Real Estate Investing – MADE EASIER

When I got married earlier this year, I became part owner of my husband’s investment property. It’s a brick two-flat in Chicago in Lincoln Square and it has definitely been an adjustment. We live upstairs and rent out the unit below to tenants who are pretty agreeable and generally on time with the rent. It’s a new sort of living arrangement for me, it’s a little small for the two of us and, to be honest, it’s been the source of several heated arguments.

They went a little something like this:
I say: “Shouldn’t we focus on purchasing a home we can grow into rather than stretch to afford a rental property that’s too small?”
Bill says: “Don’t you see how this living situation will enable us to have another source of income down the road? Can’t you live with this for a while until we can afford both?”
I say: “Wait how long? Are you crazy! Why didn’t we talk about this before.”

You get the idea. Bill’s a long term thinker, I live more for the moment and we would both benefit by meeting somewhere in the middle.

This all comes to mind as I decompress after this very intense course on building wealth in real estate that I completed earlier this week. When I look closely at the numbers, what I learned in this class made my husband’s arguments make a lot more sense. In fact, what I learned opened my mind to a whole new way of thinking. Now I’ll admit that I’m still more excited than ever to buy our first place together, but I’m not so quick to complain about where we are today.

Not only did this class help put our personal investment choices in perspective, but I’m now armed with a wealth of information to help our clients make smart choices about investing in real estate rental properties in Chicago or in the Suburbs. Have you ever thought about purchasing a rental property? Would you like to learn more? I’ve got some great formulas that will help calculate the estimated post-tax return on your investment. Are you currently comparing two property options? If so, these formulas might help make it a no brainer. Are you considering investing more in the stock market? WAIT! If you’re a long term thinker and planner like my husband Bill, let’s talk about some real estate options first.

Thanks for reading,
Liz Luby
The Luby Group – Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
847-691-3150
www.TheLubyGroup.com

Blog or Buy My Husband a Birthday Gift?

Well today is my husband, Bill’s birthday and I’ve been sitting at my computer all day still trying to redesign and reconfigure our real estate websites and decide how we are going to structure a network of neighborhood blogs for the Chicago Northwest Suburbs. We’re going to start with the Barrington area and it’s a project that’ll take a lot of work and community participation over time. If you would like to get involved, we’d be happy to set up a blog for your neighborhood or community. It could be a great way to get your neighbors involved with sharing referrals or information about local news and upcoming area events.

In the meantime, I could spend all hours of the day and night glued to this computer, but I should probably get out and find a Birthday gift for Bill. Any ideas?

Thanks for reading,
Liz Luby
The Luby Group – Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
847-691-3150
www.TheLubyGroup.com

Luby Links:
http://TheLubyGroup.com
http://LubyProperties.com
http://BarringtonHomeBuyer.com
http://BarringtonHomeSeller.com
http://BestByOwners.com

Luby Blog Beginninngs

In an effort to stay ahead of the latest real estate trends in Barrington, Inverness and the Northwest Chicago Suburbs, Suzanne and I are going to tackle the art of blogging. With so many blog options out there, it’s a bit overwhelming, but we’re going to go for it. That being said, let’s see how this goes. I may be holed up in my home office this week trying to figure out this blogging thing out, but mom I promise I won’t be wasting my time.

I’m not sure how long it’ll take before our first visitors find our blog, but I wanted to start by offering some quick links to some of our local real estate websites. If you’re getting ready to buy or sell your house in Barrington, Inverness, Chicago or any of the Chicago Suburbs, we’d love to put our digital marketing system to work for you. Trust me, it works. We have the buyer leads and the property search tools to prove it.

Thanks for reading,
Liz Luby
The Luby Group – Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
847-691-3150
www.TheLubyGroup.com

Luby Links:
http://TheLubyGroup.com
http://LubyProperties.com
http://BarringtonHomeBuyer.com
http://BarringtonHomeSeller.com
http://BestByOwners.com