February 21 , 2010

At Our NEW Meeting Location:
Lindner Conference Center
610 E Butterfield Rd - Lombard, IL 60148
directions
6:00 - 9:00pm
Free for CCIA Members / $15 for Guests

Paul Esajian, CFO of CT Homes, LLC  and Co-Founder of FortuneBuilders Inc. is one of  the nation’s premier young real estate investors and speakers. His ideas for building a business have been used to develop CT Homes into the premier real estate solutions company in Connecticut and the New England area. Paul is an experienced project manager who specializes in personnel management and incentive based motivation for his contractors. Currently, Paul and his brother JD manage over 25 development projects with five teams of over 50 contractors in nine different cities and three different states. In their first year, together with Than Merrill, President and co-founder of FortuneBuilders, LLC, they bought and sold 30 properties. Since that time they have more than doubled that number every year.  

Throughout his investing career, Paul has been continuously developing unique accounting systems custom to our specific home buying business, as well as contractor systems that have been developed to meticulously manage the numerous contractors and projects. This range of duties has given Paul a wide breadth of knowledge about running an efficient, productive company, from the accounting books in the office to the foundation of a house on site. Paul continues to grow his business while keeping in mind this important thought: as long as there is no work left to be done, then everything has been done right. Join us on February 21st to meet Paul Esajian in person.

Mark Your Calendar -- Upcoming CCIA Meetings:

February 21; March 21st; April 18th; May 16th; June 27th; July 18th; August 15th; September 19th; October 17th; November 21st; and December 19th.

For our Calendar of Events and Special Events Announcements, go to the CCIA Events Page.

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Message from Jane Garvey 1/1/10     (Archives - Past Notes)

Happy New Year

January 1, 2010

Dear CCIA Members and Friends,

I hope you have had a most delightful holiday season, and are enjoying the first celebration of the New Year.

As we look back on 2009, it has been an interesting year. At the beginning of the year it looked like things were dead in the water for investors that wanted to buy, rehab, and resell property. Sure, there were ways to make it work if you were creative enough, but there really were very few buyers out there. You needed to be prepared to rent and hold. And, we were still seeing prices falling in many areas.

Then, as is the way in this business – a few strokes of a pen and the game changes. This time it was government incentives for first time buyers. A spurt of activity in the starter home market helped get some things moving. Fortunately, through some lobbying efforts by the NAR, the short -lived incentives got an extension, and an expansion, so some of this activity in the residential markets could continue.

Foreclosures continue at a feverish pace. While the government keeps pressing the lenders to do more mitigation work and help people keep their homes, these deals seem few and far between. I would expect more pressure on this front in 2010, but still don’t see it being very effective without big changes.

Lack of available lending sources for investors is one of the bigger problems I am hearing about. Many banks are worried about making any loans that might be considered the slightest bit risky. Many others really don’t have available funds to lend because of the REO’s they are holding in house. I am going to suggest that you check with the small lenders in the neighborhood where the property sits. Small banks have not been hit as badly by the problems in the credit markets, and they have incentives to make loans locally. Community Investment Corporation is another resource you should check out if you are working on small to mid sized apartment buildings, particularly on the west and south sides of the city of Chicago.

Members have been telling me all year about banks cutting their Home Equity Lines and other credit lines. Particularly painful when you are mid-project. My advice on this – borrow the money you are going to need and put it in a bank account. You will pay a little more interest doing it this way, but at least you won’t be caught short.

All year, members who operate rental property have been having a challenge finding good tenants. This is probably the result of a combination of the first time buyer incentives and the high unemployment rates. Good tenants with jobs are buying homes, and good tenants who have lost their jobs are leaving the area, or moving in with relatives. It is more important than ever that you learn how to attract the best tenants, while at the same time honing your screening skills.

As we move on into 2010, I expect that we will continue to deal with a tough and ever changing market. I appreciate your confidence and continued involvement in the CCIA. I have seen many long-term members returning to meetings this year. It is great to see you back, and I appreciate hearing about your investments and experiences, and even the challenges you have been facing. You’ll find that you are not alone. In the CCIA network there is almost always someone who has “been there, done that, fixed that, etc.”

I also appreciate all of the new members who have come into the group sensing opportunity in the current markets. After all, with huge price drops that we have seen, there just have to be some bargains out there. Your enthusiasm recharges all of us, and makes the folks that are mourning the loss of “effortless appreciation” wake up to the opportunity.

The day of the creative investor is back. The deals are there, and yes there are obstacles. But there are also solutions - formulas to make the deals come together. We are planning on offering more “brown bag workshops” this year. These are targeted educational programs to help you past the obstacles. Stay tuned for more details on these as they make it into the schedule.

In the meantime, do your New Years dreaming and goal setting. We will see you January 17 th as we kick off our 2010 programming with a regular monthly meeting on “Buying from the Banks.”

Have a very healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year.

Jane Garvey

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