Chicago Property Management Blog

In a recent podcast, we sat down with Luke Blahnik, a real estate expert, to dive into a major ordinance that will affect property owners in Chicago. The Northwest Side Housing Preservation Ordinance, which went into effect on October 9, seeks to preserve and expand the availability of affordable housing.This newly expanded anti-gentrification ordinance has significant implications for rental property owners, particularly those in areas...

As the next presidential election approaches in November, landlords and real estate investors like you are naturally curious about how the housing market might respond. Election years bring both challenges and opportunities for the real estate sector.The outcome of the election and the policies proposed by candidates can directly impact interest rates, consumer confidence, and even regional market behaviors. Understanding these influenc...

If you own Chicago investment property (and in many other parts of the nation), squatters have become a serious problem. There are many different flavors of squatters. Most often, we deal with people who just move on into vacant properties without consulting anyone. It gets a little trickier with another flavor of squatter who claims they thought they had a valid lease but have been scammed by someone else. We sat down with George McCle...

Happy anniversary to us! After four years and 300 episodes later, the Straight up Chicago Investing is still going strong.  To celebrate our 300th episode, we took to social media to ask our community what questions they wanted us to answer. And you delivered! We received dozens. Unfortunately, we couldn’t answer them all in one episode, but we’ll make sure we do answer them somehow.So without further ado, let’s...

Chicago is one of the ripest markets in the U.S. for real estate investors, and that's no secret. According to research from RentCafe, 54% of Chicago's households are renter-occupied. For comparison, the national ratio is 34% of households occupied by renters. That's a whole lot of rental property!Don't start drooling just yet though. Whether you're new to the real estate investment game or have been around the block...

Remember that old saying that truth is stranger than fiction? Our friend and Straight Up Chicago Investor podcast guest, Joseph Pochinskas, found himself in the landlord twilight zone with his first investment property. A Southside Chicago native, Joseph fell in love with the Bridgeport/Canaryville area and decided that’s where he’d try his hand at house hacking. After a lot of research and walking properties, he settle...

Chicago real estate investors have long heralded the importance of cash flow from rental properties. Unfortunately, too many landlords focus just on the cash flow aspect alone. This can cause them to snap up properties that look like great cash cows but end up having problems that require paying out of pocket to solve. Others sit on the sidelines waiting the unicorn cash flowing purchases to fall into their laps. Both groups end up...

“I’ve learned a little about a lot.”Mark Ainley, founder of GC Realty and Development, attributes that phrase as a defining trait of his career. It embodies the entrepreneurial spirit that Mark and the team bring to the industry of property management. They’re always willing and able to venture into new professional territory and that pushes them forward in real estate investment and property management alike.GC ...

Disclaimer: In the following story, people moved into a rental home without permission or were scammed. When tenants move into a rental after being scammed by other shady people, they often move out right away and accept the fact that they fell victim to scamming. The people in this story did not. GC Realty & Development did not participate in the scenario below. Names have been changed and any likeness to another shady person ...

Being a Chicago landlord in 2024 is proving more difficult than ever. This is especially true when you inherit a tenant or make a huge mistake screening and you have to get a tenant out of your place. Many would-be real estate moguls hang up their dreams after dealing with evicting non-paying tenants. The legal system in Cook County, where Chicago is located, has always challenged landlords, even prior to COVID. The pandemic simply...