as opposed to 25 30, even if they have the capital to do both   Brie (18m 4s): Same things like for us? Like, so when we, when we went into the Milwaukee market, we bought 18 properties in nine months, 67 units. It was, so we obviously had the capital to buy one big building if we wanted, but chose to do smaller buildings and said for a lot of different reasons, a, like we just talked about, you know, if some of the properties are underperforming, I could sell the ones that are underperforming and keep the ones that are performing without having to sell the entire property as a whole.   So that was part of the reason. And like I said, all of our properties are within like about a mile and a half radius. So it's not completely spread out. Like everything is within less than a 10 minute drive from each other. But one of the main reasons was the properties are like, obviously residential properties are valued differently right. Than commercial. So when I was looking at the, the cap rates and the returns that I could get, they were much higher on two to four unit properties. And they were on these multis. So again, the markets, Chicago and Milwaukee, you know, got the neighborhoods can be between 50 and 70% housing stock, at least two to four unit properties.   They're everywhere you drive down the street. Right? And like half the block is a small apartment buildings. So there's a lot of different options of different inventory. But the thing was when it comes to the small Maltese, at least in my markets, they learned pay is water. Everything else is separate to the tenants, right? So there's no common meters for anything. When you look at insurance, right? I'm getting homeowners insurance that, or my business, you're getting commercial policies. Your insurance rates are much higher than mine.   You generally pay corporate water. I pay residential water. You know, there's, there's like my taxes right. Are different than your taxes. So when I was looking at, you know, up to about, I would say about 20 units that evens out, because when you think about it, if you've got a 15 unit right next to my three unit, and at the same size, same condition, you know, two bedroom apartment, we're getting the same rent, right? Your 15 unit does not offer the amenities like the pool, the, you know, the doorman to increase runs, right? So we're getting the same sort of rent, but your expense ratios are much higher than mine.   So it came out, like I said, once you got to about 20 units, then your expenses ended up being closer to what my expenses were. And then the cap rates even doubt, but like anything on you, it's like Tanya properties. And we see this all the time in Chicago. Cause we get a lot of investors that come to us and say, Hey, you know, we want to get into like these, you know, small midsize. Multi-families like, great, I'll start running some numbers for you, but taking a consideration. I want to show you something else. And I'll show them side by side. Like here's, you know, here's 10 properties that, that are like between 10 and 30 units.   And here's, you know, 10 properties that are two to four unit properties. The cap rate is always higher. So the risk though, is that if the market, the real estate market changes, right, you're subject to comps, not at a Y in the residential world, but financing is also easier as well. We don't have, you know, you can get 30 year fixed on a two to four unit property. You're not getting a five or seven year arm.   Jesse (21m 14s): And in terms of the investors that you typically work with, or even yourself is for the most part, the strategy buy and hold with, with the size   Brie (21m 22s): Of units.   Jesse (21m 25s): And one of the things, you know, you'll hear people say, even at the 20 unit size, in terms of property management, you know, whether, you know, there, you have the economies of scale, how do you handle that?   Brie (21m 36s): It's a great question. So I think it depends on your market, right, Chicago, where at least where I work is more of an AB type market. So even, you know, even clients that I've had that live out of state, a lot of them can self-manage or we have a company here locally. I think they've expanded to, if you go to the markets now called nest egg. So it's not that I got rent, they do all the cart, property management. So like I've been using them since my maintenance, since I was pregnant with my first kid. But like, I don't use them for, I do my own run collection.   I do my own lease ups, but I have that option if I want to, but there's no monthly fee. So, you know, I just had an issue this morning, a tenant reported an issue, you know, it goes through their system, they diagnose it, they take pictures, whatever it is. And then they send me emails saying like, Hey, we think this is going to cost this amount of dollars and this many hours, who do you want to schedule the repair, the tenant, you know, then they call my tenant and they work it out. It's like, I have not been in my properties for repairs and years. And if no one makes a repair requests, I don't get charged anything.   There's no monthly fees. So that sort of product works really well in the Chicago market where, you know, it's not, it's not very high touch, right. Milwaukee on the other hand is more of a C class market is absolutely high-touch. You definitely need full-time property management services, but that's what it was. We grew so quickly said when we came to our, so by the, as after two years, we were at just under a hundred units, that's enough to be important to a property manager.   And in the beginning I had my own in-house team. I tried doing it myself. And it was terrible because you can't have one person. Right. It's what I learned. One of the learning lessons I had, you know, while the, the property manager that I chose was fantastic with my tenants. Right. He lived in the community, he actually owned some of the properties that I bought. My first properties were bought from him, you know, great relationship with the tenants, with service, with service workers, repairs, right. All that was handled, knew nothing about accounting, you know?   And like he would go to him and he'd go deposit like 10 grand in my bank account. And I'd be like, what's the spore? He's like, oh, you know, I've got the receipts in my pocket. I'm like, that's not. So I, like, I still had to do a large portion of the business. So one of the things, you know, property management is a terrible job. I would being a teacher or a property manager, like the two things I would never want to do in life.   But it takes to have a well-rounded property management team requires multiple skills, right. One person can not do it and do it well. So by outsourcing it, you're getting multiple people's positions and skillsets. So that was a life lesson that I learned. I thought I was smart by having my own in-house team. I could control things more. It was 20 times the work. It was terrible.   Jesse (24m 44s): Yeah. I find with property management, the, the companies that have been successful doing it, they, you really have to look at it as a full time full service business, and you need the personalities for that. And I think it was M zero Brian Berger, J Scott, we had on another bigger pockets contributors that I think w their, their point was 70, 75 unit pluses, where, you know, you can, you can afford to have your own super in the building. So like that, you know, even with the property management company, but also having that super in the building, you know, it is at that point where you can scale and you have a point of contact that's in addition to your property management company.   But I'm always curious, because I think, I think in the two to fives, it really is dependent on the market. Like when I got into real estate, I was in student residents. So a lot of them were like these boarding houses that had five tenants, or, you know, five students or eight students where those markets, yeah. You got some people shake the mouse a little, but you also have, what was nice is you actually have this little cottage industry of property management companies, at least back when I was in school that were local, that would manage, you know, houses.   And you had that ability to scale. And like you said, I think you've made a good point there, which I think oftentimes gets overlooked. It's that you're, you're still going to a property management company and still say, Hey, this is 80 units, or this is 40 units. It's just, they're spread out.   Brie (26m 11s): Yeah. It's one of the things I was at, like one of my biggest pieces of advice, when someone tells me, like, I want to invest in Milwaukee, Oregon, or cashflow market. Right. If your plan is to buy a small multi, and then like every year acquire another couple of units, you're going to sink, you know, it's, you're, you're not going to go well for you. So when I was buying our properties in Milwaukee, one of the things I did is after we sold the property, after we bought the property, I call the seller and ask them like, Hey, you know, deals done. Like what, any lessons you can teach me or things I can learn.   The best majority of them were like out of state investors who that was their problem. They only had one or two properties. I remember this one property we bought, we bought it December 1st. The guy told me, he's like, you know, the top unit has been vacant for like three months. We've dropped rent. Like I just can't do it anymore. I'm like, really? Because we bought it, we bought it on a Wednesday. And my property manager posted that night. We had like five showings this week on it. We got it rented out. It's like the property manager can make or break. Absolutely you return. And if you're only, if you've got like three properties or, you know, 10 units with one property manager, you aren't a priority.   The end of the day, I have a hundred units and you have ton. And we both have a vacancy. Gus, who's the priority. It's me. You know, and I don't do it very often, but whenever I have to, if I call my property manager and say, Hey, I need you to stop what you're doing right now and handle this. You better believe they're going to do it. Right. So that's where scale becomes incredibly important.   Jesse (27m 42s): Yeah. And it's nice that there are kind of companies like you mentioned, or even, even locally here where the technology is getting better, where you can actually have, you know, one off properties here and there. I know, not true for Chicago. I know Toronto, we have a huge condo market. Like it basically is our purpose built market. Rental markets are extended, but you know, it's challenging when you only have a few one-offs. Where are you? What do you, what did you think, would you say is the biggest difference between the Chicago and Milwaukee market   Brie (28m 14s): Price point? Number one, you know, Chicago is much more expensive, but again, like each market, whether it be Chicago, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Kansas city, they all have different, you know, ABC markets. So it just so happens that I got my start in investing in Chicago, which was more of a lead type market. I, my cashflow play is Milwaukee, which is the, I invest in a C class area. You know, I've looked at investing in a, Milwaukee's a B class areas.   And they're very similar returns where I get in Chicago for my air AB class areas here. So it just depends on what your strategy is, you know, at the end of the day. So part of that economist evaluation was also taking into effect or taking into account what my property values were. Right. And what if I were to sell everything, what I would would be at again, like my, my cashflow in Milwaukee per dollar spent is like almost triple what it is in Chicago.   So the end of the day, like, I always assumed like my, my money came from Milwaukee, right? Like it pays my bills at the end of the day. It did it. When you, when you throw in the appreciation I got from Chicago, like that's where I made my money. So I was looking at it again. There's two different strategies. At least I have two different strategies. Chicago is my wealth building. Right. My, my tenants call me once a year. You know, like they're generally very easy. They stay for a few years. It's not a high touch market.   You know, my property is just, I sit and maintain. Right. And then I'll get my money when I sell Milwaukee. On the other hand is the cashflow based market. That's where I bring in my, my monthly paycheck. We'll call it, you know, two totally different strategies. I like having the balance personally, but there's no right or wrong answer. There's no, you know, this is the best option I like having both.   Jesse (30m 12s): Yeah. Yeah. It makes sense. I'm curious. The something that is unavailable to us connects is the 10 31 exchange in the states, the differing of taxes into a likened kind asset for, for any of the listeners that haven't heard us banter about it before, is it, is it applicable to investment properties that are purely residential? Can you use it for you can use it for both. Okay.   Brie (30m 37s): We do again, we do, we do a few times a year, 10 31 exchanges within our brokerage side of the business, but it sucks. I just had one, the, oh, this is terrible situation, terrible. Like, whoa. It was me. The guy sold the million dollar properties, but he was selling, he was selling a property in California, wanted to parlay that funds into Chicago. This was just in like October where our market started to get really slow. Inventory was terrible. He was from the time he was selling, he was then, you know, you've got 45 days and two weeks he was leaving for Germany for a month.   So he's like, listen, you know, we gotta find this property in two weeks. And then we're in Germany. You know, we've got things to do. And it just so happened. Like the day after closing, he called me, like, we actually need to leave for Germany tomorrow. So they were in Germany the whole time. And I was trying to find them a property. But like when we were looking, you know, between like one and 1.5 million, which for a two to four unit property is completely adequate budget for Chicago. We couldn't find anything for him. And he ended up taking the cap, gain tech, but at the end of the day, that's better than buying a bad investment.   Right. So, but it was a, it was a very stressful experience because I'd never met him in person. He was never going to be able to fly to Chicago and see the property. And I had 45 days to put something on a contract for him and try to guess what he wanted and what he would like, you know, like, so it was all like videos and it was just, it's just, it is what it is, but   Jesse (32m 10s): You know, it's our world,   Brie (32m 12s): But is her world   Jesse (32m 14s): Sabrina. I want to talk, but just one more thing before we get to some of the questions we ask every guest, I am just mindful of the time here. We could probably do a, another 45 minutes on just the second half of this story. But before we get there, I'm curious to know the regulatory environment from the landlord tenant board perspective. I have a, you know, we talked a little bit about this before. I have a suspicion that it's very similar to our market, very tenant friendly. How does that compare to Milwaukee?   You know, what's your experience been?   Brie (32m 48s): You could, I don't think you can find two different while California. You can't really find two different markets. And again, they're only an hour and a half drive from each other. So both offers similar returns. I would say, as far as the investment market, but yeah, Chicago has one of the strictest landlord-tenant ordinances in the country. I still invest here. You know, we've got plenty of clients that still invest here. It's really, to me, the landlord tenant ordinance is not, it's not super strict, but you have to know the rules, right. And that's where people get in trouble.   If they don't know the rules, everything is quite reasonable. Right. If you, you know, a general repair, you have 14 days to correct it. That's not an unreasonable request when it comes to like heat, hot water, electricity, like, you know, those sorts of things, you have 48 hours to correct. You know, got not in a reasonable request. It, but our eviction process is beyond terrible. I just had to summer my first eviction ever in Chicago, where, you know, I gave a ton of in 50 days and always I was not renewing his lease.   He started, he understood it. I rented out his unit. Like he let me do showings. And then like the week before it was like, I've got nowhere to go. I'm not leaving. Like, well, that's not really an option. Like I have someone moving in in like five days. So it was what we would consider a hold over tonight, which is still allowed to evict, even though we had the memorandum here, but it took, you know, two months before we even got him served through our court process. Milwaukee on the other hand is very landlord friendly.   I can get, let's see, when I give someone a five day notice the next day I can go and file in court. Typically I get a court date within seven to 10 days. And you go, when you show up to court, they pretty much ask you one question, which is, can you prove the rent you owe to this landlord is not what they say. And they'll start, you know, well, they were a shit landlord and all that. I don't care. She says, you owe this, do you have proof otherwise? And they're like, no, and they'll start ranting. And they're like, okay.   So what do you want to do? They'll go to me like that is, that is the only piece of information that they want to know. Right? They don't, they don't care about the other things. One of the other great things about Milwaukee's market as far as evictions is which we use. It's a tool we use quite often is they have a payment plan process within the court system. So again, a lot of times, you know, they fall behind, right? And they're, they're communicating. It's not like we want to evict them so we can work out a payment plan.   It's a court ordered payment plan. And as soon as they miss one payment, I just go straight to the court, show them document, signed an affidavit, boom. Sheriff comes. So it just there's no, I don't have to go back to court and we don't have to go back to, you know, like starting all of the process over again. It just picks up where we left off. If I were to do a normal eviction. So also a really win-win situation. Right? If they say that they can make these payments and they can get caught up, right. And they do that, then they don't get evicted. But if they fall behind, we have the option of just picking things up and not starting over again.   Milwaukee also has some really great rental assistance programs for tenants that do fall behind as well versus like Chicago. We, you know, we had a ton of apply for rental assistance back in June. I just got it now in December, you know? And luckily if I wasn't so accommodating, right. You know, it was five months of background. Like that's a lot of rent to, to go back, but Milwaukee just moves faster and they are a lot more, there's a lot more options within that market.   Port options or rental assistance options.   Jesse (36m 36s): Does Chicago have rent control?   Brie (36m 38s): No. Okay. Hey.   Jesse (36m 41s): Yeah. The gas. Yeah. W I would have been 50 50 on that. I know it's tenant friendly, but I don't, I didn't know if they went that far.   Brie (36m 52s): So luckily for us, it is part of our state constitution. And once you get out of the state or city of Chicago, it is a very, very red state. So to, to have rent control in Chicago, you have to have this state constitution amended and there's way too many conservatives to allow that to happen. So every year it happened, like every year someone brings it up, right. And every year it goes to the process and every year everyone freaks out about it. And every year it gets stopped quite quickly.   But if it wasn't, if it was up to the actual like cities or counties, we would absolutely have rent control here. But luckily it's on a state level.   Jesse (37m 35s): Yeah. I think if I think Jersey, what is a Jersey, California, New York Mahershala, Washington. I think, I think we're the opposite. If you can find a, like a pretty sure across country, we have some form of rent stabilization. But the big thing for us is that is when we have new tenants, we mark the mark to market the rents. So you kind of reset at market levels, but it's a bit of a different animal. That's great. I, I want to talk or let listeners know where they can go and kind of reach out to you. But before we get there, we've got four questions.   We ask every guest. So if you're ready, I'll, I'll send them over to ya. I agree with something, at least one thing that you know, now in your career, you wish you knew when you first started out,   Brie (38m 17s): Oh gosh, just one thing I can do a whole podcast and all the things, You know, again, I, I'm a big believer in trusting your intuition, right. And figuring out what works for you, what works for me doesn't necessarily work for you. So that takes time. That takes your own learning lessons. But as long as, like you said, I've made obvious mistakes. As long as I was confident in my decision, right. I have no one to blame, but myself and that makes me sleep at night, knowing that like, Hey, this is, this is just a bump in the path and it's going to be a learning lesson down the road.   So my advice would be, you know, really focusing on what you're doing, what your goals are, what your needs are, right. Where, where you can grow personally and then create your own path.   Jesse (39m 10s): Gotcha. Okay. In terms of, if one thing or a few things you could say to new investors, people getting into our industry regarding mentorship, what would that be?   Brie (39m 24s): I'm not a fan of a mentorship thing. You know, I don't think it's a gun. Your mentorship to me is you're, you're learning from someone, but you're trying to replicate what they're doing. Right. And that's not always, right. So I'd like, I get all the time, like, Hey, what, what neighborhoods do you buy in? Cause I want to buy there. I'm like, well, I have haven't I have a Nissan Pathfinder. Do you want to buy my car? Because I have that car. Like, you know, that doesn't mean like what I have my needs and goals are. So it was back to the first thing of, you know, mentorship, you know, isn't, shouldn't be a immediate goal for someone, I think, you know, utilizing sites like bigger pockets, bigger pockets, right?   Learning about your market, listening to podcasts, right? Take a little bit of information from everything that you're hearing and learning and figuring out what works best for you. That's what you need. And then once you're ready, right. Finding a good team, a good agent, right. A good brokerage, good, you know, lenders, lawyers, whatever that will help support you and what your goals are. But you should be the one dictating what your path is. Not someone else telling you what to do.   Jesse (40m 32s): Fair enough. What's a resource or book that you find yourself constantly recommending.   Brie (40m 37s): Oh, getting things done. I love that book. It has completely changed. Like you guys, like not only do I not want a landlord, but I own a brokerage firm. I also plan an event for real estate investors. I'm nine months pregnant and I've got a two year old right there. You know, there's, there's a lot of different things that come at me at different times through the day with so many different moving parts. Right. So having like an organizational prioritizing to do list right.   To, to be effective has really important. So I read the book, maybe I was actually too busy to read the book. So I bought the cliff notes to be perfectly honest, about five years ago. And I went from working, you know, 60 hours a week in my business to probably working 30. I, you know, cut out all the nonsense and really transformed my work-life balance because of that book. Yeah.   Jesse (41m 36s): And I think they've updated. We've had a guest before recommend this and I think they've updated some of the, the concepts. Cause I, I it's, it's like the book for, for like task management and organization. So I think it w I can't remember what the release date, but a lot has changed technologically, but I still love the, how they systematize everything in that book.   Brie (41m 57s): I am so full though. I have to write everything down. Like   Jesse (42m 1s): I remember like the bin you'd have to move things from the bin. Yeah.   Brie (42m 5s): I have to like physically write things down and like physically cross things off of my paper. I can't do like a word, you know, or technology just doesn't work for me. I'm too old.   Jesse (42m 14s): So speaking of Pathfinders, our last question, first car making.   Brie (42m 19s): Oh, Ford Thunderbird. Terrible bomb. Yeah. I was at, it was my dad's car that I bought off him. Right. I'm a terrible driver. Do you understand this? No, I think it was a V6 or a V8, whatever. I crashed it so many times. I'm just a terrible driver. I still am a terrible driver. My husband drives pretty much. He will not, my husband will not let me drive a car if he's in it.   Jesse (42m 48s): I will say this though. It is, it was an upgrade back then from the four tourists, which, which I spent my childhood,   Brie (42m 55s): It was a beast of a car though. You know, I said, I ran over curbs and ran into walls with that card and like never scrape on me, you know, but yeah. Thank you so much for having me on the show.   Jesse (43m 9s): I really appreciate it. If anybody's, you know, in your local area or would like to just reach out to you where, where would be the best place to, to go   Brie (43m 17s): I'm on BiggerPockets almost every single day. Some messaging me on bigger pockets, Brie Schmidt, or you can check out my website. It's a second city spelled out dash R e.com.   Jesse (43m 30s): Okay. We'll send them there. My guest today has been breached brief. Thank you for being part of working   Brie (43m 36s): Capital. Thank you so much.   Jesse (43m 45s): Thank you so much for listening to working capital the real estate podcast. I'm your host, Jesse, for galley. If you liked the episode, head on to iTunes and leave us a five-star review and share on social media, it really helps us out. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on Instagram, Jesse for galley, F R a G a L E, have a good one. Take care.

Brie acquired her first investment property in 2011 and left the corporate world in 2014 when she become a full time real estate investor. Brie is the Managing Broker of Second City Real Estate, a full service brokerage working with new investors and seasoned investors looking to expand their knowledge of the industry and their portfolio. Brie utilizes her extensive knowledge of building and managing a portfolio to teach clients about all aspects of buy and hold investing. Brie teaches you how to analyze potential properties, how to calculate your ROI, best practices when marketing and leasing your rental property and how to be a landlord and build a portfolio. Brie's job does not end when you close on a property; she is always available to help you throughout the process and scale your business. Brie is a Co-Founder at The Midwest Real Estate Networking Summit, an educational summit for real estate investors. This three day annual event provides new to experienced investors with the tools and connections necessary to build a real estate business. Brie's other passion is travel and in the past few years she has been to Albania, Costa Rica, Croatia, Colombia, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Macedonia, Morocco, Portugal, Scotland, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Thailand. Brie has been featured various podcasts about real estate investing: http://www.secondcity-re.com/podcasts/

We have an amazing guest in the house today, Brianna Schmidt, the Managing Broker of Second City Real Estate. She discusses the benefits of outsourcing tasks, leveraging your skills, and implementing them to scale your asset.WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:The power of outsourcingUnderstanding where your cash is best to usePros and cons of residential and commercial propertiesDisadvantages of the 1% ruleFactors to consider when investing in asset classesImportance of scalability and nurturing property management relationshipsABOUT BRIANNA SCHMIDTBrianna Schmidt is the Managing Broker of Second City Real Estate and is a Co-Founder at The Midwest Real Estate Networking Summit a weekend educational summit for real estate investors. She  utilizes her extensive knowledge of building and managing a portfolio to teach clients about all aspects of buy and hold investing, how to analyze potential properties, how to calculate your ROI, best practices when marketing and leasing your rental property, and how to be a landlord and build a portfolio. Her job does not end when you close on a property; she is always available to help you throughout the process and scale your business.CONNECT WITH BRIANNAWebsite: Secondcity-reBiggerPockets - Brie SchmidtCONNECT WITH USGreen Light Equity Group

It’s March and taxes are top of mind! However, by only reactively focusing on taxes during this one part of the year, you are potentially leaving money on the table. Aaron Zimmerman, a Chicago investor and CPA, provides great insights into how to best work with a CPA, the importance of maintaining good records, overlooked deductions, and proactive measures to maximize your net worth.   Aaron also explains why it’s important to understand the difference between capex and general maintenance come tax time. And why your accountant should break out their bill for you at the end of it, because yes, even that makes an impact. Lastly, he also covers the nuances of maximizing your return as a househacker. Listen in and let us know what you think! Connect with Mark and Tom: StraightUpChicagoInvestor.com Email the Show: StraightUpChicagoInvestor@gmail.com Guest: Aaron Zimmerman of Lipschultz, Levin & Gray  Sponsor: John Warren of Second City Real Estate   Sponsor: Appeal.tax   Link: MileIQ - Automatic Mileage Tracker - Deductions & Reimbursements   Link: QuickBooks®: Official Site | Smart Tools. Better Business.   Link: Stessa: Smart Accounting Software for Rental Property Landlords   Link: Joe Fairless's Podcast | The Best Ever Real Estate Show ----------------- Guest Questions Landlord tip of the week 3:10 What is the difference between an accountant and a CPA? 6:00 What are some things you talk about when you talk to a new client? 6:45 What are some things an investor might do differently when trying to be tax smart? 8:00 What is depreciation in terms of real estate? 8:30 What tax laws came out in 2017 that allow for bonus depreciation? 9:50 What are the categories of expenses I should have categorized for a CPA? 11:00 What is a schedule E and where is it located? 12:35 How should an investor keep track of expenses for taxes? 14:00 What are some good softwares to help with bookkeeping? 16:15 What are some of the biggest things investors miss when they do taxes? 18:20 How is lost rent accounted for? 23:00 What are some nuances with house hacking compared to a traditional investment? 25:45 What are some write offs new real estate professionals can take? 27:15 What are some good things I should ask when interviewing accountants? 32:10 What are some red flags that get the attention of the IRS? 34:10 Wrap Up Questions What is your competitive advantage? 37:45 What is one piece of advice you’d give a new investor? 38:40 What do you do for fun? 38:50 What is a good self development activity you’d recommend? 39:10 Network recommendation? 39:30 How can we learn more about you? 40:00 That’s our show! Thanks so much for listening! If you want to make the most of your investment, connect with us at https://www.gcrealtyinc.com/. ----------------- Production House: Flint Stone Media Copyright of Straight Up Chicago Investor 2021.

For our 50th episode we thought we’d give everyone a special treat... Andrew Holmes is one of the most well-known names in Chicago Real Estate Investing. Andrew explains his incredible journey, from his early days as a hustling agent, to how he structured his first few investment deals. Andrew dives into specifics on how he finds deals, what attributes he looks for in an investment property, how he underwrites properties, and how he teaches others to scale. There is so much to break down here it’s an episode you’ll need to listen twice! Connect with Mark and Tom: StraightUpChicagoInvestor.com Email the Show: StraightUpChicagoInvestor@gmail.com Guest: Andrew Holmes of Andrew Holmes Real Estate  Sponsor: John Warren of Second City Real Estate   Sponsor: Appeal.tax   Link: The Intelligent Investor   Link: National RE Invest   ----------------- Guest Questions Guest Introduction 7:20 When you were a young agent, what separated you from the crowd? 8:40 How did you pivot from real estate agent to real estate investing? 13:10 How did you scale during 2008? 15:30 How are you doing this today with your students? 22:50 What are some strategies you teach students? 27:30 How are you suggesting students to underwrite for the soft costs? 31:50 How are you teaching students to buy properties in this competitive environment? 40:00 Why do you prefer single family over multifamily? 42:45 How are you accounting for some of the issues around the Chicagoland area? 45:20 How did you start and grow Chicago REIA? 47:20 Wrap Up Questions What is your competitive advantage? 50:00 What is one piece of advice you’d give to a new investor? 50:40 What do you do for fun? 51:35 What is a good self development activity you’d recommend? 52:20 Who is one person you’d recommend from your local network? 54:40 How can we learn more about you? 55:50 That’s our show. Thanks for listening to another great episode! If you want to make the most of your investment, connect with us at https://www.gcrealtyinc.com/. ----------------- Production House: Flint Stone Media Copyright of Straight Up Chicago Investor 2021.

For everyone working a W2 job, our guest today, David Shifrin, is a great example of how to incorporate real estate into your long-term plan without having to give up your current career.  David Shifrin wanted a way to marry his professional career as a plastic surgeon to his interests in becoming a real estate investor. This path led him to Motor Row and an acquisition of a historic Chicago building. Listen as he describes why he is bullish Motor Row and the lessons he learned as he simultaneously built two businesses from the ground up right on Motor Row. If you like what you hear today, share us on Facebook and tag us with what you found most interesting. If you want to see how we can improve your properties performance, reach out to us at GCRealtyInc.com. Connect with Mark and Tom: StraightUpChicagoInvestor.com Email the Show: StraightUpChicagoInvestor@gmail.com Guest: David Shifrin of David Shifrin MD  Sponsor: John Warren of Second City Real Estate   Sponsor: Appeal.tax   Link: Am I Being Too Subtle?: Straight Talk From a Business Rebel   Link: Evergreen Bank Group | Oak Brook, Evergreen Park, Hinsdale, IL   Link: Mike Chock on LinkedIn   Link: Robert Sikkel | Goose Island Real Estate Broker | @properties   Link: David Shifrin MD | Chicago Plastic Surgeon ----------------- Guest Questions Landlord tip of the week 4:20 Guest Intro 7:15 What excited you about investing in real estate? 8:00 Why did you decide to go down the hands on approach rather than a syndication? 9:00 Description of motor row? 10:30 Was the building vacant when you bought it? 13:00 What types of challenges did you have when you took on this project? 14:00 Can you explain TIF funding? 16:40 Did you know you were investing in a historical district and the challenges that presents? 20:00 Can you explain cost segregation? 21:30 While you were doing the work on your building, are you continuing to look at other deals? 25:50 What’s your primary strategy for searching for buildings? 27:30 Wrap Up Questions What is your competitive advantage? 32:30 What is one piece of advice you’d give to a new investor? 33:30 What do you do for fun? 34:09 What is a good self development tool you’d recommend? 34:40 Name one person you’d recommend as a good local resource? 36:37 How can we learn more about you? 37:25 Chicago Fact 38:05 Thanks for listening! Give us your feedback, give us your ideas for what should be on the show; we love hearing what you want and we are listening. If you want to make the most of your investment, connect with us at https://www.gcrealtyinc.com/. ----------------- Production House: Flint Stone Media Copyright of Straight Up Chicago Investor 2021.

The term “1031 Exchange” is ubiquitous, but do you really know what it is or how to even engage in one? Lauren Speidel of Exeter1031 is a subject matter expert and breaks it down for you today. She’ll explain the different parties involved, what the criteria are and what you need to know before having the necessary conversations. Our hosts, Tom and Mark, have great FAQs for Lauren and she delves into a lot of content on one of our most informative episodes yet. If you like what you hear today, share us on Facebook and tag us with what you found most interesting. If you want to see how we can improve your properties performance, reach out to us at GCRealtyInc.com. Connect with Mark and Tom: StraightUpChicagoInvestor.com Email the Show: StraightUpChicagoInvestor@gmail.com Guest: Lauren Speidel of Exeter 1031 | Connect with Lauren on LinkedIn Sponsor: John Warren of Second City Real Estate   Sponsor: Appeal.tax   Link: The Exeter Group Launches Go Ahead, ASK! Podcast   Link: Mandy McAllister   Link: Exeter 1031 on Facebook ----------------- Guest Questions Guest Intro 6:20 What is a 1031 exchange? 7:15 What is a “like property” and how do you define it? 9:25 What is an intermediary and what happens before and after a closing? 13:15 What are some questions you should ask an intermediary? 14:55 How does the purchase of a new property differ from a regular closing when in a 1031 exchange? 21:32 Can I wrap a whole portfolio into a single 1031? 22:45 How does househacking fit into a 1031 exchange? 24:20 What can you do with a vacation rental or second home when it comes to a 1031? 28:50 Do you have conversations with clients’ CPAs? 30:20 Is there a minimum dollar threshold you recommend clients have before it makes sense? 33:15 Can 1031 Exchanges work when an entity wants to split after a closing and put the proceeds in a new entity? 34:00 What are the time limits on seasoning and intent to hold? 37:00 What are the estate planning benefits to 1031 exchanges? 38:00 What is a reverse 1031 exchange? 40:45 Wrap Up Questions What is your competitive advantage? 43:00 What advice would you give someone who is about to sell in Chicago? 44:00 What do you do for fun? 44:35 What is a good self development activity you’d recommend? 45:20 Is there any way we can provide value to you or learn more about you? 46:50 Thanks so much for listening. Please share this with a friend and leave us a 5 star review. Thank you so much for listening. As always, we’re here to  help YOU. If you want to make the most of your investment, connect with us at https://www.gcrealtyinc.com/. ----------------- Production House: Flint Stone Media Copyright of Straight Up Chicago Investor 2021.

This episode is packed with valuable pieces of information. We talk about how Multi-Family House Hack up to 100+ Units with Brie Schmidt. Make sure to watch this the full episode and find surprising answers to HOT SEAT QUESTIONS and you'll learn some strategies that they only REVEAL here! Brie acquired her first investment property in 2011 and left the corporate world in 2014 when she became a full-time real estate investor. Brie is the Managing Broker of Second City Real Estate, a full-service brokerage working with new investors and seasoned investors looking to expand their knowledge of the industry and their portfolio. Brie utilizes her extensive knowledge of building and managing a portfolio to teach clients about all aspects of buy and hold investing. Brie teaches you how to analyze potential properties, how to calculate your ROI, best practices when marketing and leasing your rental property, and how to be a landlord and build a portfolio. Brie’s job does not end when you close on a property; she is always available to help you throughout the process and scale your business. Brie is a Co-Founder at The Midwest Real Estate Networking Summit, a non-profit educational summit for real estate investors. This three-day annual event provides new to experienced investors with the tools and connections necessary to build a real estate business. Show Notes: • 4:33 Smart Decision & Best Buy • 6:00 When the phrase “When I Retire” changed my life • 11:52 Found 1st tenant through Craigslist • 13:00 Google contracts and leasing docs • 14:23 Self Management disaster • 16:15 Learning land-lording the hard way • 17:35 Multi-State Investing • 18:00 Did she say arson to her property while in Europe • 19:10 Monitoring property insurance coverage • 20:35 3 Day trip across the Midwest with 500k to burn • 22:20 Commercial lending struggles • 23:25 Aggressive growth plan 18 units in 19 months • 24:43 How Brie found financing through LinkedIn • 26:26 Know how your lender underwrites • 29:00 Knowing your real estate math • 30:35 This one question added 18 units to her portfolio • 37:00 Communicate with transparency • 38:30 Learn to give up control • 41:50 The start of Second City Real Estate begins with education • 47:00 What to look for as an investor agent • 48:30 How to vet an investor agent before hiring them • 54:25 Midwest Real Estate Investor Summit Connect with Brie Schmidt: https://www.facebook.com/chicagobrie https://www.facebook.com/MidWestRESummit +++++ Thanks for Listening! We would really love to hear from you. Please leave a note in the comments section below. And, if you enjoyed this episode, please share it on social media using the social share buttons below. We also have a strategy session that will award you the opportunity to take the guesswork out of real estate wholesaling and investing at "We Love Equity Real Estate Show" JOIN US - http://weloveequityrealestateshow.libsyn.com Grab my FREEBIES Resources here: GET YOUR 15 Minutes Free Consultation: https://www.marcusemaloney.com/free-consultation Purchase Contract: https://www.marcusemaloney.com/wholesale-purchase-contract Assignment Agreement Link: https://www.marcusemaloney.com/assignment-agreement 15 Questions to validate your seller: https://www.marcusemaloney.com/15-questions-to-validate-your-seller JOIN OUR CONVERSATIONS: Facebook: https://bit.ly/33QPmkQ Facebook group: https://bit.ly/32Y5C2s Twitter: https://bit.ly/2qXaRlD Instagram: https://bit.ly/2pmwdZ2 Linkedin: https://bit.ly/2rKRJre Website: https://marcusemaloney.com Also, find the show on Feedspot Enjoy the Real Estate Journey!

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 without selling sunshine and rainbows, but her expertise keeps her clients coming back year after year. Not only that, Brie gives some insight into how she optimized her schedule from working 60+ hours a week to 20-30 max giving her more time to focus on her own life. You're not going to want to miss this. ----------------- Connect with Mark and Tom: StraightUpChicagoInvestor.com Email the Show: StraightUpChicagoInvestor@gmail.com Guest: Brie Schmidt of Second City Real Estate Bigger Pockets: https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/chicagobrie Book rec: https://www.amazon.com/Super-Human-Bulletproof-Backward-Forever/dp/0062882821 Midwest Real Estate Summit: http://www.midwestresummit.com Book rec: https://whttps://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0142000280ww.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144316 GC Realty Section 8 Blog: https://www.gcrealtyinc.com/blog/what-will-section-8-pay-for-rent-in-cook-county 2018 Payment Standards: https://thehacc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018-Payment-Standard-7-01-2018-approved.pdf ----------------- Mark's tip on section 8 housing 1:27   Guest Bio 3:04   Guest Questions What are some assumptions, either correct or incorrect, about the Chicago Market? 3:39 What neighborhoods are you in and how have they changed over time? 8:30 Is there anything happening in Irving Park and Avondale? 10:17 What are some of the expectations you set with clients looking to househack? 13:45 When does a househack not make sense for a client? 19:50 How do you show properties with illegal garden units? 23:50 What should clients expect when working with you? 28:52 What caused you to start investing in Milwaukee? 33:55   Wrap up questions What is your personal advantage? 44:50 What is one piece of advice you'd give a novice? 45:40 What do you do for fun? 46:00 What is a good self development product you've used recently? 46:30 Local network recommendation? 47:40 Thanks for listening! If you found this episode useful, leave us a comment and hit that like button, it helps us out tremendously! ----------------- Production House: Flint Stone Media Copyright of Straight Up Chicago Investor 2020.

This week’s guest is one of Chicago’s up and coming top realtors, John Warren! He went from less than 2M to 9.7M in two years time. In this episode we're covering: What the day in the life of a realtor looks like How to differentiate yourself as a realtor Key people you should have on your team to become one of the best realtors And so much more!! John is a licensed real estate broker with Second City Real Estate. John's expertise is in selling residential real estate in the near west and southwest suburbs of Chicago. Due to his experience as an investor, John is able to bring a special level of expertise in the 1-4 unit residential space, and in 2019 John was able to become the top producer in the 2-4 unit space in Forest Park. John has worked hard to grow his business these past five years, and has seen his production volume grow from less than 2 million in 2017 up to 9.7 million in 2019. Reach out to John via call or text at: 847-894-2433 Let us know how you like it. Rate us. Leave a comment. Email us at info@abundantculture.co. Do something! Connect with us at: IG: @abundant.culture FB: @abundantculture Rate us on your favorite podcast platform! Join our newsletter: https://www.abundantculture.co/newsletter You can find our podcast available at: https://www.abundantculture.co/podcast

Today we cover how to be an adaptable investor, implementing processes, persistence and the power of focus. Brie Schmidt also discusses quitting her job and living a lifestyle that has allowed her to travel and enjoy life. Brie acquired her first investment property in 2011 and left the corporate world in 2014 when she become a full time real estate investor. Brie is the Managing Broker of Second City Real Estate. Brie utilizes her extensive knowledge of building and managing a portfolio to teach clients about all aspects of buy and hold investing. Brie teaches you how to analyze potential properties, how to calculate your ROI, best practices when marketing and leasing your rental property and how to be a landlord and build a portfolio. Brie’s job does not end when you close on a property; she is always available to help you throughout the process and scale your business. Brie is a Co-Founder at The Midwest Real Estate Networking Summit, a non-profit educational summit for real estate investors. This three day annual event provides new to experienced investors with the tools and connections necessary to build a real estate business. 3 Pillars 1. Focus 2. Adaptability 3. Persistance Book recommendation: Getting Things Done by David Allen Connect with Brie at: Linkedin.com and biggerpockets.com also check out www.midwestresummit.com Mark your calendar for the Northstar Real Estate Conference, September 20-21, 2019. Enter discount code "EARLYBIRD" to get $100 off your ticket: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/northstar-real-estate- conference-tickets-60289848560?aff=Todd1 Connect with Pillars Of Wealth Creation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PillarsofWealthCreation/ Subscribe to our email list at www.pillarsofwealthcreation.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkg8HggkdPAuBaAQySJSEQQ/featured

This week's guest is Brie Schmidt, who is a real estate investing QUEEN! Brie acquired her first investment property in 2011 and left the corporate world in 2014 when she become a full time real estate investor. She is the Managing Broker of Second City Real Estate, a full service brokerage working with new investors and seasoned investors looking to expand their knowledge of the industry and their portfolio. Brie utilizes her extensive knowledge of building and managing a portfolio to teach clients about all aspects of buy and hold investing. Brie teaches you how to analyze potential properties, how to calculate your ROI, best practices when marketing and leasing your rental property and how to be a landlord and build a portfolio. Brie’s job does not end when you close on a property; she is always available to help you throughout the process and scale your business. Brie is a Co-Founder at The Midwest Real Estate Networking Summit, a non-profit educational summit for real estate investors. This three day annual event provides new to experienced investors with the tools and connections necessary to build a real estate business. Which is coming up this June 2-3, 2019! Brie’s other passion is travel and in the past few years she has been to Albania, Costa Rica, Croatia, Colombia, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Macedonia, Morocco, Portugal, Scotland, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Thailand. Brie has been featured various podcasts about real estate investing: http://www.secondcity-re.com/podcasts/ And she can be reached at: http://www.secondcity-re.com/contact-us/ Let us know how you like it. Rate us. Leave a comment. Email us at info@abundantculture.co. Do something!

Brie acquired her first investment property in 2011 and left the corporate world in 2014 when she became a full time real estate investor. Brie is the Managing Broker of Second City Real Estate, a full service brokerage working with new investors and seasoned investors looking to expand their knowledge of the industry and their portfolio. Brie utilizes her extensive knowledge of building and managing a portfolio to teach clients about all aspects of buy and hold investing. Brie is a Co-Founder at The Midwest Real Estate Networking Summit, a non-profit educational summit for real estate investors. This three day annual event provides new to experienced investors with the tools and connections necessary to build a real estate business. Brie is also the President of TurnKey-Reviews.com; the one-stop shop for passive investing in real estate across the United States. With over 100 providers in 25 cash flowing markets it is the most comprehensive site on buying turnkey properties. Brie's other passion is travel and in the past few years she has been to Albania, Costa Rica, Croatia, Colombia, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Macedonia, Morocco, Portugal, Scotland, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Thailand. On today's episode, we discuss a ton with Brie, including: The importance of becoming bankable How to understand the finance side of this business The #1 tip to get financing in place How boundaries allow you to get more done How saying “no” allows more peace in your life Reach out to Brie: https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/chicagobrie Books/Resources: Getting Things Done by David Allen   com – Online app to manage your finances   Midwest Real Estate Investing Summit – June 1st and June 2nd!   The Midwest Real Estate Networking Summit delivers unique content and actionable steps for attendees to prosper through their real estate investments. Whether an attendee is a complete newbie or an experienced syndicator, they want to provide the tips, strategies and networking opportunities to help attendees grow their portfolio. Speakers will be sharing knowledge on finding deals, creative financing, raising capital, flipping homes, property management, syndication and much more. Early bird tickets are available now for the Midwest Real Estate Networking Summit! We encourage you to get your tickets today, before prices jump. You can Use Promo Code: MATT and receive 10% off your ticket! REGISTER HERE: http://www.midwestresummit.com/tickets/ InvestHER Community Join us on our mission to support and empower as many women as we can to live a financially free and balanced life. We invite you to join the InvestHER Community Facebook group along with other new and experienced women real estate investors! https://www.facebook.com/groups/Investhercommunity And learn about all the InvestHER Meetups across the country: https://www.meetup.com/pro/the-real-estate-investher Follow us on: Facebook: @therealestateinvesther Instagram: @therealestateinvesther Please leave a comment below! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brie acquired her first investment property in 2011 and left the corporate world in 2014 when she became a full time real estate investor. Brie is the Managing Broker of Second City Real Estate, a full service brokerage working with new investors and seasoned investors looking to expand their knowledge of the industry and their portfolio. Brie utilizes her extensive knowledge of building and managing a portfolio to teach clients about all aspects of buy and hold investing. Brie is a Co-Founder at The Midwest Real Estate Networking Summit, a non-profit educational summit for real estate investors. This three day annual event provides new to experienced investors with the tools and connections necessary to build a real estate business. Brie is also the President of TurnKey-Reviews.com; the one-stop shop for passive investing in real estate across the United States. With over 100 providers in 25 cash flowing markets it is the most comprehensive site on buying turnkey properties. Brie's other passion is travel and in the past few years she has been to Albania, Costa Rica, Croatia, Colombia, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Macedonia, Morocco, Portugal, Scotland, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Thailand. On today's episode, we discuss a ton with Brie, including: The importance of becoming bankable How to understand the finance side of this business The #1 tip to get financing in place How boundaries allow you to get more done How saying “no” allows more peace in your life Reach out to Brie: https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/chicagobrie Books/Resources: Getting Things Done by David Allen   com – Online app to manage your finances   Midwest Real Estate Investing Summit – June 1st and June 2nd!   The Midwest Real Estate Networking Summit delivers unique content and actionable steps for attendees to prosper through their real estate investments. Whether an attendee is a complete newbie or an experienced syndicator, they want to provide the tips, strategies and networking opportunities to help attendees grow their portfolio. Speakers will be sharing knowledge on finding deals, creative financing, raising capital, flipping homes, property management, syndication and much more. Early bird tickets are available now for the Midwest Real Estate Networking Summit! We encourage you to get your tickets today, before prices jump. You can Use Promo Code: MATT and receive 10% off your ticket! REGISTER HERE: http://www.midwestresummit.com/tickets/ InvestHER Community Join us on our mission to support and empower as many women as we can to live a financially free and balanced life. We invite you to join the InvestHER Community Facebook group along with other new and experienced women real estate investors! https://www.facebook.com/groups/Investhercommunity And learn about all the InvestHER Meetups across the country: https://www.meetup.com/pro/the-real-estate-investher Follow us on: Facebook: @therealestateinvesther Instagram: @therealestateinvesther Please leave a comment below!

My guest today is Chicago investor Brie Schmidt, and we are going to talk about making it big with small apartments. Brie is a buy and hold investor, a speaker and the managing broker of Second City Real Estate.   Show Notes Here's just a sample of what we covered in this show: The interesting way she got started What made her finally quit her "day job" Why she chose buy and hold apartments as her investing strategy Why she chose Milwaukee as her second place to invest The challenges of investing out of state Scaling her business and how she's helping other do the same How she manages 90+ properties as just one part of what she does Advice for anyone just starting out   .  

“It became obsessive to find the deal. It’s like crack to some people. To me, it’s my crack. I like the hunt, the negotiating...it’s where I find my joy in real estate.”   Brie Schmidt felt bogged down in her corporate job... so she made the bold decision to pursue something she really loved: real estate!   It was her DREAM to travel and spend time with her husband while successfully building her businesses.   Soon, it became clear that Brie had lost sight of that VISION because her AMBITION had gotten in the way.  Real estate became her ADDICTION.   When she was awake, all she could do was think about real estate. And at night, she could not sleep because she was still thinking about it.   Finally, enough was enough. Brie realized she HAD to overcome this addiction.  Listen to Brie share how real estate took over her life, and how she managed to overcome this addiction and maintain a successful business and personal life.   This is an inspiring story about finding what you love to do and loving life.   Throughout this story, Brie will cover:   Quitting a corporate job to go full-time into real estate investing.   Starting your own companies and building a business.  Losing sight of your vision because of blind ambition.   Focusing on what you are good at and what you enjoy doing.   Creating boundaries in your job and managing a personal and social life.   Forming partnerships.   Ways to balance life and work.   Brie Schmidt acquired her first investment property in 2011 and left the corporate world in 2014 to become a full-time real estate investor.  She is the Managing Broker of Second City Real Estate, a full-service brokerage working with new investors and seasoned investors looking to expand their knowledge of the industry and their portfolio. Brie utilizes her extensive knowledge of building and managing a portfolio to teach clients about all aspects of buy and hold investing. Brie is also a Co-Founder of The Midwest Real Estate Networking Summit, a non-profit educational summit for real estate investors.  Links Mentioned   https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannaschmidt   https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/chicagobrie   http://www.secondcity-re.com/  http://www.midwestresummit.com/   If you enjoy listening to my show, don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! 

Finding the right real estate agent can be as valuable as finding a good deal. However, many agents seldom know much about the investment space. Hiring the wrong agent can cause investors to miss out on valuable information to determine if a deal is good or bad. But how do you find an investor-friendly agent? John Warren is an investor and realtor for Second City Real Estate, a brokerage that works with investors to buy and sell investment real estate. On this episode, John shares about choosing the right agents and the red flags to regard before sealing the deal. He also shares about the market condition of Chicago and the Western suburbs, managing risks, and a secret to finding a good off-market deal.   Key Market Insights: Realtor for Second City Real Estate, focused on helping investors A value-add apartment investor Sees real estate as key to financial freedom and a massive portfolio Bought first investment, and transitioned to become a realtor to get investment insights Key Learnings from Becoming an Investor: When looking at a property, consider owning it, before making a decision; Identify when is the return of capital Niche as a Realtor: Investors, more likely to purchase 2-6 times a year, more active, and takes lesser time than home buyers Primarily invests in 5 units or more: 2-4 units vs. 5-unit deals & more Estimated 20%-25% of commercial properties make it to MLS (Multiple Listings Service), make sure to build relationships to know who has the good deals How to Identify Commercial Brokers: Go to local meetups; Go to LoopNet; Ask for people with active listings; Ask local investors Characteristic of a Right Agent: An investor or at least has considerable knowledge about the investment you’re doing; Understands basic investing terminologies Real Estate Agent Red Flag: Either too eager to sell properties that are too expensive or rushes you in properties that you are not comfortable with Chicago Market - a big market with numbers of submarkets Western suburbs – prices have gone up, margins have gone down Hot Western Suburb Markets: Berwyn, Cicero, Forest Park, Oak Park - right outside Chicago, gentrifying suburbs Qualities of Good Neighborhood - Upper-working class, Class B properties, emerging neighborhoods National chains (such as Starbucks & Panera Bread) are indicators of developing areas Managing Risk - Buying for cash flow. Rehab quickly. Lease the property. Repositioning Bull’s Eye Round   Winning Your Market: Act quickly.   Tracking Market Changes: Be an active investor.   Daily Habit: Getting up at 4:45 a.m. six times a week.   Resources: LoopNet MLS   Book: Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss & Tahl Raz   Digital Resource: Google Suite   Tweet This: “You could’ve have thrown a dart in the past and made a good deal”   “Spreadsheets can mislead you at sometimes.”   Place to Grab a Bite Tastee Corner Café     Connect with John Email: jwarrenbroker@gmail.com  

  Building a Real Estate Business with Brie Schmidt     Brie started in corporate sales in 2005, she acquired her first investment property in 2011. She left the steady paycheck world in 2014. In this podcast, Gino and Josh ask Brie about that transition, how she built her investment portfolio, her business and her plans for the future.   Brie is the Co-Founder at The Midwest Real Estate Networking Summit, a non-profit educational summit for real estate investors. She is also the President at TurnKey Reviews, a one-stop shop for passive investing in real estate across the United States. She shares her thoughts on education with us as well as her habits for success.   Second City Real Estate: http://www.secondcity-re.com/   TurnKey-Reviews: TurnKey-Reviews.com     Top 10: Finding opportunities Multifaceted approach Deciding moments Education Bigger pockets Next Steps Hiring quality Self awareness Hire slow Fire fast And much more!   Register on the investor portal and fill out the investor portal form:Create an Account – Rand Partners   We want to see you at the October 6-7th   Multifamily Mastery Live Event in Nashville, TN! Email Gino at gino@jakeandgino.com for a coupon code to save a little $ on your ticket price!   Reserve your seat for Jake and Gino Live Event 2018   Apply For Us to Help You Make Your Multifamily Dreams a Reality!  

Odds are if you are a real estate investor or have clients that invest, you’ve heard of Brie Schmidt. In addition to running her own firm, Second City Real Estate, Brie is a featured speaker at many real estate conferences. On BiggerPockets (the largest real estate forum in the country) she is recognized as one […]