In this episode of the Construction Cowboy Show, host Jeff Williams speaks with Andrew Preze, a seasoned real estate agent and property manager in the Chicago suburbs. They discuss the intricacies of property management, the differences between suburban and city properties, common issues faced by landlords, and the importance of reliable vendors. Andrew shares insights on the challenges of managing properties, the impact of market trends, and offers advice for first-time buyers and investors. The conversation emphasizes the need for proper maintenance, understanding regulations, and the evolving landscape of real estate investment.
In this episode of the Construction Cowboy Show, host Jeff Williams speaks with Andrew Preze, a seasoned real estate agent and property manager in the Chicago suburbs. They discuss the intricacies of property management, the differences between suburban and city properties, common issues faced by landlords, and the importance of reliable vendors. Andrew shares insights on the challenges of managing properties, the impact of market trends, and offers advice for first-time buyers and investors. The conversation emphasizes the need for proper maintenance, understanding regulations, and the evolving landscape of real estate investment.
Takeaways:
Chapters
Introduction to the Construction Cowboy Show
Meet Andrew Preece: Real Estate Expert
Challenges Faced by Property Owners
Differences in Managing Suburban vs. City Properties
Common Maintenance Issues and Owner Neglect
Managing Emergency Repairs and Vendor Relationships
Navigating Government Regulations and Owner Involvement
Balancing Work and Personal Life in Property Management
Technology and Communication with Clients
The Rise of Young Investors in Real Estate
Common Mistakes Made by Property Owners
Managing Costs and Material Expenses
Preventative Maintenance Strategies for Property Owners
Advising Clients on Property Purchases
The Importance of Reliable Vendors
Future Trends in the Real Estate Market
Utility Costs and Their Impact on Renters
Spring Maintenance Tips for Property Owners
Final Advice for First-Time Property Owners
Connect with Jeff:
Contact: (307) 372-9052 O.(630) 973-6481 D.
Website: www.merchantcommodites.co
Email: Theconstructioncowboyshow@gmail.com
Email: Jeff@merchantcommodities.co
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-williams-merchant-commodities/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559698873942
Alignable: https://www.alignable.com/sheridan-wy/merchant-commodities-llc?user=17404768
Jeff Williams
: Hey, hey folks. Hello and welcome back to the Construction Cowboy Show. Your host, Jeff Williams, we're talking straight about construction that don't bleed you dry. And today we're chatting about the southwest suburbs of Bolingbrook, Naperville, Plainfield area in the Chicago, Illinois region. And where the buildings aren't new, winters don't play nice, and experience matters more than spreadsheets. So today's guest lives in that world every day. And so let's saddle up. Let's get into it. And I'll make an introduction here. Our special guest today is Andrew Preze Specials, he's professional remax real estate agent and property manager. I'll kind let him get into a little bit more of the details, his background, how many years and what he's been doing, but he's very well experienced in many, many different things. And I can let him cover some of that, such as rentals and first-time buyers and foreclosed properties and such. And so he can kind of get into more of the details of that. Glad to have you here, Andrew. And if you would just share with the followers and listeners a little bit about your background and how you got into this and got started and all that good stuff. So, back to you.
Andrew
: Thank you, Jeff, for having me. My name is Andrew Preze I am a real estate broker for Remax professionals here in Bolingbrook Illinois. I've been a real estate agent for about 25 years. I got started in the business after I graduated college. I did not like the job that I was doing. And my mom had been telling real estate and she's like, why don't you come back here and sell real estate and help me out and because she had built up her business pretty well. Mom's been a real estate agent for over 40 years here in town. So she was like, don't you come back and help me and figure out what you want to do. And that was about 25 years ago. This is kind of what I figured out I'm doing. So in the process of doing this and buying and selling homes, the market crashed and we started doing foreclosures. We got involved with investors buying foreclosures, flipping houses, and it turned into a some of our investors asking us if we could manage properties, which was about 15 years ago. So we've been managing properties for about the last 15 years, as long as, along with being full service real estate agents. So we still buy and sell, but now we also property manage. So we manage multi-unit buildings, single family houses, condos, we deal with cities, we deal with housing authorities if the owners accept section eight. So we're well versed in all of those items and all those worlds. So, and all those different avenues have their different issues you have to deal with.
Jeff Williams
: Well, I think I know you own some of your own stuff and then you manage for others. okay, so with that, what kind of owner usually calls you when they're already in trouble or things are going sideways? it kind of gave me kind of a typical, and I know you've got experienced and non-experienced folks, but just kind of cover that base a little bit there.
Andrew
: That is correct. Sure, In the beginning, it was actually people that we sold houses to, investment properties to, eventually they started asking, hey, you have your own properties. We don't wanna manage them anymore, would you mind managing? So that kind of snowballed, and now it seems to be that they tell their friends, their investment groups, things like that, they know other managers. So usually when that particular owner has had their fill of being a landlord or a managing landlord. They get referred to me and then they kind of ask what we can do as far as, you know, we take the calls at 2.30 in the morning saying the furnace is out or the pipes broke and the house is flooding, kind of things like that. So they no longer want to deal with that. They just want to sit back and have the investment and we take care of it for them. So a lot of times it is somebody that had tried it for a while and no longer wants to do it, but they still want to keep the asset.
Jeff Williams
: Oh, all right. You know, I know that a lot of the buildings in downtown Chicago is a lot older than the suburbs. And I know the suburbs were built in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, know, maybe 70s, 90s, the majority of it. And so, you know, as we talk to people that are in the business and single family, multifamily, what are they typically running into?
Andrew
: Mm-hmm.
Jeff Williams
: for their primary problems and kind of get in a little bit more of the depth of the questions later. But just, you know, let me know what that looks like. If you understand the question.
Andrew
: Sorry, I got a phone call there and it stopped the recording. So hopefully, I think we're back up and running now. So just repeat that last question and then we can go from there.
Jeff Williams
: Yeah, let's see. Where was I with that? know, in regards to, we know that properties in Chicago were older versus the suburbs. Again, I understand 60s, 70s, 80s, but the majority of them are 70s, 80s and 90s built, majority of the properties. And it's different in managing the suburb properties versus Chicago. And what's the most distinct difference in managing the properties in the suburbs versus say a city, Chicago, because I know you've done it both and you prefer the suburbs.
Andrew
: Yeah, just, you know, each city, each town has their own. So some towns, let's say like Bolingbrook here, they do have a rental inspection, but the rental inspection is only per tenant. that tenant stays in 10 years, you don't have to do another rental inspection. Other towns, they require yearly rental inspection like Joliet and Aurora, things like that, then you have. No matter if the tenants there for 10 years, every year you've got to pay the fee and they come in and do the rental inspection. Other towns, you just have to keep renewing your license like Romeoville Every year you've to renew that particular property's license, besides your landlord's license that has a rental permit. So every year you've to renew that, you've to pay the fee. They don't come and inspect it, but you've to pay the fee. So that is, obviously everybody has, some of our owners have their own leases. Some of them use a standard real estate lease in the city of Chicago. You have to use the city of Chicago lease, which is 27 pages long. So, and it is not slanted in the landlord's favor. So a lot of landlords don't like that. So, like I said, the tick of things we see obviously in the winter times, know, furnace issues, summertime, lot of times, especially when the weather changes, you know, we've get a lot of calls for AC units, ACs don't. work, they need some repair, they need free recharge, things like that. So typically, whenever the weather changes, that typically is what we get a lot of calls for. So from summer to winter, we get a lot of furnace calls. And then from winter to summer, we get a lot of AC calls. And then the other most popular item obviously is toilets, toilets and plumbing.
Jeff Williams
: Okay, so to kind of tag on to that, what gets ignored the longest? you you've got property owners and they wait the last minute and sometimes they just drag it out for years to be able to repair and fix it. What do you see? What is the major one major equipment or, you know, appliance or whatever may be? What do you see across the board?
Andrew
: Yeah. HVAC. HVAC seems to be the ones that we try to, you know, it is a costly repair. And so, you know, lot of owners will want to keep fixing the old unit until they can't, you know, because they, you know, because, hey, two or $300 here, $500 here is easier than coming up with $5,000 to replace the system. you know, so they'll just keep, you know, patching it along until they can't anymore. know, and some of those, you know, freons becoming more expensive. Some of those furnaces from the eighties and nineties, it's getting harder and harder to get parts. And I think some of the time it is they want to start building parts. So it forces people to update to the newer systems.
Jeff Williams
: Do you find that most people in this area because of the weather and everything else and snows and we've had some pretty good weather in this area, for the most part, they prepared for that or do they rely on you to outsource that, taking care of that? And again, it's about snow removal, ice and those kinds of problems. lean on you more for all that or is that something they take care of?
Andrew
: Yeah, of course. Most of my owners rely on me and that's what they pay me for is I have the vendors. So if I call my HVAC guy, you know, especially in the dead of winter when there were everybody's furnaces out, things like that, when we had that polar vortex come through here, you know, if you call another HVAC company, they'll be like, hey man, we'll get to you in a week. You know, where that guy, the guys I use, you know, they were typically either out that day or first thing the next morning. So. because we do give them a lot of business, they try to squeeze us in as best we can. So we usually don't have to wait the two or three days to get somebody out there. Now, obviously parts aren't in stock. That's a different story. But, you know, as far as the service, sometimes they can get it up and running like, we temporarily fixed it till this part comes in, but it'll work for now or be, you know, you know, I even had one, one time where the furnace went out and it was new year's Eve. And so the HVAC guy went at five o'clock on new year's day to replace that furnace. Cause he was swamped and he was like, Andy, have no time. He's like, unless your tenant is fine with me coming at 5 a.m. and the tenant was like, I'd rather have heat than no heat. I'll wake up at five o'clock and let him in. we do have some good guys like that.
Jeff Williams
: So with dealing with government agencies and townships and things, do you find yourself, in words, a lot of times I'm assuming you have to get the owners involved in some of that and they have to take some responsibility. Is it pretty, do they work pretty good with you or do they push back on it and they don't want to get involved and they want you to handle everything? What's the norm with that? Because I know a lot of new guys are coming in and trying to buy properties in communities. They get kind of caught up in all the government stuff and regulations and you're probably more on top of it than they are.
Andrew
: Yeah, you know, when I meet with them or when I talk to people, kind of go over, whatever town, especially if it's a town that I'm familiar with, I'll get calls from people and they're like, hey, do you manage properties in this town? And I'm like, I haven't. So a lot of times I have to look up what the requirements are for that particular town. But if it's something that I have dealt with in the past or that I'm currently managing and I'm usually pretty well versed in it. And so I say, hey, these are the items that we're looking for, or this is what the city's looking for. And as I go through the home, I'm like, hey, we got to do this, this and this to bring it up to. where the city's gonna approve it for the rental inspection. It depends on my owners. Some of my owners, they have one or two, and so they are a little bit more, I guess, quote unquote involved. Some of my owners give me a certain threshold. Hey, Andy, up to $500, just get the repair done, send me the bill. And other ones are like, anything up to 100 bucks, just go ahead and get done and then send me the bill. And then other ones are just like, anytime you need to repair something. please call me and get approval first. They want to know. And sometimes they want a second opinion or B, want, once my guy goes, they want to send their guy that they use or kind of thing. sometimes, it all depends. like I said, it's usually more of A, if they're newer to me or B, they're a newer investor. If somebody comes to me they've got 10 or 15, they're a seasoned investor. seem to have a little more, they want to be a little more hands-off. There's like, take care of it. send me the invoice or whatever, let me know what's going on, but obviously just go ahead and get it done. So if it's a furnace repair for 150 bucks, they'll just like, hey, just go get it done. You don't have to call me and get approval, just get it done, me the invoice. kind of thing. So some of them are pretty hands off and other ones, they want to know everything that happens at the house. So it all depends.
Jeff Williams
: yeah, it's so... Sounds like your communication is just on a constant basis and any time or day and night you're getting a call and having that conversation and deal with that. How does that, and I'm going to get kind of personal, but how does that affect your personal life and your family and all that stuff? mean, you're kind of on call 24 /7 365 days a year, it sounds like, and like that can be kind of taxing on a family. So how do you handle that?
Andrew
: It can't be. Obviously my family knows. So I try not to... They understand. So a lot of times I can step away and then I'll have to call or text. So obviously with texting a lot of my vendors and things like that, don't necessarily have to call them. So I can just shoot. So I can be still doing something and shooting them a text like, hey, I've got a tenant that has a furnace out. When can you go take a look at it? And then they'll usually respond, hey, I can go look at it at six o'clock tonight or I'll go first thing in the morning. I can still be present with my family and not have to be on the phone and I can just text them and then I know I'd send them the address and then I know it's done. And then I'll hear whatever the issue is. So that part, but I've been doing this such a long time, the family's kinda used to it. They know when the call comes in that the daddy's gotta go to work for a few minutes and then, so they understand.
Jeff Williams
: Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Very cool. So your customers, and they range in age. I understand that. And do you have any customers that kind of struggle with using technology and communicating in those fashions? most of your people, I'm pretty sure most of the people use the technology and texting and emails and all kinds of stuff. But do you have anybody that's actually just in? that's adverse to the technology and struggle with it and give you a hard time over. Is that more difficult? Yeah.
Andrew
: Nobody gives you a hard time. Nobody gives you a time, but yes, we do have a client that doesn't text, so you do have to call, and then he'd seldom emails. So it's more a call and then they send, instead of like lot of ours, we'll send payment electronically. That particular owner will send it by check, so we have to wait for the check to come in the mail, then we can give it to the vendor kind of thing. it's not really a struggle, but we let our... I let my vendors know up front, like, hey, this particular owner sends a check, it'll be a couple of days, it won't be an instant, know, cell payment or something like that. So it's just, but they're okay. Like I said, a lot of my vendors, they've worked with me for 10, 15 years. So I use them at my personal house, things like that, so that they know me. And so they may not do that for everybody, but they will do that for me. But yeah, most people are, most people can text, most people email. Most of them do electronic payment, whether they accept rent through electronically or they pay the vendors electronically, things like that. Most of these people are business owners or work in the professional world, so they have to use those tools for that, so that's usually not an issue.
Jeff Williams
: Are you starting to see younger generation get into investing and buying properties? is that still, is that something, know, again, we've got a new generation and from where I'm at and even between myself and you, know. So are you having people call you on a younger generation or text you or Facebook you or whatever they do to inquire about it? Okay.
Andrew
: Yeah, absolutely. starting to get quite a few people that, I guess you would call them millennials, that are starting to see the benefits of investment properties. yeah, absolutely. Several of the newer clients that I've gotten have all been younger people that are, they have their house already and now they want to start building their wealth through properties, as most people do.
Jeff Williams
: Cool. Yeah. Good. Great. Outstanding. So biggest mistake you see out in the area owners make, what is the biggest mistake they make? that, and I don't mean fixing properties or anything else. It's more about making assumptions about how you manage properties or expectations when you go in to set those expectations. What's the biggest mistake that they are just not ready for? That's kind of a broad question, so.
Andrew
: Uh, in the, yeah, in the beginning, think, especially when it's the first one, um, it goes one of two ways, either A, they want to take the first person that's willing to come in and pay the rent that they're requiring, you know, so a lot of times they don't have any requirements and sometimes they, they get burned or they get a bad tenant that will take a bit. And I think sometimes some tenants, you know, can see that they're green and they know they can push them around, you know, and bully them a little bit and, and, know, and sometimes the landlord tries to be their friend. you know, and so a lot of times they'll get a little more slack than they would if they deal with me. You know, obviously this is a business. I treat it as a business. Obviously we're professional with them, but you know, this is a business. um, you know, a lot of times you'll see, especially if they managed it for a while and then all of a sudden transferred to me, a lot of the games that that kind of played, they, I've seen it before. So, you know, we, they can see that those games aren't going to work with me. So, uh, usually either they move or be they, you know, come into the fold here. So that seems to be, or B, they set the requirements so tight that they're trying to find a unicorn tenant and those just aren't out there. And sometimes those, the qualifications that they have, if that person can meet those, they're probably a homeowner if they're not gonna be a tenant. you can see where then, you can see after a while it sits there and we don't get the tenants in, then they start to lessen their, you know, and. It happens, man. Somebody has a medical issue. It really hurts the credit. It goes through a divorce, hurts the credit, but they're awesome tenants. You know, I've had, we've taken chances on people that have had a very bad credit report, you know, and, they've been awesome tenants. And we've had other ones that have had, you know, A plus, you know, amazing, clean credit report and things like that. And those have been problem tenants, you know, so you can't just base everything on the corporate kind of have to, to meet them. Just a piece of paper isn't going to tell you. So.
Jeff Williams
: Yeah. Right. I've been
Andrew
: So sometimes that is the issue. And then other thing is going cheap. You can find the cheapest guy out there, but there's usually why his skilled labor is cheap. So sometimes you may have to fix up the two or three times if you went the cheap route, or if you went with some guy that maybe not the most expensive, but some guy that has some skills and he wants to be paid for his skillset and knows what he's doing and showing up on time, that's a big one. A lot of times you get what you pay for. You only have to pay once, yes it may be a little bit more, but you only pay once compared to having to send this guy out three times, it doesn't show up, things like that. So that has been my experience.
Jeff Williams
: That's great. In regards to managing cost of materials, do you pick up most of that yourself and then bill the client? Or does the client actually have accounts like a Home Depot and they just go and buy the material what they need? how does it... And it's probably a little combination of both, but what is the majority, is my question, that you have to deal with? Is it your out of pocket expense or is it actually... where the client takes care of that most of the time.
Andrew
: If it's something small, the vendor will take care of So the handyman or electrician or plumber, they'll take care of it. And then it's just part of their bill. So when they quote it, they're going say, hey, place this toilet, it's this much money, and that includes the toilet and the labor. And they go get it. If it's a huge rehab job, then typically that owner may order it from Home Depot and either the vendor will go get it or they'll just be delivered to the job site and then the vendor takes it from there. Once the blue moon, I may have to go get it if the vendor can't. So they'll order it from somewhere and I'll go pick it up and then I'll deliver it to the job site or to the house then. But typically the vendor will take care of it, especially the ones we use though. They've got trucks, they've got vans, they're always into Menards, Lowe's, Home Depot, so typically they'll go get it.
Jeff Williams
: Okay. Kind of switch a little bit, but it's kind of a two or three part question here. So I'm going to kind of combine them a little bit. I know that some owners like to cut corners and I know you're pretty adverse at trying to get them not to do that. Do you kind of provide them with a preliminary overview or a preventative maintenance plan that they should adhere to with you? Prior to getting into a relationship and what would that look like or? Or do you not have a plan you just you know from so much experience You know those as you talked about the highlighted things like HVAC and all those things but the question is do you see them trying to cut corners and not actually Manage it through a plan of maintenance that you may set up a schedule. How does that? How do you do that with them?
Andrew
: Some of my owners have like an HVAC service that they pay and typically they've had it before I took them over so they had a five-year contract with whoever put the furnace in or whoever did the repair so they'll do like a come and do a spring cleaning check it out and then in the wintertime you know they'll look at the furnace and then summertime they'll come recharge and things like that. Others are good to have you know my guys do check them out so like when I send the HVAC guy he usually does an inspection on says hey Andy you know, this is what we're kind of looking for in the future here. So, don't, they don't necessarily have to have a plan, you know, as long as we keep, you know, things, you know, by the cheapest thing, you know, it seems to last longer. So, and that's kind of my experience. I kind of tell them like, Hey, my experience of managing, if we go this route, it seems to be a better, you know, instead of putting carpet in, maybe we put the vinyl plank flooring in, you know, and it seems to last long. Yes, it costs you a little bit more upfront, but in the long run you'll get more durability out of it than carpet. know, typically carpet you may have to replace every tenner or every other tenner with a vinyl plank flooring. You know, depending on how long your tenner is there, you may get two or three tenners out of it.
Jeff Williams
: Yeah. So I know you've got some great clients and reliable and good working clients. And my question is, do they ever call you if they're getting ready to say, look at a property or buy a new property, do they ever call you to go out and do a walkthrough with them just to kind look at the electrical and the plumbing and HVAC and the roof and all that kind of stuff? Do you give a kind of a walkthrough pre- pre-look at the property and kind of give them some advice about what they should be doing or what they should do. And the pitfalls of actually buying that particular property they're looking at.
Andrew
: Yeah, most of the owners that I manage for, they use me as their agent. they buy and sell usually their homes through me. So as we're going through the buying process, you know, I'll kind of go through like, Hey, if we buy in this town, this is what the rents are going for. This is what that city's looking for as far as rental. some, some, you know, towns have different wouldn't say rules, but they have different qualifications compared to buying a house compared to a rental house. A lot of times the rental is more strict compared to buying the house. So if you were just to buy it, you wouldn't have to change these items. But if you're going to rent it, you're going to have to change these items. I kind of let them know, hey, my experience, we've got to change these windows. We've got to move the electric up. We've got to update the electric to this. And so they kind of know that going into buying that house, like, hey, I wouldn't have to do this if I was A, going to flip this house or B, live in this house. But if I'm going to rent it, I'm going to have to spend this extra $5,000 to bring it up to whatever the rental code is. Yeah. So yeah, I try to help them with that. Yeah, absolutely.
Jeff Williams
: Okay, cool. It's kind of understandable and the risk of managing the risk and everything with that. again, different codes for rental properties versus codes for homeowner, purchase homeowners. Interesting. let me jump into, again, I know you talk about vendor and vendor relationships and...
Andrew
: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jeff Williams
: It's pretty obvious that a good vendor that you have or vendors that you've worked with, good ones are probably going to save you money versus cost you money. Actually, they may be a little bit more expensive, but they're saving you money in the long run. Is that kind of a rule of thumb or not?
Andrew
: Yeah, like said, any of the vendors I use, I personally use at my house. So it's not like, I've got this guy and he only works on rental. So I try to use somebody that I'm going to use at my house. So I'm sending it into somebody's house, know, this tenants, sometimes the tenants are there, sometimes the kids are there. So it's got to be somebody that I know and trust. You sometimes it's, you know, maybe it'll be moms at work, but in order to get the HVAC guy into the plumber in, you know, the 13 year old or 14 year old, 15 year old has to let that that vendor in. it's somebody that I trust is not going to do anything into the house, not going to steal anything, not going to, you know, so these are people that I let my house, you know, so if I'm going to let them in my house, I'm pretty sure I can trust them to go into a tenant's house. You know, sometimes I have to meet them, but you know, a lot of my vendors, I've, like I said, I've worked 10, 15 years with, so I don't have to say that, you know, maybe somebody new, maybe the first couple of jobs, I'll go sit there while they do the work, but you know, somebody that's been with me 15 years, I know the kind of work and I know what type of they are so I don't have to like the HVAC guy, just call him, him, give him the address and he goes to it and does his thing.
Jeff Williams
: Cool, good. So looking 12, 24 months ahead, what should suburban property owners around the Bolingbrook area be preparing for? And I'll say it in this way also is that is there anything new in the real estate industry or market that's gonna be changing over the next 12 to 24 months that a, know, owner or new owner or new developer or investor that's looking to do this? Do you see any changes or anything they should be looking out for? And preparing that for right now and getting ready for that. Anything, any changes? Okay.
Andrew
: Sure, mean, obviously, we're all waiting for the market to correct itself. There's not, because of so few inventory, house prices are just through the roof. They just keep going up because there's less and less inventory and more and more buyers wanting to buy a house. And same thing with rentals. There's just a lot of investors have sold because they're like, hey, I'll probably never see this price again for this house. And if the market ever crashes, I'll go buy another one. we've had quite a few of our owners sell a lot of their investments because they're like, the prices are probably never going to see that in my lifetime. They're probably never going to see this. And they know the market's going to correct itself, which also in terms of rentals, know, rentals are just, they're at the top of probably what they're going to be. So there is going to be a correction. You're not going to have these high rents forever. So you, you would have to assume that once there is more inventory, prices are going to start coming down. House prices are going to come down, which also means rent prices are going to come down. So you kind of have to prepare that, hey, next couple of years, man, we're going to get our rental correction as well and prices are going to start coming down. There's also things now where investors are coming in, they're building whole rental communities. You know, we've got one here in Bolingbrook that's getting ready that I think it's like 200 rental units. So they're building this whole community and it's strictly rentals. So we'll have to see how that goes. You know, obviously if there's a mass influx of rentals, demand is going to go down. So that means prices are going to go down here in this area because now there's 200 more rentals that weren't there that now people have options for, you know, and then you see that for a long time here with the foreclosures, the hedge funds came in and bought all the foreclosures and rented them. And supposedly they're, they're trying to, the government's trying to stop that because they are becoming a huge private owners, one of the big, like here in Illinois, I one of the hedge funds has like 20,000 houses here in Illinois. I that's a huge market that they have and they can control it. If they wanted to dump all the houses, which I don't think they would because they're a hedge fund, they wanna make money, but if they did, they would just take the market here. And that's just 20,000 houses here in Illinois. Just imagine how many houses they have in other states. So that's a pretty big. You know, and so they dominate, you know, they can dictate to the lower people what they want as far as rents, what they're looking for, things like that. And so I think people have had some bad dealings with the hedge funds and the hedge funds are so big, they're just like, what are you gonna do?
Jeff Williams
: So. Yeah. It's just bumping up against the monopoly kind of side of things where that's pretty scary when it impacts the market that much and that sway of the market that much. And you're right, if they dump those properties for whatever reason it would be, and I agree with you, I don't think they would. But if they did, it could be serious damage to the entire industry market.
Andrew
: Yeah, of course.
Jeff Williams
: In a lot of cases, that is state specific, especially in the bigger cities and bigger communities, L.
A. and Chicago and so on, know, Atlanta. it could devastate the country if that started to happen. Aging infrastructure, you know, insurance, utilities, regulatory changes. You know, you've covered a lot of that. I don't want you to have to repeat a lot of that, but. Just with the cost of utilities in general, you see that maintaining and staying pretty stable or do you see that going up also? Because again, renters can only afford so much, right? That's why they're renters, they're not homeowners.
Andrew
: yeah unfortunately it seems every year the utilities seem to be going up you know here in Illinois they got that utility board that they have to request a rate increase it seems every year that all three utilities you know electric, gas and water are always asked especially water they keep asking for you know rate increases and they keep getting it and so yeah it's just it's getting outlandish some of these I just don't know how some you know family of four five you know how they can afford sometimes you know they may have you know twelve thirteen dollars in utility bills you know plus all the streaming services for the kids things like that i mean it's uh... that's usually you know that's money that normally they could have saved for a down payment on a house or to help out for a house but now they can't it's just you know they basically just make it but yeah that's a that's an issue and that's why you see more and more people homeowners starting to go you know uh... bigger market here's the solar panels to help out with uh... electrics at least if you can Yes, you have a rental payment on the solar panels, but if you can pretty much negate the rest of it, you and you just have the rental payment on the solar panels, $125, people take that compared to a $300, you know, electric bill in the summertime when they have the AC on.
Jeff Williams
: So we're going to kind of begin to wrap up here. It looks like our time is running pretty close to where we want to be. what's the one thing that the owner should inspect this month and just make sure that things are going well? We're right in the middle of February and it's in some places cold and some places it's not. But what do you normally see they should inspect going into the spring and the fall?
Andrew
: Now, now it'll be more of we're starting to get, know, in the Chicago land area here, we're starting to get, we're going to have 40 degree days here and we're going to have 50 degree days. But prior to this, had, you know, day, had, you know, two weeks in the single digit. So everything that can freeze froze. So now everything's going to thaw out. So you potentially could have some frozen pipes that were frozen and not causing an issue. But now when they thaw, they will leak, you know, things like that, especially if people leave like garden hoses attached to the spigot. Spigot freezes, the ice comes in, especially if it's not a frost-proof one, if it's an older one. Now that it thaws, you'll have some issues. Sometimes it's not until they turn it on, so you won't find until springtime they go to turn the garden hose on, and then all of a sudden, the spigot's leaking. So that seems to become one. Not as much anymore, because a lot of people, we've had a lot of hail damage and tornadoes come through, so a lot of people have replaced houses, so they put the ice damning stuff on there so the ice doesn't come back into the house. But in the old days, that... that used to be an issue with the ice coming up and the ice he uses things like that through the gutters and through the roof. So less of an issue now. Windows, you know, we get, you know, window seals on windows, things like that. you know, more of, you know, just the weather changes, you know, a lot of things change, you know, so it'll be, you know, pretty soon it will go, people start turning the ACs on, it'll be the ACs, you know, free on things like that having to be checked. But right now it'll be more of any. ice damage frost damage those types of things will be the issues that we'll have probably for the next month or so.
Jeff Williams
: So, gonna wrap up here a little bit. Best advice you can give for a first time owner, property owner, or even first time home buyer, just real quick, what's a big nugget of advice you can give them?
Andrew
: Yeah, hire me.
Jeff Williams
: Perfect. OK. All right. That's a great answer, man. That's a great answer. So what's the next, other than hiring you, what would be the next step to just, you know, for the most part, What could they do for the next step in their search? And I know hiring you, but what's the next step that you can give them that they could do their own homework a little bit? And be prepared to really sit down with you and get some good advice.
Andrew
: Yeah. Yeah, you know, obviously, super cheap houses in this market. There's a reason why they're super cheap. So you can't go in thinking, hey, I'm going to buy the cheapest house on the market and 30, 40,000 our house, you know, those are very rare. And if they are, they come with their own headaches. And there's a reason why they're 30, 40 grand. So, you know, either the area, the condition of the house, you know, some of these houses, may have to, it may be cheaper for you to knock it down to build a new one, you know, and if they, especially if they're first time, sometimes I've seen where they take too big of an apple. They're like, hey, I want this house at this price and I take it. And then they kind of are overwhelmed. So sometimes they need to find the one that maybe is all fixed up. So yes, I'll pay a little bit more, but for them to kind of learn the process of that town, how tenants work, things like that, sometimes that's a better chunk than if they go and take the one that needs a couple hundred thousand hour rehab. So I would not advise that for your first time.
Jeff Williams
: Thank you. All right, so we're going to wrap this up. Here's the truth. Suburb properties don't fall apart overnight. And what we heard today comes down to this. You got to know your buildings, your plan. As Andy said, or Andrew said, just call him and he'll walk you through any kind of issues or challenges. And I advise our listeners and followers to take him up on that and call him. and get into it. So again, I'm Jeff Williams of the Construction Cowboy Show. If this episode helped you think differently about your buildings, your budget or your team of people, then we did our job. And so big thanks to Andrew Preze And Andrew, can you give our listeners kind of a reach out and provide them with some of your contact information or something that nature real quick here? Or how do you want them to contact you?
Andrew
: Thank you, Jeff. Sure. Yeah, best way is my cell phone, 630-546-0897. You can text it or call it.
Jeff Williams
: Great. All right. Sounds good. And thank you so much. And again, until we meet again, build smart, plan ahead, and don't wait for winter to teach you a lesson. Happy trails and bye for now.
Andrew
: Thank you.