This is a long overdue post about The Sidewalk Company’s first fix/flip investment property.

After analyzing nearly one hundred properties and having eight offers rejected, we purchased a foreclosed, single-family home on the Northwest side of Chicago in Portage Park.

In order to develop the project scope and budget, we spent over ten hours in the property prior to the closing. We closed on a Friday. Met with our general contractor and specialists on Monday. Purchased materials on Tuesday. And started work on Wednesday. From start to finish, the rehab took our team seven weeks to complete

The rehab process was a great learning experience for our company. We purchased all the materials and visited the job site everyday, helping, asking questions and observing.

We listed the house with our Realtor in early January. We had five offers in the first week on the market. We accepted an offer above our asking price and closed on the property at the end of February. We flipped this house in 112 days.

Our methodical approach to building this business made this project a success. By educating ourselves, assembling an outstanding team of professionals and developing and implementing a solid plan, we were able to minimize our holding time, pay back our investors before term and net a healthy profit for our business.

We are very pleased with the results of our first rehab project. However, we’re not sitting around patting ourselves on the back. We’re moving on to the next property, Applying the lessons learned on our first project and growing our business.

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Anyone who has watched the news in the past 18 months knows that we are in the midst of a real estate recession. Overextended borrowers across the U.S. are having their property repossessed by lenders at alarming rates.  According to RealtyTrac.com the country had over 308,000 new foreclosures in the month of February 2010 alone. A decrease of 2% from January 2010.  The astounding fact is that the month-to-month decrease of 2% is the lowest since early 2006.

With a reported 8.9 million foreclosed homes being put up for auction and sale by the banks nationwide over the past 4.5 years, market supply is grossly ahead of demand.  To make matters worse, in an attempt to not repeat the subprime crisis that started this mess, banks have steadily increased lending requirements.  In totality, we have more houses and fewer qualified buyers.  The only possible result has been rapidly declining home values.

This does provide the savvy investor with an opportunity to invest in real estate that hasn’t been seen since the Great Depression. Financial leaders worldwide are pouring money into the real estate investment market.  We recently had a conversation with a realtor in Chicago that told us he is seeing hoards of Japanese investors buying homes  without ever seeing or inspecting the properties.  The market indicators and trends all point to one fact – this is the right time to purchase investment property in Chicago.

“Well, real estate is always good, as far as I’m concerned” – Donald Trump

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We’re always conducting market research for areas we’re considering investing in. This is the first of many neighborhood profiles.

Overview

Avondale is a down-to-earth Northwest Side community nestled between Roscoe Village and Old Irving Park, and Logan Square. Ethnic, hardworking and none-too-fancy, Avondale is a little corner of Chicago where thrift trumps over-consumption, and where new arrivals to this country plant their initial roots, striving to build better lives for their children. Bordered by the Chicago River to the east, Pulaski Road west and Diversey Avenue and Addison Street south and north, Avondale is a checkerboard of ethnic enclaves, residential streets, industrial sectors and bustling shopping strips. Uniting it all is a largely working-class population that gets along with and watches out for one another, residents say.

Avondale Real Estate

Today Avondale has a vibrant and diverse residential composition boosting century-old frame houses, quaint brick bungalows, two-flat walkups, vintage multi-unit courtyard buildings and modern condominiums. While the streets are densely packed with housing, Avondale still maintains a sense of quiet, natural beauty and spacious living. 

We like how the neighborhood blends a mixture of new construction with antiquated architectural styles. State-of-the-art converted lofts and new-model townhomes provide a fresh, clean look while traditional two-story homes with white-painted front pillars and balconies pull us back to a time and place when life was uncomplicated and peaceful.

The community area mirrors the Wicker Park of 10 years ago, before it became commercialized, historians and residents said. The Red Eye recently dubbed Avondale the next hot hood, calling “the next Wicker Park”. Check the article http://bit.ly/cWfYRy

Nightlife

A true Irish pub, Chief O’Neill’s (3471 N Elston Ave, 773-473-5263) is not only a superb place to do your St. Patrick’s Day celebrating, it’s great for sitting out in the beer garden during the summer, clinking mugs of chilled beer and chatting it up with friends. Make your Bloody Mary just the way you like it at O’Neill’s Bloody Mary bar. Add in anything from your basic celery and pickle juice to jumbo shrimp and extra spices, but don’t go too wild with the spice, you’re the one that has to drink it! The cuisine here is way more than your average bar food.

Square Bar is just a laid back neighborhood bar. Come in grab a seat at the bar — crafted with wood from salvaged bowling lanes — to sip on organic microbrews and munch on homemade pub grub such as Philly cheesesteak, burgers and wings. Wooden 3D sculptures by artist Rodney Wade up the decor ante on your average neighborhood hang. Look for specials on buckets of craft beer coming soon, so you can mix-and-match Left Hand Brewery’s Milk Stout with Peak Organic’s Wheat ale or Metropolitan’s Flywheel Lager.

Food

Among the fast-food joints are dining hot spots including the wait-worthy Hot Doug’s, featured on the Travel Channel’s “No Reservations;” Kuma’s Corner, named by Food Network Magazine as having one of the 50 best burgers in the country and ranked by Playboy as being among the top 10 burger joints in America; and Urban Belly, rated as one of the 50 best new U.S. restaurants this year by Travel and Leisure magazine.

Parks

Avondale has worked hard over the years to develop and maintain the neighborhood’s treasured park space. Former vacant parking lots and other damaged or abandoned sites have been lovingly transformed into open green recreation areas and public parks buzzing with activity.

Avondale Park (3516 W. School St., 773-478-1410) is a nicely-landscaped five-acre green space that provides residents with a bunch of options for exercise, leisure and learning. Both adults and children can join classes offered at the park with choices like art, cheerleading, gymnastics, tumbling and swim camps. This north side neighborhood park is one of the many city parks that are involved in the “Community Gardens in the Parks” program. The program allows city folks with a green thumb a chance to garden in their own neighborhood. While planting flowers, growing veggie, and yes, there’s always weeding to do, community members can socialize and get to know their neighbors. And after being crouched over in the garden all day, stretch the legs with a walk around the park path.

Named after the German-American family that originally owned the land, Brands Park (3259 N Elston Ave, 773-478-2414) is now complete with all the facilities of a regular park and then some. Shoot some hoops, toss a horse shoe, or play some one-on-one or doubles in a game of tennis. A large fieldhouse is home to a wide selection of programs for the young ones, teens and adults. Sign up for the Cubs Care Rookie camp, play a little dodge ball, or even discover your inner craftsman and register for woodcrafting lessons. Like in Avondale Park, you can help out with gardening in the spring through the “Community Gardens in the Park” program. The Chicago Park District also runs “Movies in the Park” in the summer months at Brands Park, where they showcase several family favorites on a large screen for all park patrons to view.

Transportation

Avondale residents can get around the neighborhood via CTA public transportation, which includes several bus routes and the Blue Line L train. The Blue Line makes two stops in Avondale – one at Belmont (on Avondale’s southern border) and another on Addison (on the neighborhood’s northern edge). The Kedzie/California bus runs north/south as do the Western Avenue and Pulaski Avenue buses, which both offer late night Owl service. To cross the neighborhood from east to west, hop on the Belmont or Addison buses. Avondale residents with their own cars have a straightforward commute to downtown because the Kennedy Expressway (I-90/94) slices right through the neighborhood and heads directly to the Loop.

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